October 7, 2008
While the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce may be well known for its ability to market and network businesses in the area, the Chamber also prides itself on being deeply involved in and contributing to the community.
Community involvement for the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce is not just about being able to form connections with local businesses; it is also about creating and harvesting community leaders that can guide Gainesville in a forward and positive direction. The Chamber, in an effort find and educate community leaders, established a program called Leadership Gainesville. Leadership Gainesville is a year long community leadership program that takes 40 individuals from the community and helps them develop leadership skills. The chamber realizes that the value of a good leader is priceless in the continuing development of a community, thus Leadership Gainesville primary goal is to build a resource of community leadership on a planned, continuing basis. One of the most important qualities that a leader must have is knowledge about their community. Leadership Gainesville is the one-stop, ultimate resource in collecting that knowledge. The program helps participants increase their knowledge of the Gainesville/Alachua County area by hosting different types of sessions about the community, local government and even the local law enforcement and fire rescue. It is also crucial to improve communication between present and past leaders of the Gainesville area, which makes the Leadership Gainesville Alumni Association of great importance as well. The Leadership Gainesville Alumni Association fosters, maintains and sustains community leadership. It is vital, in the effort to improve the community, to have open conversations between new leaders and past leaders. LGAA helps make that possible. The LGAA and the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce are so committed to establishing leaders and helping the community that they have a $2,500 yearly challenge grant, which is given to the current Leadership Gainesville class. The grant has to be applied to service, community or leadership projects and as an article last year in the Gainesville Sun (http://mylgaa.com/3/miscellaneous9.htm) shows, LGAA grants have been very successful and beneficial to the Gainesville community.
In more recent charitable news, the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce hosted its 13th Annual Pro-Ed Golf Tournament benefiting The Alachua County School Board Foundation through mini grants for basic classroom needs and sponsorship of a keynote speaker for the Back to School Teacher Breakfast. In the last five years alone, the Chamber has contributed over $31,000 to this worthy cause; and, due to this year’s huge success, the Chamber hopes to surpass last year’s donation of $7,500. For more information regarding this event, please visit www.gainesvillechamber.com/Golf_Classic.aspx. LGAA also hosted a recent event that gave over 178 local children backpacks, clothing and health screenings; visit www.gainesvillechamber.com/LGAA_Happenings.aspx for more information. Through these and many other events held throughout the year, the Chamber is always in the business of doing whatever possible to help the community.
In addition to all the wonderful actions that Leadership Gainesville and LGAA do, the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce also contributes to the nationwide Junior Achievement Economics for Success Diploma-See Day program. The Chamber not only understands the importance of today’s leaders in the community, but also, through the Diploma-See Day program, the need and significance of future leaders. The program is in place to help inspire Alachua County eighth graders to stay in school, equate education to success and promote fiscal responsibility through the presentation of Junior Achievement’s Economics for Success curriculum. This curriculum is presented by an engaged base of volunteer role models from the local community. These role models are usually professionals from the community and members of the Chamber. “We always encourage the Board of Directors and employees of the Chamber to participate,” said Jan Patterson, Director of Leadership Gainesville. These types of programs not only mold the leaders of tomorrow, but through different generations connecting, also help the overall heath of the community. The Diploma-See Day Program begins with schools that are deemed to be most at-risk for student drop-outs. In addition, the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce has also planned to reach all middle schools in Alachua County in 5 years; during the 2007-2008 school year alone, over 1,000 students participated in the program. The program shows students how to balance a budget, the difference between gross and net income and other activities. More importantly, it motivates students to look at their future potential, accomplish goals and experience real life scenarios from positive role models. The kids are not the only ones that gain from the experience; volunteers, as well, are rewarded by educating the future workforce and opening the minds of the youth. For more information, visit www.jaalachua.org .
The Chamber is always on the mission of exploring and representing what Gainesville has to offer. Gainesville is truly a unique and special city, so what better way to celebrate and exhibit it than through the Chamber’s new hard cover community book, as it highlights and celebrates different companies, businesses and aspects of Gainesville. The title of the book is “Gainesville: Every Path Starts With Passion” and that is absolutely true for the local businesses in Gainesville. The book covers businesses ranging from medical to schools to restaurants and hotels, and showcases spectacular pictures of nature spots like Ginnie Springs, Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park and Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, just to name a few. The book does an excellent job of spotlighting many different local businesses. As Tioga Town Center is included in the book, more importantly, the local businesses located within the center are showcased as well: unique places like Peterbrooke Chocolatier, Flour Pot Bakery and Bath Junkie. If that is not enough, special events like Boo-At-The-Zoo, where costumed zookeepers of Santa Fe College give out pieces of candy while collecting canned goods as the cost of admissions, are also featured. Gainesville has an endless amount of activities going on year-round: University of Florida’s Gator Growl, the Annual Senior Games and Saturday’s Alachua County Farmers’ Market are just a few of the events showcased. This book makes a great gift and will be the perfect compliment to any office in our community. It will also be used to promote our area to business interested in bringing high skill, high wage jobs, as well as individuals who are relocating. The purchasing price is $49.95 plus tax; shipping and handling are not included. Please call (352) 334-7100 for more information. We would like to thank all of the sponsors who made the project possible: Alarion Bank; Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation; Barry Rutenberg Homes; Best Western Gateway Grand; BioFlorida Inc.; Bosshardt Realty Services Inc.; Brame Architects; Brice Development Inc.; Charles Perry Construction; Clariant Life Science Molecules (FL) Inc.; Compass Bank; Crime Prevention Security Systems and Custom Home Entertainment; ERA Trend Realty; Exactech Inc.; Fletcher Mortgage Company; Florida Citizens Bank; FloridaWorks; Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce; Gainesville Harley-Davidson & Buell; Gainesville Health & Fitness Centers; Haven Hospice; Infinite Energy; James Moore & Co., P.L.; Keith Watson Productions; M.M. Parrish Construction Company; Marriott Residence Inn; Meridian Behavioral Healthcare Inc.; North Florida Regional Medical Center; NovaMin Technology Inc.; Office of University of Florida Research; PPI Construction Management; Professionals Title Company; RTI / Biologics; Santa Fe Community College; Santa Fe HealthCare Inc. / AvMed Health Plans; Shands HealthCare; Tioga Realty; Tioga Town Center; Town of Tioga; UF Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Institute; University of Florida Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator.