As the 2016 year comes to a close, the Chamber is taking stock of the goals it established at the beginning of the year in light of what was actually accomplished to serve the businesses of this area. Shown below are a few of the most noteworthy ways we provided return on investment for our members:
With funding from the City of Grand Junction and Mesa County, the Chamber was able to place a fulltime Business Retention Expansion Specialist in the field to connect with primary job creators, bringing tools and resources to their doors and learning of broad business climate challenges that need to addressed in order to improve job creation by existing businesses. To date, just over 100 businesses were visited and interviewed. Roundtables were conducted with the technology and advanced manufacturing sectors. Shipping and logistics was identified as a common problem and solutions are currently being sought to assist all sectors in expanding options and cutting costs. The Chamber and GJEP are jointly taking lead in working to establish a Foreign Trade Zone at the Grand Junction Regional Airport. A new partnership with Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Alliance—West was formalized to provide director level services for the newly created Fuse Center serving Western Slope industries.
Developing the current and future workforce was the focus of major programming by the Chamber to link businesses with other workforce development partners including the Mesa County Workforce Center, School District 51, Colorado Mesa University, and Western Colorado Community College to identify and train potential workers. Joint efforts resulted in over 60 paid internships for individual 18-24 year old in the community that were not in school and without jobs through the KickStart program. With greater utilization of the Work Keys assessments by employers and those looking for work, Mesa County is poised to become the first county in the state to achieve ACT Workforce Ready Community status which can aid in recruiting new businesses. The Young Entrepreneurs Academy helped middle and high school students launch 11 new businesses. The Hire Me First program, with unique curriculum developed by Chamber staff, was offered to high school students during the school year and as a summer camp. The Chamber took point in identifying and encouraging businesses to participate in multiyear apprenticeships as a pilot community for a statewide effort to adopt the Swiss model of apprenticeships in high schools.
Standing Up for Businesses took many forms throughout the year with the most visible being the filing of a lawsuit in collaboration with Mesa County to stop the Grand Valley Drainage District from imposing new fees that cost businesses thousands of dollars annually. Other actions included weighing in on 38 business related bills proposed in the Colorado Legislature and several proposed federal actions/rules including Overtime for Salaried Employees, Regulatory Reform, Jordan Cove LNG Facility and Cancelation of Energy Leases on Federal Lands. The Chamber was also a strong and active advocate against statewide ballot measures that adversely affected business including Amendment 69 to create a universal health care system and increasing the minimum wage. Efforts to expand direct commercial air service options and encourage broadband deployment throughout the community were also executed.
Networking and educational programming are member expectations and the Chamber continued to offer monthly Networking at Noon lunches, Business After Hours events, and weekly Leads meetings. Educational offerings included several workshops for employers on legal matters, energy briefings and monthly one on one sessions with Mesa County Library staff to utilize RefUSA to develop targeted potential customer databases. Special networking events such as Quarterly Membership Meetings, Business Showcase, Golf Tournament and Annual Banquet along with ribbon cuttings and various committee meetings resulted on over 300 distinct opportunities to network throughout the year.
More information about the Chamber’s accomplishments and 2017 Business Plan will be available in next month’s newsletter and in the special supplement to the Daily Sentinel due out in late January.