Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Candace Carnahan - Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce - Full Circle with The Christi Reece Group
Hear from Candace Carnahan, President and CEO of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce on this month's Full Circle Podcast. Find out more about what the Chamber does to support the businesses in our community and what opportunities there are to get involved!
Learn more about the Chamber at https://gjchamber.org/.
If you prefer to watch your podcasts, head over to our YouTube page to check out this and all our episodes!
Hear from Candace Carnahan, President and CEO of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce on this month's Full Circle Podcast. Find out more about what the Chamber does to support the businesses in our community and what opportunities there are to get involved!
Learn more about the Chamber at https://gjchamber.org/.
If you prefer to watch your podcasts, head over to our YouTube page to check out this and all our episodes!
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Speaker 2:The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christy Reese and her team here from the Movers Shakers, and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the full circle. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Full Circle Podcast. I'm your host, Kristy Reese, and today I'm really excited and honored to have as our guest, Candace Carnahan, president and CEO of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce. Welcome, Candace.
Speaker 3:Thank you Kristi . Appreciate being here. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So much to talk about. There's so much that goes on in the chamber. And , uh, disclaimer of sorts. I was , uh, on the board for four years at the Chamber and just ended my term, but I really loved , uh, working with the Chamber. And, you know, before I became , uh, got on the board, I wasn't sure what a Chamber did, honestly. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . I was like, in this day and age , um, 'cause my past experience with Chambers was more about networking, and I was like, in this day and age, do we really need those networking opportunities? But honestly, they're super valuable and the Chamber does so much more. There's , so there's a lot to talk. <laugh>. Before we get into that, we always like to start with a little bit of your history. So you grew up in Grand Junction, correct?
Speaker 3:I did. Born and raised here in Grand Junction. So proud graduate of Central High School. Nice. Of course, did the traditional walkabout go out , experience things , uh, but so excited to come back into the community and now just absolutely honored and humbled to serve this community that , uh, I have been a part of my entire life in this , this role. So, yes, very
Speaker 2:Exciting. Awesome. You went to Colorado State University? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . What'd you major in there?
Speaker 3:I did. So actually I majored in speech and theatrical design. So just to show you that your path might be curvy and not what you always intended. Absolutely. Um, but it's, it's interesting. Learned so many different things, but it's really the journey between college and now that has really led me to where I'm at today. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> .
Speaker 2:And, and talk a little bit about that path. What kind of jobs and professions were you in, in the interim? Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, I've always found myself very service oriented in whatever role I've been in. So obviously I've done my time in , uh, being a waitress and food service, which so many of us have done, which I think is critical and everybody should , and they should. I was, I was just getting ready to say the same thing. You learned so much Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> from being in those service related roles. Um, but I, I did go and work at , uh, Walt Disney World for seven years, where I , um, trained on their traditions and their standards. And when you wanna talk gold standards of , oh boy, how to make sure that you're navigating service and crafting an experience for people every day , uh, quite frankly, no matter what kind of day you are having, it's potentially the best day of their lives. Yeah. Um, you learn so much of what to do, what not to do, and it really set a , a huge foundation for me. Um, I owned an event planning company for 15 years, which again, is, every, every event is different, every experience is different, and you're trying to please a variety of people in , in stressful, high expectation scenarios. Um, and I, I also managed a lot of hospitality in the hotel industry. So , um, I really enjoyed my time at the Stanley Hotel up in Estes Park.
