A Growing Alliance

A few years ago, John Tayer, President/CEO of the Boulder Chamber and I met to discuss a possible alliance between our Chambers. The purpose would be to work on regional policy issues such as transportation, housing, workforce development and others. We discussed the differences between our communities, as residents in both communities are fond of doing at times!  In the end though, we knew that our communities actually have a lot in common and our business communities would be strengthened by working together.  From that conversation, the Northwest Chamber Alliance was born and now consists of the Boulder, Broomfield, Latino, Longmont and Superior Chambers of Commerce.

Last year, I spent some time researching the work of Chambers of Commerce in the first part of the 20^th century. One writer mentioned that we in this country have individualistic mindsets.  As a result, we often tend to attribute progress to one person, when in reality much of the progress in our country is the result of groups of people. Chambers of Commerce of the time were uniquely able to accomplish many things in their communities.  It was the Chamber of Commerce in St. Louis that financed Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic. The Los Angeles Chamber championed the Los Angeles port.  Closer to home, the Chamber in Cheyenne started “Cheyenne Frontier Day.”  In Longmont, the Chamber raised funds to purchase the land where the Federal Aviation Administration is now located.  Chambers know about working with disparate groups of people because that’s what we have done for decades.  Our partnerships today, however, look different and the landscape has changed significantly.

Today, there are many more players developing our communities.  However, this also affords us more opportunities to partner.  For example, February 21st,  we will partner with the City of Longmont and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to host a special class for our Latino businesses. This class, the first of several, will be taught in Spanish.  If you or someone you know is looking for information on how to register a business, obtain proper licenses or how to remit sales tax, this class will be of help.  With our enhanced advocacy work that I mentioned last month, Stacy Cornay is working more closely with the Denver Chamber (c3) and the Colorado Chamber on a number of bills making their way through the legislature. The Chamber is a partner in the Memorandum of Understanding between the City, Visit Longmont, Downtown Longmont, Longmont EDP and our community arts organizations to explore the idea of a Performing Arts/Convention Center.  Lastly, for the first time, our Northwest Chamber Alliance, in partnership with Commuting Solutions, will send a representative of our group, Andrea Meneghel of the Boulder Chamber, to Washington, DC, to lobby on transportation needs for our region.

In talking with John Tayer last week about this exciting development for our alliance, I remembered our first conversation on working together. We didn’t imagine at the time we would be sending someone to represent us in Washington. While Andrea’s trip isn’t quite like sending Lindbergh across the Atlantic, I do believe the partnerships we are forging will propel our business community to greater accomplishments in the 21st century.