Like any business in the current economic climate the Chamber has faced challenges over the past year and we will likely face more challenges in the year ahead. However, we have a strong Chamber with active members and a great staff. With these components in place your Chamber will meet these challenges and we will meet our goals. So, what are our goals?

Our mission is to be the influential voice of business in our community and our mandate is to: advocate on behalf of our members, to provide education to our members and to provide networking opportunities for our members. We have strong programs in place for all of these activities and we have the goal of strengthening our existing programs and looking for new programs that fit our mandate. For example, as part of our Business After 5 events we will include two mini trade shows and we will also host a Valley Wide Business After 5. We will partner with JCI in October to present the Competitive Advantages seminars as well as hosting our Lunch ‘n’ Learn series over the year. We will host breakfasts with knowledgeable guest speakers and over the next few months we expect to announce new programs that will be of benefit to our members. I encourage all of our members to come to our events, to check our website and to get informed as to what the Chamber offers to you.

In serving our membership we have entered into partnerships with other organizations to leverage expertise as well as to share the work. The Competitive Advantages seminar is one example. These partnerships have proven to be an effective way of helping to fulfill our mandate and, over the next year, another of our goals will be to strengthen our partnerships and our relationships within the community.

Above all our goal will be to look for ways to provide you with value and benefits for your membership and to be the influential voice of business in, and for, our community.