Speaker 2:I bet that
Speaker 3:Was wonderful. Um , you know, did my best to stay away from all the haunts, <laugh> and GULs. But , um, you know, what a, a beautiful place to experience hospitality. And really, that's just been my path, is finding ways to serve and grow. And I can tell you no matter what the experience is, I've never been tunnel visioned on the role that I've had. I've always asked lots of questions, said, how are you doing that? Why are you doing that? And tried to just absorb Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> as much of every experience as possible. And I think it's really created this well-rounded experience that has led me to here and, and frankly, leaning into the failures and really challenging times. They weren't all great and grand every time. Yeah . But when I look back, I'm so thankful for those challenging opportunities because it allowed me to learn how to navigate them. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , how to avoid them, and also you will survive them and, and treat them as a learning opportunity. I,
Speaker 2:I love what you said earlier about, you know, taking a , a sinuous path , um, in your career, because I have a , a 19-year-old and a 17-year-old. My son's going off to college, took a gap year and Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and I talked a lot of them to them. A lot about, you never know where you're gonna end up. You don't know who you're gonna meet. You don't know what opportunities are gonna come your way. You do your best at that age to try to figure out some things that you like, but it can be so divergent from where you start. And , um, it's exciting to think about the possibilities. And I think that there's so much you can learn from one industry and take it to another that makes you think outside the box, so to speak.
Speaker 3:They're all interwoven. And one of my favorite quotes, and I wish I could remember who said it, I'm sure some, some of you out there will remember this, but it's to live where your feet are in the moment. And sometimes I feel that's becoming lost a little bit, but when you think about I'm supposed to be in this moment good, bad, or somewhere in the middle for a reason, and you say, I'm gonna just make the most of whatever those reasons are , um, it really does propel you to continue to be in a better place in that next step. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative> . So you, did you come back to Grand Junction to work at the Chamber, or did you come back before that and then get the job?
Speaker 3:I did actually come back to work , uh, for the Chamber. I was managing a hotel in Glenwood Springs at the time. My entire immediate family is still here in the Grand Valley, and we found ourselves commuting every weekend to come to the family barbecues. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and enjoy the nieces and the nephews. So , um, when I did start to look here , um, oddly enough, again, leaning into the moment they were not hiring, I stopped by, left a resume and introduced myself and said, if you ever have an opportunity, I would love to come speak with you. I had , had , uh, experiences with Chambers of Commerce in other roles Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> in other communities, and appreciated the work that they did, and really felt that the skillset I had gathered through the years would lend itself well to that line of work. Um, and oddly enough, in that moment , um, a long time staff person had decided to retire and they were getting ready to hire in the next week or two. And so we made that connection and had coffee and, and the rest is history in , uh, may, that was nine months ago that I joined that team. And, and here we are today, nine years ago, or nine. Yeah . Not nine months. <laugh> Nine years. Nine years ago. Yep .
Speaker 2:And so you , um, started as events and program manager? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> for the chamber. Okay. So you had that event experience and hotel and hospitality experience Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> great fit. Yeah. And then worked your way up to vice president of the organization. Yes .
Speaker 3:Yes. Exactly. The more time I spent there really diving into the initiatives, the programs, and the work that we were doing , um, at the end of the day, everything we do is to serve the business community. And it's all about intentionality. And also every business has different needs and different expectations. I, I make the joke regularly that if you've seen one chamber, you've seen one chamber. And I think that can be said about our business community as well. Great . Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And so if we're constantly operating from that place of, it's not a one size fits all Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , uh, type of operation, we're able to better listen to those that we're serving and make sure that we're, we're creating opportunities and resources that fit the, the various needs in the various moments. And as we can all , um, say over the past few years, those needs have really picked up the pace of how they're changing and evolving. Yeah . So we have to stay nimble. Yeah. And, and so whether it was events and programs, making sure that in the moment those were relative and effective , uh, you just continue to grow that scale with the different initiatives and efforts as, as we kind of grew within the chamber. Yeah .
Speaker 2:So , um, you worked your way up to vice president Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> under Diane Swanke . Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , who was at the Chamber for how many years?
Speaker 3:35 years.
Speaker 2:35 years. Yeah . Who, and she recently retired. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> not quite two years ago. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and , uh, big search. And you competed for the position and were named the new CEO in September of 21. Is that right? August, September, October
Speaker 3:22.
Speaker 2:22. Yes.
