ROCKFORD, IL — Two years after merging the city’s leading business development agencies into a consolidated Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce, the organization has released an “Economic Development Roadmap.”
The framework that’s expected to guide the organization in the coming years calls for increasing the organization’s efforts in business retention, attraction and expansion. The plan seeks to ensure long-term growth and investment, Chamber CEO Angela Kay Larson said.
“The chamber has evolved beyond a traditional membership organization,” Larson said. “Today, we serve as the convener, connector and driver of regional economic progress.”
The Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce was created by merging the Rockford Chamber of Commerce, Rockford Area Economic Development Council and Greater Rockford Growth Partnership into a single organization in October 2023.
As it did so, the Chamber laid off three of its 12 staffers as part of the consolidation.
The organization now has 10 employees and hopes to hire up to three more over the next two years who would conduct business retention and expansion visits throughout Winnebago County to support their expansion plans.
It could seek greater support from area municipalities in an effort to beef up its staff and expertise to become more effective.
The chamber commissioned Eight Fifteen Impact, a local consulting firm operated by Terrance Hall and Matthew Simpson, to compile the framework.
The roadmap has six focus areas. It calls for expanding capacity to drive business growth, market the region to industries and employers, partner with GoRockford to improve marketability of existing development sites, work with the Workforce Connection to better prepare employees and promote the region’s innovative and “break-through ideas.”
“We really set out for the roadmap to be a tactical plan,” Hall said. “A lot of economic development strategies look at a collective of everything you could do. This isn’t everything you could do or even everything we maybe should do. We really wanted to look at the most impactful things we could do to drive economic development in the next 18 to 24 months.”
Larson said part of the plan is to focus on expanding manufacturing as it still accounts for 23% of the region’s $4 billion annual gross domestic product and employs 25,000 people.
“We’re not waiting for opportunity,” Larson said. “We are creating it.”
Jeff Kolkey writes about government, economic development and other issues for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on X @jeffkolkey.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford Chamber looks to expand as it embarks on new Economic Development Roadmap
Reporting by Jeff Kolkey, Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
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