2020 Impact Highlights and Member Milestones
The Springfield Chamber has strengthened, promoted, and championed the business community in many ways in 2020. The investment of our members produced high-value programs, advocacy meetings, technological assistance and more – outcomes we proudly capture in our 2020 Impact Highlights:
And now we’ll dive a little deeper into the details:
Just this past February, our #WorkReady initiative was awarded the Outstanding Chamber Program by the Western Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives representing 16 western US states. To date, over 4000 students, and over 400 businesses have engaged in our #WorkReady programs since its launch in 2017.
Our Career Hub launched in November with input from our Education Committee and is hosted in partnership with Springfield Chamber Member Performance Resources. The Career Hub hosts a job board with access to an HR Suite of services including pay-per-post pricing available exclusively to Springfield Chamber members. Our Career Hub connects local employers and job seekers and provides access to a multitude of career resources.
We’ve adapted several of our business education programs to digital, established several new online information hubs, and increased the number of e-news communications we send out to membership to provide timely, relevant information. Programs such as LunchVox, Business Boot Camp, and the Leadership Summit were all successful virtual business education opportunities, and committees like Springfield Greeters continued to thrive and act as a time for respite and networking in a virtual space.
Our COVID-19 Business Resource Hub and Wildfire Resource Hub were quickly established to act as a local online center for all relevant information regarding the most current guidelines, grants and applications, and more. The Safety Gear Exchange was a platform created to help facilitate member–to–member exchange of safety gear and PPE, and through our partnership with the City of Springfield we donated free face masks to Springfield small businesses. These masks were provided by Business Oregon and were meant to assist small business communities’ ability to offer masks to patrons or employees when needed. A portion of these masks were also donated to McKenzie Wildfire Relief efforts.
Several partner programs were established to further advance our members’ resource toolkit. Back to Business: A guide to reopening was created in partnership with the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce to help navigate our state’s guidelines for re-opening businesses, and the #LoveLaneBiz Pledge invited businesses and individuals to sign on to commit to safely serve the community as we navigated reopening. Our Taking Your Business Online cohort added to the Business Bootcamp, and was supported by The City of Springfield, who funded technical assistance dollars to participating businesses in the form of $500 microgrants.
We’ve welcomed a number of new chamber members this year, and we’re grateful to have been able to support 50 current members through our newly established Member Match Dues Relief Program in partnership with Oregon Community Credit Union (OCCU). OCCU contributed funds that helped small business and nonprofit members maintain their chamber membership and provide relief in a period of unforeseen uncertainty and financial hardship.
2020 has been a vital year for advocacy on behalf of businesses, and through the year the Springfield Chamber has taken positions endorsing business recovery and advocated directly to elected officials. We established a Business Recovery Advisory Committee to influence response and recovery strategies with partnership agencies, pushed for small business accommodations with state lawmakers and regulatory agencies that preserved federal COVID-related tax breaks, brought flexibility around State CAT tax obligations, and reduced unnecessary COVID-19 standards proposed by OR-OSHA as temporary workplace requirements. We also hosted candidate roundtables for local and state elections, and our Chamber CEO Vonnie Mikkelsen served on the Governor’s Wildfire Economic Recovery Council AND the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce as 2020 Chair. The Springfield Chamber advocates and works with elected representatives around issues, policy, and legislation of impact and interest to our members at all levels of government. We encourage our members to visit our Advocacy & Elections Page to stay informed and engaged with the Chamber and elected officials as we pursue these state-wide legislative priorities.
The Springfield Chamber’s ongoing mission is to be a gainful partner and foster a prosperous community by strengthening, representing, and promoting business. We thank our members deeply for their membership and ongoing support of our community. We know that they too have been stepping up, leaning in, making tough decisions, surviving, innovating, hiring, and pivoting, and we are constantly impressed by their strength and resiliency. We’ve been collecting examples of this over the past few months and featuring these stories in our e-newsletter Member Connect each week, and we feel they are deserving of further support and acknowledgment. Check out some of these important updates from our Chamber members over the last few months:
TSA recognizes EUG as Airport of the Year
The Transportation Security Administration recognized the Eugene Airport as the “top airport of its size for outstanding local leadership, commitment to empowering employees and working with stakeholders to ensure a superior passenger experience for the traveling public.” The Airport of the Year award was one of three TSA bestowed in Oregon.
In response to the devastating fires in September, Lani Moku Grill announced a BUY ONE, GIVE ONE fundraiser for every plate purchased through the end of September, and wow, what an amazing turnout they had! 2,223 plates went out to families who had been affected by the fires.
New funding supports 400 child care spots
The pandemic has tasked families, many of which are already facing economic hardships, with the added cost of child care. United Way of Lane County, the City of Eugene and the Tykeson Family Foundation partnered to expand the availability and affordability of child care for local families through the Eugene Family YMCA, The Boys & Girls Club of the Emerald Valley, and KinderCare Discover Champions’ before- and after-school programs.
Northwest Youth Corps helps in Holiday Farm Fire recovery effort
Cody Gardner and other members of the corps played a part in the cleanup and restoration efforts at homes and businesses destroyed along the river.
“It’s really powerful that we get to help and be here for these folks who can’t be here themselves because they have so many other things to worry about,” Gardner said. “It’s the least we can do for them.”
Kendall Auto Oregon partnered with Eugene Emeralds, Heritage Distillery and Funk/Levis & Associates to raise money and school supplies for students affected by COVID-19 in Lane County.
Chronicle wins eight ONPA awards
The Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association (ONPA)’s annual “Better Newspaper Contest” recognized The Chronicle with eight total awards this past week, including two first-place finishes. The Chronicle finished second overall in General Excellence – congratulations!!
Travel Lane County Creates #LoveLane Campaign to Support Local
Travel Lane County’s #LoveLane campaign was developed during the stay at home period last spring, but working with partners, the campaign has evolved over the summer into LoveLaneBiz and LoveLaneArts.
The opportunity to assist wildfire evacuees provided staff an opportunity to develop additional graphics highlighting ways we can give as individuals and businesses. Feel free to download and use these graphics on your social media channels.
Campfire Collaborative Receives 2020 Emerging Firm Award
The AIA Northwest and Pacific Region (NW+PR) recognized Campfire Collaborative from Springfield, Oregon. The Emerging Firm Award seeks to recognize new practices that are challenging traditional perceptions and methods of architecture. Firms must be in practice for 10 years or less. The award was presented as part of a virtual Honors and Awards program on September 24, 2020.
PlankTown Serves Holiday Farm Fire Evacuees
PlankTown Brewing Company had a crew of volunteers serving up burgers, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and chicken salads at Silke Field to those wildfire evacuees. Tam’s Place Vietnamese brought by egg rolls, salad and shrimp fried rice for them to serve up as well.
The UPS Store Offers Free Services to Those Affected by the Holiday Farm Fire
The UPS Store offered 6 months mailbox service for free to those affected by the fires, available at both our Springfield and Junction City locations. They had mailboxes for people to obtain an actual physical street address to receive all mail and packages.
If you’d like to be added to our email list, please email elora@springfield-chamber.org