Speaker 3:Okay . So, yeah, they , uh, we did a national search for , uh, the next leader of our organization, which was critical to everybody including me. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , uh, you know , uh, any opportunity that I've been presented, I don't want it just because I'm the next name on a list. Absolutely. Or the next office down. Our community, Des deserves better. Our businesses deserve better. We need to make sure that we were picking the best person to represent them and the organization moving forward, which in turn, I still get, you know, goosebumps. That and just the honor and how humbled I was to be selected as that candidate. It's not lost on me , uh, the, the work that we do as an organization. And so I'm just so proud to, to represent them and, and have come through that process knowing that I'm the best fit to lead the community and, and proudly show up every day to do that. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 2:And what kind of fears did you have about taking over this organization that had been under , uh, one person's leadership for so long?
Speaker 3:You know, it's, you've heard the term, there's, it's big shoes to fill, but frankly, I wanted to make sure that I honored the work that had been done. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> because our organization was positioned in a very strong way here in the community. So I wanted to honor that work, but I also wanted to be able to take a step back and say, we know who we've been and the journey we've come along, but who do we need to be and who should we be as we continue to move forward? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and making sure that we, we honor our, our past, but don't remain anchored there as we continue to move forward. Um, and so I think it was, I am not sure if it was a fear, but it was something that I, I felt a lot of pressure to make sure in this role that I was able to do. Uh, we, there's a lot of expectations. And again, I mentioned they, they vary from business to business, from community partner to stakeholder. And so it's really just trying to make sure that I am listening first and engaging in a meaningful way in any, any way that I can. And really moving with intentionality anytime we take a step. Well ,
Speaker 2:You used the word, now , I can't remember the word <laugh> . Nimble
Speaker 3:<laugh> . Yes.
Speaker 2:Um, and, and that's what I saw in my tenure on the board, was that in the transition over to you, you really wanted to be nimble and , and , and think about how do we change, how do we grow? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And some really amazing things occurred at the same time that GEP and the Business Incubator were also having new leadership. So there was an opportunity for you all to really make some big changes and, and collaborate. And we talk about that word a lot on this podcast and with a lot of the community leaders. But it's true. I mean, it really got better and better and better with just new possibilities.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. It was such an amazing time, and it , it's continuing now, but all three organizations, again, have been positioned and led in, in successful manners up to this point. But coming out of the pandemic and the amazing opportunities that our community is currently exploring, it was so perfectly timed to have three new leaders who while new to their roles, weren't new to the community. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , um, except for dita , who at the same time, I think it was so valuable to have someone with that outside perspective to continue to just,
Speaker 2:And an international perspective
Speaker 3:At that Oh , amazing. And experienced and just so knowledgeable. So with the different experiences we all brought to the table , um, and again, being able to acknowledge where we've come from, how we got here, and where we want to go moving forward in that collab, truly collaborative, not just collaborative, for the sake of saying collaborative, yes . But truly, here are the resources. Let's lay our cards on the table. Let's make sure we're leveraging them to the most , um, the , the best possible outcomes. But also asking ourselves, who's not at this table that we need to have at this table? Because , uh, I think we all three say it regularly and, and we'll continue to say it , is, it's not about who's doing the work, it's about just making sure the work is getting done for the betterment of the community. Because all roads are leading towards success
Speaker 2:And not being work, not being duplicated too.
Speaker 3:Oh, you wanna take, talk about a big waste of resource. It's, it's duplicative efforts. And frankly, when you get outside of our community and talk to practitioners who do similar work, quite frankly, they're shocked at the way that our community comes together and leverages resources and works extremely hard to not duplicate efforts. So many communities, that's the standard. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . There's, there's no precedent set to say, it doesn't matter who gets the credit, who's doing the work. Let's not duplicate. Let's, let's put all of our money into one pot and move forward and make sure those efforts are , um, maximized. And so, yes, duplication is, it is a huge barrier to actually making things effective. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> when you're talking about resources,
Speaker 2:And to have leadership in all the organizations that realize that and say, Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , you know, that, that collaboration is so important. And how do we get rid of the waste?
