The Arvada Chamber of Commerce has a 98 year history of serving the businesses and nonprofits in the community, and a lot has changed and evolved over the years. “When the chamber started, the community was just being founded, and over time, we’ve had to evolve to meet new community needs,” says President and CEO Kami Welch, who has been in the position for ten years. “We’ve gotten away from pageants, parties, and parades, and we now strive to be a catalyst for addressing the challenges and solving the problems our businesses face.”
The chamber is a group of businesses, organizations, and local leaders fostering meaningful connections and developing the next generation of talent and leadership. The group’s work is to drive conversations, develop resources, and coordinate large-scale initiatives that businesses can’t tackle easily on their own. It’s about thriving as a collective. “We hope to elevate how people see and engage with the chamber,” says Kami. “We believe there is always room to serve our community better.”
Chamber membership varies from $400 a year to sponsorship levels up to $20,000, and there are four key reasons to join. Membership allows your business or organization to:
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Connect with the businesses and leaders of our local business ecosystem and belong to a community actively dedicated to your success.
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Grow the potential of your business and your whole staff with member programs for marketing, leadership, healthcare, and professional development.
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Receive business support, advocacy, and guidance on issues such as regulation, hiring, funding, health and safety, and more.
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Impact the long-term health of our local economy by investing and engaging in solutions to challenges that impact all Arvada businesses.
Being part of the chamber over time carries greater benefits than a short-term commitment, according to Kami. “We often hear it's a long game. Being involved in your community has long-term impacts on your business, your employees, and your community as a whole. It's a commitment beyond just your business, but people do see direct benefits, as well.”
Surveys through the chamber show that members see the long-term gains. “We rank exceptionally high for a membership organization,” says Kami. “A big piece of meeting the needs in Arvada is doing community assessments to see what the pain points faced by our businesses are. With that knowledge, we can better address those issues through our programming.”
Finding qualified talent is the number one challenge. Inflation has also had a big impact on the businesses' ability to thrive and grow. There are also difficulties in the marketing space, and the chamber hears how regulatory restrictions influence success. The chamber does assessments every quarter to track trends. For instance, in 2021, mental health/burnout was number eight or nine on the list of challenges, but by the end of the year Kami says it was the number two concern. “It definitely caused us to pause. We worked with Jefferson Center for Mental Health to provide a variety of services for employers and employees.”
One of the core values of the chamber team is to provide “wow” experiences. Seven staff members currently work at the chamber, and there’s a plan to have eight by the end of the year. The chamber has a brand new website that's live now with site visitors in mind. Kami says, “We're doing a wide array of work in the community, and we're working to improve how we communicate all those efforts and opportunities. We want people to understand how valuable this work is to Arvada.”
Kami says what makes the Arvada Chamber different is the quality of local leaders involved. “They’re all willing to do the hard work needed to make our community thrive. And it's not just the chamber--it's the collection of city leaders, non-profits, businesses, and community members." Kami says the chamber has a group dedicated specifically to problem solving. "People from all aspects of the community are involved and see the value in working together to target the issues facing us all. That makes a huge difference in how effective we can be as a group.”
For more information on chamber membership and to get involved, go to arvadachamber.org or call 303-424-0313.
“We’ve gotten away from pageants, parties, and parades, and we now strive to be a catalyst for addressing the challenges and solving the problems our businesses face.” --Kami Welch, Arvada Chamber of Commerce President and CEO
“A big piece of meeting the needs in Arvada is doing community assessments to see what the pain points faced by our businesses are. With that knowledge, we can better address those issues through our programming.” --Kami Welch, Arvada Chamber of Commerce President and CEO