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As we close out one year and prepare to welcome another, this is a great time to do some looking back at where we have been and ahead at where we’re going. 2019 was a year in which the Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association continued to focus on ways to provide more value to our members. This past year the Chamber’s gift card program continued to grow and we introduced a resource to help support the human resource function within our member businesses. This human resource platform helped many of our members be compliant with State and Federal regulatory requirements. In addition, to adding new services our organizations provided leadership to the business community and a variety of programming designed to address our member’s needs. 2019 was also a year of transition as we moved our Jamestown offices to a downtown location at the heart of the downtown Jamestown business district. This move has opened the door to new partnerships with local businesses and with other organizations who share our goals. The Chamber of Commerce has expanded its presence for visitor information in downtown Jamestown and is working closely with the Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau and the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation to strengthen this role. In 2020 we will complete that plan and open a full-fledged downtown visitor center with the help of trained volunteers and expanded hours for festivals, downtown events, and to meet the growing need to match the influx in tourism. We will also provide some additional support for downtown activities during Doors Open Jamestown on Saturday, January 18. We will announce a move to downtown Dunkirk in 2020, as well! As we enter a New Year, we come upon some major milestones as the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce marks its 20th anniversary and the Manufacturer Association achieves its 120th year of operation. This is an opportunity to reflect on the Chautauqua County business community’s effort to unify and form a countywide Chamber of Commerce model. Our model is unique in that within the County Chamber there are six Community Chambers throughout the county, all doing outstanding work to help boost foot traffic for local businesses. Working together, the business organizations, through a unified effort, has leveraged marketing and financial management resources, streamlined communications and created a unified web and social media presence. Over the past 20 years the Manufacturers Association has grown from primarily representing companies in the Jamestown area to being a multi-county regional organization. Bringing businesses together throughout the region to work on challenges and take advantage of opportunities has created an environment where our organizations have been able to increase the value provided to our member investors. In 2020, the Chamber’s Five Point Focus will remain at the core of how we provide services. Those points are: 1) Driving Foot and Internet Traffic to Member Businesses; 2) Increasing Business to Business Connections; 3) Providing Cost Saving Solutions for Employee Benefits and Human Resources Compliance; 4) Advocating for Positive Change with a Focus on Reducing Taxes; and 5) Supporting Economic, Workforce and Tourism Development. As we recently reviewed all of the services the Chamber is providing, we recognized that the Chamber has at times undervalued the services it provides to the members. The value on investment for most of our members is substantial. At minimum our members get back five times their initial membership investment. In order to demonstrate that value more thoroughly, we are restructuring the membership into a system of tiers based on the services our members use. You will be hearing more about this in the coming months as the details are fine-tuned. It’s an exciting time for our region. The Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association are proud to work with a wide variety of diverse businesses as we continue to focus on a mission to create a business environment where our members can thrive.