Speaker 3:Well, Christie , it's not easy. It's , I'm sure not . It's actually very easy to give into duplication and siloing of efforts and just going about your business and let's another party over here go about their business. And you cross paths when you, when you're walking down the street, it takes a commitment. And I actually compare it to a marriage. Marriage is work. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> collaboration is work. You have to invest in it. There's times that , um, things are going great. There's times that there's challenges, there's times that you may agree, disagree, but looking at that and saying, we're gonna come out of it for the better on the other side. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> is the approach that we're taking. And it , it continues to lead to very exciting results. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. I wanna circle back to something that I mentioned at the beginning, which was , um, what is, what do you believe is the role of a chamber of commerce in today's technology driven marketplace? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . Um, how do you support businesses and, and I mean, give us your elevator speech when you meet somebody that maybe doesn't know what the chamber does or is not a member.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's a great question. And I think you nailed it earlier on when you said that originally, the first thought that comes in your mind is that networking piece. But , uh, that's just one of the tools in the toolbox. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, the chamber's role in the , in the community, if I could sum it up in one word, is to be that convener. We aren't responsible for creating all of the solutions, creating all the resources, but what we should be is a pathway to those resources and those solutions. We should be a pathway to representation, making sure that the business voice is heard throughout all the conversations, whether it's at the , the local level, the state level, the federal level. We should be that early warning system for our community so that we know if there is a barrier or a burden that is truly preventing success within our local businesses, our economy, that we're able to raise our hand and say, community partners, that we have this collaborative web woven with. This is something that is increasing in nature. Let's tackle it collectively so that we don't have businesses leaving our community businesses who no longer want to look at our community to come into, or that the businesses here aren't growing and thriving. Because if you're not growing, unfortunately, you are moving the other direction. Yeah . And we often hear , we don't wanna grow, we don't wanna grow. Well , right .
Speaker 2:Not everybody loves growth.
Speaker 3:I think when we define growth, it's, it's an intentionality. 'cause it , it's like a weed in a garden that it's going to grow or it's going to die. And we definitely don't wanna die and shrivel up in our economy, but we can be very intentional with the growth that we're having so that it is sustainable. And so, as a chamber, we wanna make sure that we're constantly engaging with the business community, the various industries, all shapes and sizes, saying, how is it going? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , what are your big barriers? What resources do you wish you have that you don't have? And we're able to leverage that convening skill to bring all of, of our partners, all the resources to the table and say, this is the work that needs to be done.
Speaker 2:Do you think that the general public or the, or the business owners in our valley and the members of the Chamber of Commerce give you enough feedback? I mean, are are you getting calls every day from your members saying, I'm struggling with this? Or is it something you have to pull out of them ? Hey, what, you know, tell us what you need help with?
Speaker 3:No , another great question. We do receive a lot of feedback and we do a lot of polling of feedback. I , I think it's mixed. There's no such thing as too much feedback. Right. So we could always use more. Um, the biggest advice I can give to our business community is if it's something on your mind, it's probably on the mind of another business owner or operator. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So share that with us. Talk about it. And we've, we've tried to change up how that works too. It's not just these one-to-one staff member go out to a , a business , uh, and talk about it. We've also tried to create new peer groups so that you're talking about it with your fellow business peers. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . So , uh, how are you navigating it? Are you experiencing It gives us the opportunity to listen to the various ways. It's, it's showing up because in different industries it can look and feel differently. But again, our role, I think, is to make sure that there are opportunities to share that feedback at every moment, anytime that a business is willing to do it. But we also can't be afraid to ask for the feedback. And frankly, I think that's where some communities and organizations get into trouble because maybe they don't wanna hear the answers that are coming. But feedback I have always said is a gift, good, bad, anything in the middle. It allows us to operate from a truly open and honest space. And do, we don't wanna do busy work. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , we wanna do effective work. And that's how you get to being effective is asking the hard questions. Definitely no matter what the answers look like on the other side of it. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative> and the pandemic obviously was a super challenging time. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> for businesses, and I think the Grand Junction Chamber really rose up to meet the challenge. Talk about how things went through that for the Chamber and where you are on the other side. And is your membership stronger now because of that time?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the, the pandemic was, it obviously was a challenge, but I can't be more proud of how, as a community we navigated it. And there's a couple things that contributed to how that happened. First of all, I go back to that convening role and how we work very hard to establish relationships with all of our community stakeholders and leaders. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , when we found ourselves in a crisis, we weren't trying to build relationships with all these partners. Right . And then find solutions. We were able to say ,
