Chambers Share Strategies for a Post-COVID World

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and change, chambers do the same as they work to boost local economies through mission-driven initiatives. During #ACCE21, EY’s Economic Development Advisory Services showcased two of their chamber partners in a discussion around strategies for a post-COVID world.

“Some priorities have emerged during the pandemic that will be staying top of mind, and there are even newer priorities emerging as we think about that long-term resiliency and what that next phase looks like,” explained Tony DeLisi, EY’s U.S. Economic Development Advisory Services Senior Manager.

Adam Knapp, president & CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber (La.), said one of their most popular responses to the pandemic is becoming permanent. BR Works started as an online list with job openings that were updated weekly. Now, Adam shared that it’s about to launch as a permanent and regional job portal, including an upskilling section that shares information on educational opportunities and best job matches with rate of pay. “BR Works got more views than anything else we were doing,” Adam noted. “We found funders who are actually really attracted to the idea.”

Adam mentioned that to conquer COVID tasks quickly, the chamber created small teams to tackle these sprint projects. BR Works took 48 hours and 3-4 team members. And while the turnaround speed might not become the new normal, the concept of assigning teams to projects continues and remote work has made that easier for the BRAC staff.

In Oklahoma City, the focus of the economic development shifted to small businesses being forgotten. “Our smallest businesses and our minority businesses were specifically being left behind with resources of many types,” shared Jeff Seymour, executive vice president of economic development of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. “This became a community wide conversation.” For initiatives created in response to COVID, Jeff said the staff discussed what to keep, what to tweak to keep sustainable and if they had the people and resources to keep programs long-term.

Beyond COVID, the murder of George Floyd had a major impact in communities across the U.S. and beyond. Both Baton Rouge and Oklahoma City responded with intentional diversity, equity and inclusion work. In Baton Rouge, minority-, woman- and veteran-owned businesses were being affected by the pandemic differently, so BRAC connected those businesses to banks for funding resources. In Oklahoma City, the economic mobility and opportunity changed member engagement. “A lot of our corporate leaders are also trying to figure out best practices. It really reframed our formal and informal partnerships across the community,” Jeff mentioned.

“That power of partnerships here and collaboration that we really saw come out of COVID, if it didn’t exist in communities before, it’s such a driving factor. There’s a stronger engagement between the chamber and the community,” Tony added.

To watch (or re-watch!) this #ACCE21 Partner Solutions Session, click here. You can also see other topics covered during the Partner Solutions Session in this video playlist.