Regional collaboration amongst mountain chambers helps elevate our voice
Chamber of Commerce members are coming together from across the mountain region to bring a strong, unified voice to our policymakers helping to build a better business climate, support our communities, and to protect and enhance our quality of life. We are working collaboratively to elevate the voice of business and ensure our region has a voice in the state capital and beyond.
Why is this important? Our quarterly business sentiment study delivers a quantitative snapshot of our business sector and explores business owners’ perspectives on the latest economic and business trends. Not surprisingly, we are seeing increased pessimism about the economy and the ability to attract and retain the workforce. This reinforces the need for a strong regional voice.
Advocacy efforts are important to our business community. Advocacy ranks as the most important aspect of chamber membership in our annual member survey with 88% sharing with us that advocacy is the most important benefit of the chamber. Ranking just below advocacy is representing business interests with the government with 85% of members sharing this is important. We hear you loud and clear: your voice needs to be heard by elected officials at every level – local, state, and federal.
We have worked to start the Mountain Chamber Alliance (MCA) to ensure our business voice is represented at a state level. Vail Valley Partnership is proud to join chambers of commerce across the central Rockies region, including Aspen Chamber Resort Association, Basalt Chamber of Commerce, Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce, Carbondale Chamber of Commerce, Colorado River Valley Chamber, Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce, Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association, Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce, Gunnison Chamber of Commerce, Gypsum Chamber of Commerce, Steamboat Springs Chamber, and Summit Chamber of Commerce formed the Mountain Chamber Alliance (MCA).
The MCA is a membership organization consisting of chambers of commerce across the central Rockies region, including Grand, Summit, Eagle, Routt, Chaffee, Lake, Garfield, Pitkin, Gunnison, and San Miguel counties. The organization was created to help advance public policy goals that enhance economic vitality and oppose those that negatively impact the communities and businesses across the mountain region.
The mission of the MCA is to apply the collaborative impact of the chambers of commerce across the central Rockies, including the thousands of businesses and employees they represent, to ensure the mountain communities have a voice on regional and state issues of importance.
We are thrilled to partner with chamber organizations throughout the mountains to better represent our business community. The importance of collaborating and building coalitions to help out businesses grow and communities thrive cannot happen in a vacuum. We’re stronger when we work together with our neighboring communities.
The MCA has identified key priority items that are common themes impacting the mountain region. These include workforce housing, transportation, early childcare, tourism funding and destination management, short-term rentals, workforce development, broadband, and healthcare.
We all work to solve these challenges in our communities and by working together, we can share ideas and resources, and ultimately amplify the voice of our businesses and communities.
Together, with our hundreds of member companies and regional partners, our strategy is to serve as the preeminent voice of the business community to drive an even better quality of life for all who call the mountains home, and for those interested in coming here. The MCA is evidence that we stand up for what we believe in and we are willing to fight for what’s right, so our businesses can grow and our community can thrive.
Chris Romer is president & CEO of Vail Valley Partnership, the regional chamber of commerce. Learn more at VailValleyPartnership.com