Speaker 2:Hey, we're at a chamber, and we're gonna say it's gotta happen this
Speaker 3:Way. Yeah. Instead, it was already a steady rhythm of relationships where we can say, health department, city, county, business, community, let's all get in a room and say, what do we have to do? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> to support our businesses and keep their doors open. And everyone laid any additional agendas they were working on at the door and said, I'm all in. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , what's, what would be the ideal solution? And now what do we have in each of our toolboxes to contribute to it? And you saw that in the Five Star program? Yeah . And to see a program help our community, which only really had a , a full closure for about five weeks compared to the rest of the state , uh, the rest of the country. Uh , we recognized that just in the summer of 2020, there was over $13 million in sales tax that was protected because of the efforts through that program. That's great . Keeping our , our businesses open. And when we talk about how businesses are the lifeblood of a community and the quality of life, you have to take a step back and think of the additional benefits , uh, around keeping your community open to that capacity. From a mental health standpoint, we did not become that closed off , closed down community. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , because we still had that connectivity. You could still go out and grab a meal. You could go shop, you could interact with your neighbors and friends. So the benefits were Expedential Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And then you saw that picked up by the state of Colorado and, and implemented across the state. And then we were very proud. We actually, our chamber , um, I, I worked with , um, an organization in Canada to implement the program. I know Diane worked with some folks in other states. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , Michigan. So we were able to find a solution based simply on community collaboration and let's do the hard work and protect our community. Yeah . And it was, it was very exciting. And so when you come out of that, I think our business community was able to see that, yes, we're a member organization, but I prefer to refer to them as investors. They're investing in our business community, and they understand that it takes a village to keep it strong. And they saw that work. It wasn't about who was a member, who it wasn't, we said, what do we need to do to protect the businesses? Let's do the work. And that's who we are at a core. So it was a great example of the work that we do. Our organization continues to be strong because those investors stayed strong with us. Um, very few businesses closed their doors because of the pandemic. And it really showed the business community and our organization how we, in those tough times, you have to focus on the most basic of services. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> that you're meant to provide Yes . And services and focus on those and make sure that you are relevant in the most simplest of forms in the toughest of times. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I want to really
Speaker 2:Highlight for our listeners and viewers the many, many things that the Grand Junction Chamber does, because I think most people have no idea. So how many staff members do you have at the chamber?
Speaker 3:We have six. Okay .
Speaker 2:So let's just start with something like , um, the , the banquet, which was, is always super fun <laugh> . Um , but it's a , it's a big beast to tackle.
Speaker 3:Yeah . It's nearly 800 people. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative> a big organized event. Um, but really fun. And , um, that's not the only event you put on every year. I mean, we , you've got the economic outlook and all kinds of other things. So talk about some of the events first.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So we actually provide over 150 opportunities throughout the year to engage with our business. So , so we're talking weekly leads, groups, and opportunities , uh, luncheons throughout the month, whether it's a networking luncheon or a quarterly membership luncheon that is typically sharing a resource or an expertise from outside the area. Of course , our big ones, like our annual banquet, our economic outlook, we really put an emphasis this last year on branching out to our young professionals in our community. We do run the Young Professionals Network here in Mesa County, but we started up a young professional summit and a Best Slope Next Gen award. We wanna make sure that our young professionals have a seat at the table now, not when someone retires or someone moves to another community. The perspective that they're bringing to the table, while at a different point in their career development is still incredibly valuable. Definitely. And what a resource that we need to make sure we're including and protecting. So that's been a big focus and, and a big , um, increase in our programming around young professionals. Uh , uh, and of course, you have your business after hours. We've really worked to , um, also acknowledge that our business community is business or busy, and a lot of organizations host these types of events. So the biz mix over this last year has been really great. Where we combine efforts with Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , our fellow chambers across the valley , um, Palisade Fruita Latino, and our Young Professionals Network and get 'em all into a room at one time. Yeah . So, great to, to connect as business peers. You know, the, the short story of all of this is just so many opportunities that are all different shapes and sizes based on a business's comfort level. Time. We never want to be a participation based organization where you feel the only value is to participate. Businesses are busy. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . But we do wanna create opportunities should you wanna engage, should you wanna connect , uh, should you wanna learn. Yeah. Um, or, or grow. So , um, yes, lots of things to do every month. It's a very busy time for Yes . The six of us you throw in the legislative session and all the work that we
Speaker 2:Do for ies . It's just Yeah. Because that's a huge part of what the Chamber does too. Mm-Hmm . Is keep an eye on the laws that are being proposed that affect our business community.
