2015 A Year in Review
2015 was a great year full of amazing accomplishments!At our planning session we identified 3 areas for growth and implemented a plan to achieve these milestones. With the help of an extremely supportive Board of directors, led by our then Chairman, Sue Nevius, we leaped into action.
Our core goals were to grow and strengthen our membership, be the leading business support organization in the Santa Clarita Valley, and strengthen our partnerships with the SCVEDC & VIA.
We began the year with a bang by announcing our merger with the SCV Latino Chamber and the creation of the SCV Chamber Latino Business Alliance, a Committee of the Chamber, chaired by Byron Alvarado, Strategy Partners and Patsy Ayala, Our Valleys Magazine. We also revamped our LunchNet program to run bi-weekly, under the leadership of Lee Watters, owner of the Watters Group.
In February, we added a Toastmasters group, SCV Chamber Speaks, as an additional benefit of membership. Within six months we won the coveted Smedley Award for membership growth!
In the second quarter of the year, we launched our Emerging Leaders program. This group connects our younger members with fun and engaging events designed especially for them. This group meets 1 – 2 times per month. If you would like more information on this group, contact Laura Eelkema at leelkema@scvchamber.com.
The third quarter brought us another merger; The Castaic Chamber of Commerce - adding an additional 50 new members and uniting the entire Valley under one strong and vibrant Chamber. We are committed to serving the Town of Castaic and keeping the Chamber’s traditions alive.
We were the lead organization, in collaboration with the SCVEDC, VIA and BizFed, to actively oppose the then proposed Minimum Wage increase in the unincorporated Los Angeles County. Thank you to Chamber members, See Spot Go, Cory Nathan and Sam Dixon Health, CEO Philip Solomon and CFO Tom Christensen. While we were not successful in persuading the county not to raise the wage, we will continue to work closely with BizFed and the County to create a plan that makes sense.
At the encouragement of our retail members, we established a Retail Committee to address the concerns and issues of our member retailers. Retailers interested in becoming involved with this very active group, are welcome to attend the committee meetings on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 10:30 a.m. at the Chamber office.
As we rounded out a very busy 2015, we entered into a strategic partnership with the City of Santa Clarita to bring the Community a new Shop Local program, SCV Cash Mob! We also launched our FREE and low cost Business Development Series, a series of 90 minute (FREE) to half day ($25) seminars to bring you relevant business information. More information about both these programs can be found on the Chamber website.
We are looking forward to a fun and prosperous 2016 and building on these new and our existing Chamber programs.