You’ve seen our team at Mixers, community events, and ribbon cuttings, but do you know what projects we’ve been working on behind the scenes? The team here at the Chamber doesn’t stop moving! We’re busy from sun-up to sun-down developing and supporting programs and initiatives that serve and empower OUR business community. Below are a few projects we have undertaken.
The first thing is our programs and events that support local small businesses. We coordinate events like the Art & Wine Tour that drive foot traffic, build awareness of shops downtown, and increase sales. We’ve had many businesses share how they’ve seen an increase in traffic and sales in their store for weeks after an Art & Wine Tour. Another event supporting local businesses is our annual Business Walk, where we hit the streets to learn about issues facing the local business community. This is an excellent opportunity for our team to learn about new challenges that may have arisen and work on solutions to help.
Within a similar category is our events that support our general community. One of these events is the Candidate’s Forum, where we partner with the League of Women Voters to host a panel with questions for candidates from Atascadero voters. We believe that helping our community access the information they need about candidates to make a well-informed decision benefits our entire community. Another event is our Tuesdays in the Park, where we partner with non-profits to fundraise while enjoying the Atascadero Community Band at the Atascadero Lake Park. It’s a win for everyone!
We do more than just events to support and empower our business community. Our team has worked hard to develop resources for new business owners. Not only did we establish the first Coworking Space in North County, BridgeWorks Coworking, but we recently created the Business Start-Up Guide to help new business owners as they navigate opening a business in Atascadero. Our goal is to help support these entrepreneurs to make it as easy as possible for them to know what they need to get started. From there, we’ve partnered with the Women’s Business Center (WBC) to open the first-of-its-kind hub for business development servicing the entire northern San Luis Obispo County region. This service offers one-on-one business consulting, classes, and more! Then we put together The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Handbook because we believe that diversity is absolutely critical in our business community. The book contains essential tools and insight on how businesses can embrace, encourage, and support diversity.
Our Chamber team has been hard at work and this article only skims the surface of the programs and projects we’re working on. I didn’t even have the chance to provide details of our 12@12 Luncheons, Employee Retention Tax Credit program, Jobs Hub, and more. Our team puts their all into supporting and empowering our businesses so we can Move Atascadero Forward.
-Josh Cross, Atascadero Chamber CEO
President & CEO of the Atascadero Chamber | Josh Cross