Speaker 3:Well,
Speaker 2:On the local and state level.
Speaker 3:Yes. And, you know , being in real estate, you , you understand , uh, the analogy I make regularly of, of keeping an eye on your pipes and maintaining them before they break and you have a flooded basement, is what we're trying to do with our advocacy efforts. When we talk to our businesses, the continual addition of regulatory burdens continue to add pressure. And it's, it's from a cost standpoint, from administrative standpoint. So as a chamber, we have to make sure that we're working with our coalition partners across the state to craft good policy , uh, push back on bad policy, because it is very difficult out there. It's, it is hard for
Speaker 2:Businesses how it's hard running a small business.
Speaker 3:The costs are increasing. Yeah . We wanna stay competitive as a state, and I can tell you the state surrounding us are ready to take whatever we push out. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And so that does not happen naturally. There are , um, others who aren't as pro-business minded as , uh, those of us who support the business community. So we have to work very hard during the 120 day legislative session to eliminate policy that would do nothing but dampen our economy and really support the policy that allows us to thrive in communities across Colorado. And I have to say that the biggest thing that we try to focus on is making sure that Western Slope business voices are heard. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , because it is a different voice than the business voices on the I 25 corridor. Definitely. And while we have similarities, it is very nuanced. And so we wanna make sure that our businesses are heard over there, which goes back to making sure we're listening to them and representing them in a very intentional way when we go and speak on their behalf. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative>, one of my favorite things that the Chamber does is the Young Entrepreneurs Academy. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> , can you speak about that a
Speaker 3:Little bit? Well, you know, we want to create pro business minds at the earliest stages possible. So our Young Entrepreneur Academy is a wonderful program that allows middle and high school students to create their own businesses. And I have to tell you, these students, by the time they graduate the program, are probably better at running a business than some of the adults in the community. They have put in so much work because these kids are meeting every week for three hours,
Speaker 2:And they're being mentored,
Speaker 3:Mentored by , mentored by local business communities. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And they start with an idea brainstorming session. They don't come into the program with an idea, and by the time they leave, they have a fully fledged business plan. They've launched it and they present it to a panel of investors just like you would see on Shark Tank. And our business community invests in the startup of their company, and we are now heading into our 12th year of this program, and we still see graduates who are running their businesses today. Ah , that , that's wonderful. That started them within the program. And , uh, it's just, it's a really great way to see these kids develop amazing skills that are gonna help them no matter where they go , uh, but also take a passion and an idea they have and, and launch it. It's, it's absolutely thrilling. So
Speaker 2:Great love seeing, seeing them on stage at the banquet. Oh yeah. And hearing always
Speaker 3:A highlight and
Speaker 2:Hearing about the businesses. Definitely. And then of course, the leadership, it's the leadership what , what
Speaker 3:Do you call it? Yeah. Our Mesa County Leadership Program Program.
Speaker 2:Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> ,
Speaker 3:You know, business leaders are, are critical to community health and connectivity. And so again, we, we wanna make sure we're playing our part in cultivating a strong pipeline of leadership and leadership at it . Its most basic core has to start with a good knowledge of
Speaker 2:How things work.
Speaker 3:How things work, Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And so , uh, over the course of 10 months, we have leaders from across our community who are at all levels in their career , uh, spend time with us on this program. And they're exploring everything from our K through 12 system, how water works here in the valley. Um, not too many get to people, get to walk across the roller dam up in Depet Canyon. It's pretty exciting. But we really wanna pull back the curtain and connect them with community leaders, elected officials, experts on how our community continues to thrive, and also where some of the fragile points are so that we can, as a business community work to protect that. And hopefully the goal is to have graduates not just be excellent in the business that they're currently in, but excellent leaders out in the community. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> all working to keep us truly vibrant. Mm-Hmm.
Speaker 2:<affirmative> . Um, so the leadership program is an application process. It's not just one come one come all. You only have so many spots and they're very
Speaker 3:Coveted. They are, we typically accept , uh, between 20 and 30 applicants. It's kind of grown throughout the years, but we wanna keep it nice and intimate so that they're building a strong network with each other, but also that allows us to get them access into some places that they might not be able to. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . But for every one applicant that we accept, we have one applicant that we aren't able to take. And it's so difficult because mm-Hmm . <affirmative> , you know, 99% of the applicants are very worthy and great individuals, but it is highly coveted. And so they apply , um, we do an interview process and then we kick off in the fall for that 10 months of, of classes. So , um, we are just getting ready to gear up and start our interview process and whittle it down for our next fall class. Fantastic. But if , if you ever see the opportunity to apply, we do highly recommend it , uh, because it is a really great way to get to know your community better and truly become engaged.
Speaker 2:Everybody that I've talked to that has gone through the program has said it's, it's life changing really? Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And so eye-opening about the , all the processes that go on and what is our public servants do. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> how much time they put in. Um, you know, just so many that organizations, it's like when you watch those shows how it's made or something, you're like, I had no
Speaker 3:Idea. Exactly. Yeah. Come away with that. It's , it literally is how our community is made and continues. Mm-Hmm . To, to keep going. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . So ,
Speaker 2:So what other things does the Chamber do that you wanna highlight? I know, I mean, we could talk for hours about all the different things, but a few more things that maybe you're excited about.
Speaker 3:You know, as we continue to talk to our business community, when we hear what's keeping them up at night, it's really critical that we don't say, well, thanks for letting us know <laugh> . We'll come back in a year and we'll ask you again. And regularly we hear workforce development is such a challenge, and we're all feeling , um, the shortage in skilled workforce , uh, retaining employees. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> again, when we're looking at barriers and burdens, we talk about regulatory and policy, but workforce is a huge barrier and burden right now. So at, at the Chamber, we are very excited about our new initiative that we started this last year called West Slope Works . And this is really an effort to acknowledge the talent pipeline as a whole. And so we, we know that , uh, K through 12 is critical. You're shaping skills that are crucial to be successful in the workforce. Obviously your early entry jobs are very critical as you continue to build your skills, but how do we continue to upskill them and re-skill them so that it is a long lasting career and we're creating generational mentorship back to those who are maybe a little bit earlier in the pipeline. And so, by bringing together our partners that form this workforce ecosystem across the valley, we really are trying to create opportunities for our local employers to offer work-based learning opportunities. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> knowing that , uh, traditional conversations have been, what college are you going to? And they really need to shift to what career do you wanna explore? And post-secondary is so critical to that success. And, and that can be a four year or two year degree. It can also be trades, it can be cosmetology. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> just needs to be something to help grow your skills. So how can we push our high school graduates into those post-secondary options? And a lot of it is by igniting passions they already have. And so, as adults in our lives, how can we look at our youth and say they're very passionate about this, and that can translate to this type of career and helping them find those pathways.
