What is the biggest need in your community and how is your chamber working to address the issue?
Brooke Nunn
President/CEO
Temecula Valley (CA) Chamber
The Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce is proud to work toward addressing the biggest need in our community, which is workforce. We understand the importance of a well-educated, qualified and diverse talent pipeline for organizational success.
To achieve this, we offer educational opportunities, including training on the different generations in the workplace, DEI workshops, leadership training for our Young Professionals program, and industry-specific meetings.
Our biannual job fair allows employers to showcase their company culture and connect with job seekers from the region. Lastly, we connect businesses with on-the-job training grants through county programs. Ultimately, we aim to bridge gaps between employers and prospective employees to build a strong local economy.
Brad Enzi
President/CEO
Laramie (WY) Chamber Business Alliance
In short, housing is the biggest issue that is facing our community. The impacts of housing have a trickledown effect on our whole community, manifesting itself in recruiting challenges for businesses, retention issues, and wage-stagnated workforce.
Our organization has been working aggressively on the issue for several years. We actively recruit builders and developers. Our board has engaged with the city to evaluate and address code changes to help create more units; and we have worked with the state on an initiative that the Governor has championed addressing the housing shortages.
This is an issue that is being faced by communities across the West, and sadly there is no “silver bullet” solution. It takes the business community working hand-in-hand with their local and state governments to find a lot of small solutions that add up to long-term answers.
Jennifer Wesselhoff
President/CE
Park City (UT) Chamber/Convention & Visitors Bureau
Finding, hiring and retaining the workforce necessary to support our economy is a critical and ongoing need. We are taking a multifaceted approach to supporting our workforce and keeping Park City an ideal location to build a career and life.
- We launched our Chamber-Sponsored Employee Benefit Program providing small employers access to group health insurance and ancillary benefits for their employees.
- We have partnered with Mountain Lands Community Housing Trust and Rossignol to pilot the Workforce Employer Rental Incentive Program (“WeRip”), which incentivizes local homeowners with a pair of Rossignol Skis/Snowboard bindings to rent a room to an employee.
- We created a seasonal workforce resource guide to help workers gain access to valuable resources.
- Additionally, we are working with regional partners to address attainable housing, traffic and transit solutions, as well as child care affordability and availability.
All these initiatives fit into our long-range strategic plan as well as our 10-Year Sustainable Tourism Plan, which was adopted countywide in 2022.