Displaying items by tag: Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce

Michigan business organizations were publicly supportive of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-home order, although they surely want more clarity on how to proceed.

A series of recommendations from a state joint task force on reducing Michigan’s ballooning jail population can also address workforce development challenges, says a leading West Michigan business group.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s budget proposal would restore funding for a training program for skilled trades that the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce has championed for years.

The talent needs of employers are a constantly moving target that requires companies to foster and maintain close ties with educators to keep up with the demands of the 21st century economy. 

GRAND RAPIDS — For much of her career, Jacey Ehmann was the only woman in the room. 

GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce has hired a retail retention and attraction specialist to help attract regional and national retailers to the city.

More than a decade ago, Grand Rapids business leaders lobbied hard to block the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, known locally as the Gun Lake Tribe, from opening a casino near Wayland. 

Groups like 23 is Enough and MichGO drove the narrative that any casino development south of Grand Rapids would “siphon off” jobs and investment from the city’s then-rebuilding downtown, limiting growth in entertainment options and economic opportunity alike. They cited a study commissioned by the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce in the early 2000s that estimated $880 million of “economic hemorrhaging” in the surrounding counties if Gun Lake Casino were ever allowed to move forward. 

Looking around downtown Grand Rapids today, it’s hard to find evidence that their worst fears were in any way realized. 

Corey Hart returned to Grand Rapids last September to find that support for entrepreneurship and startup companies had grown well beyond what it was when he left for California a decade earlier.

Talent, housing and infrastructure topped the 2020 priority list for members of the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce continues to seek out ways to address the persistent talent issues that local companies are facing. Rick Baker, president and CEO of the Grand Rapids Chamber, said the organization is advocating for ways to attract talent at the local and state levels, including by expanding programming in 2020.