Speaker 2:And obviously, CMU is a big partner in this effort. Yes . Because we would like to keep those CMU educated students in our community as much as possible. How are you partnering with CMU on this initiative?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So it's a partnership of both CMU and school District 51. So we're trying to capture them in, in critical developmental times in two spots. And so , um, obviously in middle school and high school, we work to try to get them thinking about career paths. But when you, when you go to to CMU, they have so, so many amazing options for concurrent enrollment. With the new tuition , uh, availability through CMU Tech, we can be lending resources to our younger K through 12 students earlier on in the process. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And then as they get into CMU, we're working really closely with their career services team to connect College students while here with our local employers, start building that network so that when they graduate CMU, it's not this cliff that they come to where they're making this huge transition in their life where they're now leaving college. Do they stay in Grand Junction? Do they go, they get a full-time job. The whole rhythm of their life changes when they graduate college. So if we can start plugging them into the community Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And again, that young professionals , uh, initiative is really focused on that as well with our college students and helping build that community around them so that when they graduate, graduate, hopefully they've interacted with our local employers, have some opportunities, built out some networks, some relationships, so that that transition is a little bit more seamless and this community is able to retain that amazing talent. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> that's being cultivated within CMU right now. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Wonderful. Um, what do you think is the biggest challenge facing specifically your chamber of commerce right now?
Speaker 3:Boy, I think our biggest challenge facing our chamber is there's just no shortage of things to be working on for our business community. And so it's really being able to prioritize what , um, is the most prevalent issue, but also , um, we don't have the luxury of only doing one thing at one time. Yeah. Right. So really it's time, time and resources to be able to, to properly serve those businesses that we work so hard to serve. And , uh, a challenge I always give to our team is to just always be listening, always be willing to pivot because it can change so quickly. And, and a lot of the work that we do, it's a long game. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> we're , we don't see results overnight by shifting workforce habits and policy changes. So it's staying in that moment and hunkering down and doing the hard things, because I have to tell you, it's not always sexy work. Yeah. But it's so important work and the community would absolutely notice if we weren't here advocating on, on their behalf. So , um, yes. I think easy solutions, more time and more resources.
Speaker 2:Right . What we all need <laugh> . Yes.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Um, anything else you wanna share about something exciting at the Chamber?
Speaker 3:You know, honestly, I , I think I just wanna share gratitude because we cannot do the work that we do without the support of our investors. Whether it be our business members , um, our community stakeholders, our fantastic board members who are a working board. They, they put in the time our, our ambassadors out in the community. It's, there's many pieces to the puzzle of our success. And so I'm just so grateful that the community continues to invest in our organization and in our business community, knowing that it , it's such a critical piece to our quality of life and this amazing place that we, we love to live in.
Speaker 2:Well, I wanna say thank you for all your hard work and your leadership at this organization and your collaboration with the other two chambers as you've talked about, because I think that's a really cool thing. You know, we've got such diverse things to offer Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> from one end of the Valley to the other. And I love that you guys are, you know, marketing and figuring out all the different , uh, ways that we can benefit from each other. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> and collaborate. That's great. So if there's somebody that , um, is not a member of the Chamber , uh, I wanna encourage people that are watching and listening. If you're not a member of the chamber, go discover what's going on there. Um , make an appointment with someone at the chamber and go sit down and say, what are the benefits that I would receive? I mean, the newsletters that you send out every month are so full of offerings, information , uh, networking opportunities, so much stuff going on. Um, so how can people get in touch and get more information about how to become a member and what, how, how it benefits them?
Speaker 3:So I would start at our website, which is gj chamber.org , and start there getting to know us a little bit, contacting us. There's contact information on the website. And to my point before, let's have a conversation. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> because one business's experience was based on their needs and their expectations. And we wanna hear from you on how we could best serve you and match the resources and the opportunities to, to make that journey successful. So we would love to just have a conversation, or even if you're just a business or community partner that just wants to learn more Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> or has some thoughts or some concerns or ideas. Again, the more we know about our community, the better we all are for it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Wonderful. Well said. Thank you Candace Carnahan from Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce. We appreciate you being here today. And , um, make sure you go check out the website and thanks for watching and listening, and we'll see you next time on the Full Circle podcast. Bye . Thanks for listening. This is Kristy Reese signing out from the Full Circle Podcast.