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Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce Celebrating 130 years of Economic Vitality 2010 to the Present The Chamber continues its leadership role in the economic and cultural prosperity of Santa Cruz County after more than 130 years in the community. Slowly recovering from the Great Recession of 2007-2009, the Chamber presented a series of seminars, workshops, and panel conversations on using social media and other new technologies to build and grow business. In 2011 the Chamber worked with the City of Santa Cruz to establish the Santa Cruz Beach-Downtown trolley, carrying passengers in the summer in an environmentally friendly natural-gas-powered bus. The trolley life has come to close with its final run this past Labor Day. In 2012 through 2019 the Chamber created a new program — Community Leadership Visit (CLV) taking local business, education, and government leaders to different cities around the western United States to listen and learn from community leaders in those cities. These exchanges have proven to be instrumental in moving public policy issues in a positive direction for Santa Cruz County. The San Luis Obispo and Boulder trips looked at innovative ideas, programs and initiatives which might be adapted to our community. The trip to Santa Barbara focused on transportation and city/university relations. The visits to Vancouver and Seattle focused on a thriving technology community tied to the University. Trips to seven Bay Areas cities involved engagement with community leaders about affordable housing, addressing homelessness, public health and safety and land use challenges in those cities. The visit to Lake Tahoe last year was about a collaborative exercise of bringing all Lake Tahoe stakeholders together to protect the lake’s clarity and balancing the environment with a sustainable economy for the Lake Tahoe Basin. And the recently completed CLV showed us the infrastructure challenges in Ventura, Goleta and Oxnard — all similar challenges we face in our community: affordable housing, addressing homelessness, sustainable water supply, promoting the economy based on tourism and agriculture all while finding opportunities to expand the economic base through technology and innovation. We can learn from these leadership visits if we take the time to listen to other leaders about how they respond to similar issues we face at home. A pivotal moment for Santa Cruz County came through a community-wide effort to pass the 2016 Measure D half-cent 30 year sales tax measure with 68% of county voters saying yes. This was a monumental achievement for Santa Cruz County providing our cities and county with a local revenue source to match state funds to improve our county’s transportation system. The Chamber was one of the business organizations who lead this successful campaign. In March 2019, the Chamber celebrated its 31st annual Santa Cruz County Business Expo, the largest local showcase for B2B and B2C businesses and nonprofit organizations in Santa Cruz County. March 11, 2020 will be the 32nd annual county-wide Biz Expo. The Chamber continues to celebrate openings of new businesses with ribbon cuttings, brings the community together to network at business after hours, serves as the voice of its members at community meetings, shares knowledge from experts through workshops, seminars, and panels, and continues to promote its member organizations through marketing their news, services, and events. Your Chamber is proud of its role as the local voice on behalf of the greater business and entire Santa Cruz County community. We continue our work of bringing together businesses, workers, residents, organizations, citizens, and local governments to promote economic vitality and prosperity in Santa Cruz County. For the past 130 years the Chamber has been at the front lines in promoting economic vitality for our county. We look forward to the many years ahead as your Chamber continues to promote and support our Santa Cruz County businesses and organizations.
Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce Celebrating 130 years of Economic Vitality 2010 to the Present
The Chamber continues its leadership role in the economic and cultural prosperity of Santa Cruz County after more than 130 years in the community.
Slowly recovering from the Great Recession of 2007-2009, the Chamber presented a series of seminars, workshops, and panel conversations on using social media and other new technologies to build and grow business.
In 2011 the Chamber worked with the City of Santa Cruz to establish the Santa Cruz Beach-Downtown trolley, carrying passengers in the summer in an environmentally friendly natural-gas-powered bus. The trolley life has come to close with its final run this past Labor Day.
In 2012 through 2019 the Chamber created a new program — Community Leadership Visit (CLV) taking local business, education, and government leaders to different cities around the western United States to listen and learn from community leaders in those cities. These exchanges have proven to be instrumental in moving public policy issues in a positive direction for Santa Cruz County.
The San Luis Obispo and Boulder trips looked at innovative ideas, programs and initiatives which might be adapted to our community. The trip to Santa Barbara focused on transportation and city/university relations. The visits to Vancouver and Seattle focused on a thriving technology community tied to the University. Trips to seven Bay Areas cities involved engagement with community leaders about affordable housing, addressing homelessness, public health and safety and land use challenges in those cities.
The visit to Lake Tahoe last year was about a collaborative exercise of bringing all Lake Tahoe stakeholders together to protect the lake’s clarity and balancing the environment with a sustainable economy for the Lake Tahoe Basin. And the recently completed CLV showed us the infrastructure challenges in Ventura, Goleta and Oxnard — all similar challenges we face in our community: affordable housing, addressing homelessness, sustainable water supply, promoting the economy based on tourism and agriculture all while finding opportunities to expand the economic base through technology and innovation. We can learn from these leadership visits if we take the time to listen to other leaders about how they respond to similar issues we face at home.
A pivotal moment for Santa Cruz County came through a community-wide effort to pass the 2016 Measure D half-cent 30 year sales tax measure with 68% of county voters saying yes. This was a monumental achievement for Santa Cruz County providing our cities and county with a local revenue source to match state funds to improve our county’s transportation system. The Chamber was one of the business organizations who lead this successful campaign.
In March 2019, the Chamber celebrated its 31st annual Santa Cruz County Business Expo, the largest local showcase for B2B and B2C businesses and nonprofit organizations in Santa Cruz County. March 11, 2020 will be the 32nd annual county-wide Biz Expo.
The Chamber continues to celebrate openings of new businesses with ribbon cuttings, brings the community together to network at business after hours, serves as the voice of its members at community meetings, shares knowledge from experts through workshops, seminars, and panels, and continues to promote its member organizations through marketing their news, services, and events.
Your Chamber is proud of its role as the local voice on behalf of the greater business and entire Santa Cruz County community. We continue our work of bringing together businesses, workers, residents, organizations, citizens, and local governments to promote economic vitality and prosperity in Santa Cruz County. For the past 130 years the Chamber has been at the front lines in promoting economic vitality for our county. We look forward to the many years ahead as your Chamber continues to promote and support our Santa Cruz County businesses and organizations.