Sarnia-Lambton chamber gets local help with new strategic plan

A new three-year strategic plan for Sarnia-Lambton’s chamber of commerce relied on local expertise, the chamber’s boss says.

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Along with community and member input, local member Bryan Boyle was contracted to develop the plan, and a local $5,000 donation mostly covered costs, said chief executive Carrie McEachran.

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“The chamber supports chamber members and we wanted to make sure it was a local person that we were supporting who was going to support us,” she said.

She said she’s pleased with the result: a 2024-27 road map that prioritizes enhancing value for the chamber’s 576 members, more lobbying and activism for member interests, improving internal policies like board bylaws, and providing quarterly community and membership updates.

“Everything in that strategic plan has come from what we’ve heard from our membership and the community,” McEachran said.

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Delays in issuing a request for proposals to hire a consultant meant the chamber missed its scheduled late summer 2023 launch of the new plan, shes aid. The chamber’s last plan lapsed in 2021.

Much has changed since then, McEachran said. “We’re seeing a lot more young people starting businesses and wanting to become more involved in the community, and wanting the resources.”

So part of the plan is focusing on what the chamber can offer them, and members outside Sarnia.

“Which is something we’ve really heard a lot of chamber members out in the county,” she said. “That they’d like to see us out there more” for chamber events and initiatives.

As for advocacy, there are limits to what she and the chamber’s two other employees can do, McEachran said.

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“But if there’s an issue on the table that impacts local business, that impacts our members, we certainly will be there” to advocate for member interests to city or county council and provincial and federal governments, she said.

There are no plans to hire, but hopes are community volunteers and retired members might help with some policy work and updates the strategic plan recommends, she said, noting some of the work has been underway for a year.

“We’re really excited about the next three years and what the new strategic plan will bring us,” McEachran said.

The plan can be seen at slchamber.ca.

[email protected]

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