Organizational meeting held for veterans council

Groups discuss ideas

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Parker Chamber of Commerce President T.J. Sullivan hosted a brainstorming session at the Douglas County Parker Library in hopes to make the rst Chamber Veterans Council.

Sullivan was inspired by another chamber executive to look into creating community councils through the chamber. As there are many specialized groups in the community, to be involved in an issue that they care about would be a way to get more people involved in the community, he said.

“We wanted a council with substance,” said Sullivan. “[To help] expand the reach of the chamber and also bring in people who identify with that particular community.”

According to Sullivan, there are many military veterans in the Parker Chamber of Commerce. e Town of Parker also has a large veteran presence as well as veteran-owned businesses, e Chamber’s mission statement is “To be the preeminent organization in the Parker area for advocacy, promotion, and collaboration of business.”

With a primary goal of supporting veteran-owned businesses, the purpose of the Parker Chamber Veterans Council is to provide professional resources to veterans in the area, promote professional programs and opportunities and to encourage more veterans to start businesses in Parker.

In attendance were 16 veterans, active duty members and family of military personnel, all of whom work in or run a business in the area, and many are part of the chamber.

Everyone sat in groups of four to discuss and write down ideas of how a Parker Chamber Veterans Council could assist Veteran business owners.

“It’s a good thing to have these things work out organically and actually ask the community that’s gathered what they want, what’s needed,” said Sullivan. “ is is literally a brainstorming meeting to see if this is something that would be useful, if we can help people and if we can do it within our mission.” e group’s thoughts crossed over one another as each had similar ideas. Topics focused around mentoring, networking, social media and marketing, preparing a resource list, having a presence at events and being a liaison to the town council. e idea of the veteran council is to provide resources for and mentor veteran entrepreneurs and veteranowned businesses who are looking for additional support. Resources would include listing the job trades and diversity of those involved in the council. e discussion of how to let the community know the council and resources are available was brought up. Social media and marketing will be a focus as many people coming out of service are looking to sites such as LinkedIn for job opportunities. e date and time of the next meeting will be announced at a later date.

Attendees were given 30 minutes to discuss how the chamber could support veteran business owners, how they could encourage veteran entrepreneurs and what activities could a potential council do to make a di erence for veteran owning or wanting to own a business.

Among many ideas, one was to have job listings available for veterans in veteran-owned businesses that already exist. is would help create a transition and build trust and partnerships among business owners.

An attendee brought up the idea of creating a veteran business fair expo that veteran networking groups could be invited to. e expo could include chamber business and community resources.

Looking forward, Sullivan will be reading over the notes that were provided during the organizational meeting and is awaiting approval from the chamber board.

According to Sullivan, the Parker Chamber Veterans Council looks to have 12 permanent members. e only requirement is the person has to be part of the chamber or have a legitimate connection to the chamber.

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Cooking with Elle @ 3pm

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Casino - Bally's @ 12:45pm

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Colony House @ 6pm

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Little Image @ 6pm

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Wendy Clark Band: Wendy Clark at The Englewood @ 7pm The Englewood Tavern, 4386 S Broadway, Englewood

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MODE Experience at Parker Arts PACE Center @ 6:30pm

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Anavrin's Day: Tailgate Tavern Main Stage @ 7:30pm

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Tony Medina Music: The Open Mic at The Alley @ 5:30pm

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Bunny Trails at Belmar @ 10am / Free

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