July/August 2011 Vol. 5 Issue 4
Don’t Miss…
Leadership Longview taking applications for new class , p. 5
Chamber of Commerce J Convention and Visitors Bureau J Downtown Development
Also in this issue…
Chamber Awarded Five-Star Accreditation by U.S. Chamber of Commerce
WHO CAN HELP SUPPORT PROGRAM UNVEILED
3
MS COMMITTEE IMPLEMENTS WAYFINDING PLAN
4
LEADERSHIP LONGVIEW APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE
5
BRINGING LEADERSHIP TRAINING HOME
8
GEOCACHING: IMPACTING LOCAL TOURISM MEET OUR AMBASSADORS
9 10
Departments RIBBON-CUTTINGS
6
ANNIVERSARIES
7
NEW MEMBERS
7
CALENDAR
11
Longview Progress Report is published by:
410 N. Center Street / Longview, TX 75601 903-237-4000 / www.longviewtx.com
G
ood news! The Longview Chamber is pleased to announce that after a comprehensive self-review, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has awarded us with 5-Star Accreditation. This prestigious honor puts us among the top 1% of chambers nationwide. “The Longview Chamber of Commerce has done an excellent job in many areas and has implemented a wide variety of valuable and successful programs for its membership. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is proud to accredit the Longview Chamber of Commerce with our highest level of recognition, the 5-Star ranking. Congratulations on this remarkable achievement, stated Allison Steely with the U. S. Chamber of Commerce! “I am honored that we have been recognized as a 5-Star Chamber,” said Kelly Hall, Chamber president. “The Accrediting Board highlighted several areas that were considered excellent. These are a few that really made me proud … • The chamber does an excellent job of recognizing its volunteers; • The chamber recognizes the benefit
that its members value most, the Sensible Solutions program, and, the chamber is commended for making plans to ensure that this program remains valuable and relevant moving forward; • The chamber is commended for its excellent grasp of the impending factors that will seriously impact the chamber in the next three to five years, as well as for preparing ahead for these issues.“ YOUR Chamber will continue to strive for excellence and mold programming needs to meet the needs of our customers…OUR MEMBER INVESTORS!” This past year, the staff, board, and volunteers of Longview spent countless hours completing the Accreditation process. Our task: demonstrate competency in 9 core areas ranging from finance to facilities. The result of our hardwork is evidenced by this impressive rating. But in truth, we should all be extraordinarily proud of this milestone achievement. It was a true team effort. The only national program recognizing continued on p. 8