Thank You for a Great Year!

Chamber members and friends,

As we wrap up our fiscal year this week, I want to take a moment to look back and look forward. We’ve had a tremendous year and the future of our chamber is strong. We have a great financial framework to help with any bumps and our influence continues to grow throughout the region and Florida.

Let’s start with three key accomplishments that happened in the past 12 months.
 

I could start by looking chronologically, but one of the biggest accomplishments our chamber has achieved needs to lead off the year in review. 

This year, we were accredited as a five-star chamber by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. There are hundreds of chambers in Florida, but we are only one of 11 in the entire state to achieve this goal. 

We’ve talked a lot about this, but just remember why this matters to you, our members. When you invest in the Seminole County Chamber, this gives you faith that your investment will be treated with the highest standards in the industry and the programs and services we offer are among the best in the state.

Second, it may seem a long time ago, but in July, we hosted our first State of Our Schools. Seminole County has been blessed with one of the top-rated schools in Florida. This is important to businesses because employees and businesses want to be located near great schools.

We are very proud to partner with Seminole County Public Schools and The Foundation for Seminole County Public Schools to showcase their accomplishments and look forward to hosting this event next month, too. Last year’s event sold out, so get your tickets soon here.

Finally, our newest effort, ChamberWORKS launched just a couple of months ago. We are focused on telling the stories of our members and this extended video series has taken us behind the scenes of some of our community’s most iconic brands.

Make sure you watch these. Not only does it give you insights into specific companies, but also into the industries they serve. It’s information you won’t find anywhere else. Plus, they are a lot of fun!

Looking forward, we’re looking to expand our advocacy efforts on all levels, from local issues to federal issues. You’ll see a robust issues committee looking to find, support and oppose specific legislation and ordinances that affect our members and the economic vitality of our region. 

Too often, particularly small businesses find out about changes in laws too late. We want to be beside our members, educating them and helping amplify their voices.

We’re, of course, looking to grow our chamber in the number of members, but who isn’t looking at growth for the coming year? 

One of our top goals over the next year is to expand our role in Seminole County’s economic development ecosystem. Our community continually works to bring new businesses into Seminole County and help the ones here and we have a role to showcase all the reasons why Seminole is great for business 

Our building is quickly becoming a hub for economic development as regional organizations are opening new centers right down the hall from us. We’re going to continue doing site visits where our economic development team meets and listens to companies in the market. We’re looking to expand our special programs targeted toward start-ups and early-stage companies by partnering with our incubators, Prospera, accelerators and more. We’re going to truly focus on bringing you the information on initiatives where there are opportunities to grow your business, like Good Morning Seminole in August, where we feature a program about the innovative Tourism Improvement District.

Hopefully, you are as encouraged about the future of our chamber and our community as I am. If you haven’t invested yet, please let me know you are interested by sending me an email here.
Of course, we couldn't do this without our great team of chamber professionals on our staff. Please take a moment to thank them for working hard every day to make our community better.
 

All of us at the Seminole County Chamber are here to support your business and initiatives and we are all thankful you are a part of our community.

Sincerely,

Rebekah