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From the Chairman of the Board

Business, Community Involvement Through the Chamber Reflects the Best of Emeryville

Jason Crouch
Owner/Broker, All Emeryville Properties; Chairman of the Board, Emeryville Chamber of Commerce
May 2007

Well here it is, The Emeryville Connection. At long last and after many months of work and planning, on behalf of the Board and Staff of the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce, let me welcome you to the first edition of the Connection. We are all very excited and hope you will enjoy this and each and every one of the upcoming, monthly issues.

Our intent with this publication is to make sure that Emeryville has a meaningful method of communicating to both residents as well as our business partners. It is the connection of those two communities that has made and continues to make Emeryville a special place to live and to do business. It makes our future bright and full of hope.

I serve as the Chairman of the Board of the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce, and I’ve been privileged to serve as the Chairman for almost a year and a half. I’ve learned a lots during my tenure as Chairman of the Board of the Chamber of Commerce, but if I had to pick one that thing I consider the most important, it would be how critical a strong, vibrant and functioning Chamber and its business community is to the quality of life of our City, especially a smaller City like Emeryville – and how that positively impacts each and every one of us who call Emeryville “home.”

While I absolutely support our business community, it has become clear to me that not all businesses are created equal. There are those that are just here to do business, and then there are those that are here that truly take steps to become a real community partner -- those that give something extra, those that care and take a more holistic approach to doing business. We are fortunate to have many of those community partners in Emeryville and the surrounding area.

The old ways of doing business are dead and gone. Smart, modern businesses realize that in our complex, fast-moving 21st Century society, community partnerships and connections go hand-in-hand with profitability. This is even more true in our wide-open, hyperactive East Bay environment.

This is why the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce is such an important component to the lifeblood of our community. The Chamber provides the perfect venue for any local business to connect – in a truly meaningful way – to the community in which business plays a key part. The Chamber’s Board of Directors has worked very hard over the last five years to create a Chamber that has become more than just a business association. The Chamber has become, in a very real sense, Emeryville’s central community leadership organization, not just a leading business organization. The Chamber works in close concert with the Emery School District, the Emery Ed Fund, the Exhibition of the Arts, the Emeryville Community Action Program, the N. Oakland/Emeryville Rotary Club and literally dozens of other groups and organizations to keep Emeryville a strong and vibrant community.

To those business owners reading this column who are not involved with the Chamber, I say to you in all honesty that you are missing the boat – and missing out on ways to grow your business that you may not have even thought of. If nothing else, affiliation with the Chamber is FUN, and offers more services, benefits, events and discounts than you can imagine.

I’m proud to be one of Emeryville’s cheerleaders. I earn my living by working with people who want to make Emeryville their home, and “sell” the amenities of this wonderful community every day. I live here, work here, volunteer here. Like many Emeryville residents, I emigrated here, but rapidly found a home. You can too.

I encourage all who are reading this: get involved with Emeryville and the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce, and take your business to the next level and connect with the community around you. You’ll be surprised on where the connections might take you!

Jason Crouch