| Happy New Year! We hope you, your families, and employees enjoyed a blessed Christmas last week and have plans to make 2023 a banner year. As I said last month, we have so much to be thankful for going into the new year, especially the economic and business momentum that is bringing new prosperity to our community. As we look forward to the next twelve months, your Chamber has an active program of work across our mission areas. Let me highlight some of the important goals for you. In economic development we’ll continue to promote housing development and construction, identify a plan and property for a Boone County Business and Technology Park, continue our WIN (Workforce Initiative Network) program connecting students and their future employers, reenergize community development for a vibrant downtown Harrison, and host familiarization tours for site selectors and economic development managers from across the region. Our marketing and communications efforts will entail bringing new investors on board while retaining those we have with a transparent ROI, enhancing our physical and digital marketing materials, engaging with our civic organizations, promoting Chamber of Commerce and economic development weeks, and implementing SEO-driven enhancements to our soon-to-be updated website. Our government affairs efforts will continue to educate the community on public policy initiatives including transportation infrastructure, healthcare and business-focused tort reform, and workforce and education, as will our efforts to identify and educate viable candidates for all public offices, engage with our state elected officials, and be represented at both city and county public meetings. In the area of leadership, we’ll continue to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of Chamber programs, develop a bank of leadership advocates for the community, and benchmark at least one other community to learn how others succeed. This program of work is no small undertaking, but we’re looking forward to tackling it, as we put these goals into play for the business community. We’re also excited to be moving to our new offices this weekend. After some 38 years in our present location, and over three years of actively searching for an opportunity to expand our footprint in a professional environment, we’ll be taking care of business in Suite 301 of Signature Tower on Main Street and will be open for business at 8:00am on January 3rd Off we go into an exciting new year, full of opportunity. We look forward to engaging with you in this journey! We are Taking Care of Business in Harrison, Boone County, and the region! Cheers, Bob |