I’m super excited to announce two big pieces of news this month. One is that we have a new website. Besides its beautiful new design, we’ve added some new features like our coverage area search. You can now look up our coverage areas by state or courthouse right from the homepage or from any of our coverage area pages. We hope to add more great features that make our clients’ lives easier as we move ahead.

The second announcement is even bigger! With our recent acquisition in Delaware, we have launched a new service offering the most direct access to Delaware courts available. With CHR turning 20 this year is really gratifying for me to see us continuing to grow and evolve to meet the background screening industry’s changing needs. You can read more about our new DelawareDirect™ below or visit our Delaware coverage page.

Warmest regards,

B. Zimmerman

I want to express how delighted I was to hear that Mike Sankey was honored by NAPBS with a Lifetime Achievement Award. There are few people in any field who have done as much as Mike to grow and professionalize an industry. His creation of the PRRN and the BRB helped companies like County House Research grow and develop to where we are today. Mike is a true pioneer who possesses a clarity of purpose that inspires others to share his vision. Congratulations and thank you, Mike. There is no one more deserving of this honor.

September is a weird month, kind of neither here, nor there. We start school and return full tilt to work just as the leaves are dying off and we begin, at least in the Northeast, the slide into cold, dark winter. Just about anyone who knows me also knows that I do not like the cold. So you would think the arrival of  September’s lower temperatures and colder winds would make me sad. It does. But with the extraordinary pace of life in the information age, there is also something nice about the shorter days slowing us down and moving us inside to seek the company of others. Have a great fall.

July is not even over and we’re already seeing an onslaught of back-to-school ads here in Philadelphia. I know that many schools start in August but couldn’t we let kids hold on to the summer for just a little longer? I loved the lazy summers of my childhood. Those two months between the end of school and Labor Day seemed to stretch on like an endless string of adventures. This sense that time goes by more quickly as you age is part of what’s called, appropriately enough, the “holiday paradox.” As the saying goes, we feel time going by faster when we’re doing something fun like taking a holiday. But when we look back, we remember the fun parts lasting much longer than the boring bits. That’s the paradox and according to scientists, it’s related to the way the brain makes memories. Our brains add new experiences to our memories but ignore familiar ones. As we age our lives become more routine so the seasons seem to pass more quickly. The more new experiences the better as far as memory is concerned. Now, if that’s not an incentive to get out there and have some fun new experiences, I don’t know what is. Enjoy!

Warmest regards,

B. Zimmerman

We are all moved into our new Philadelphia office and, as I predicted, everything went off without even the slightest hiccup. The new space is really great. It’s so nice to have the room we need to get our work done. Besides the extra space, one of the things I like best about our new office is how light and bright it is. Our team is enjoying the brain boost that only light can bring. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that we’ve left winter’s gray skies behind us. Thank you to the CHR team for making our move so effortless and so successful.

It pays to look up when your in Philadelphia. In a city known for public art, our Mural Arts Program (MAP) really stands out. The program began in the 1980s as a way to stop the spread of graffiti and transform Philadelphia neighborhoods with large murals painted on the sides of buildings. They celebrate the people and culture of the city. Professional artists work with community members and local organizations to create the murals, which can take thousands of man hours to complete. MAP also provides art education to thousands of kids. Since 1984, the program has produced an astonishing 3,800 murals (2,000 are still visible), making Philadelphia the world’s largest outdoor art gallery.