By Staff
CASSOPOLIS – On Jan. 13, the Cass/Vandalia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors met in special session to begin formulating a new and aggressive strategic plan for the organization. The meeting resulted in the formation of committees intended to look at economic development, tourism and hospitality, and chamber development and marketing.
"I was fortunate to be appointed chair of the economic development committee," said Leonard Kanczuzewski, owner of the Inovateus Business Center in Cassopolis, Michigan. "All of our committees are important, but I could tell this group had a lot of energy and ideas they were eager to share."
The economic development committee met three times over the past month and recommended to the full board on Feb. 18, that they reinstitute an ambassador's program.
According to Mary Geegan Middleton, Executive Director of the Cassopolis Family Clinic, the ambassador's program is not what you may see with other chambers in the area.
"The program is intended to facilitate communication in our community," she offered.
"One thing we found was that Cass County has tremendous assets available to assist both new and existing businesses. If we do our jobs well, we'll connect citizens and businesses with programs and services that will help them prosper in today's globally-competitive economic environment."
Over the next year, board members will be challenged to meet with all members of the Cass/Vandalia Chamber of Commerce. The goal will be to collect information that will not only assist the Chamber in developing meaningful programs, but will help our villages and county formulate policies that will sustain healthy businesses in our community.
"It is not our goal to duplicate efforts already being undertaken by groups like SCORE, the Ed Lowe Foundation, the Cass County EDC and Southwestern Michigan College," said Kanczuzewski. "We're just connecting the dots to ensure information is being shared and appropriate action is being taken by the proper agencies in our county."
Darren Williamson, Landscape Architect and Owner of North Star Landscape Design and Installation, chairs the Cass/Vandalia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. "All our committees have been extremely active and have come up with some great recommendations for the coming year," he commented.
"Now that we've heard from our economic development committee, I am looking forward to communicating the findings of our tourism and hospitality and development and marketing committees. This is going to be a banner year for our members and for our chamber of commerce."
The Cass/Vandalia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors meets on the third Wednesday of each month at noon. Meetings are held at the Cass County Council on Aging. Presently, the Chamber advocates on behalf of its' 56 members in the region.
For more information, please check visit: www.cassvanchamber.com.