IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN MONROE

We told the Governor when we was here for his annual luncheon with us that the bright and shining light he sees every night to the north of Baton Rouge is Monroe, West Monroe, Ouachita Parish and Northeast Louisiana! There is something special happening in our city and in our region! There is an energy, excitement and buzz that hasn’t been here in a long, long time. Thanks to our fantastic board of directors, our staff and our amazing volunteers your Monroe Chamber has been right in the middle of the excitement. Rain, shine, hot or cold everyday is a Beautiful Day in Monroe, Louisiana.

ROY HEATHERLY President & CEO

THE CHAMBER:

As we closed out 2021 we had two goals. The first was to diversify our board of directors. Thanks to the leadership of our Chairman Tania Hilburn, we assembled a fantastic board that reflected the make up and DNA of our community. What an honor it has been to serve with each of them this year. They embody the spirit of what makes this community special. Our second goal was to build a strategy based on specifically targeted business segments that help us achieve our mission of creating an environment where your business thrives. In January under the leadership of Tania, Jay Mulhern, Beverly Lewis, Dr. Wendi Tostenson, Paul Hutcheson, Jasmyne McConnell, Jeremy Harrell, and Jessica Hale we launched committees and strategies that addressed Governmental Advocacy, Technology, Non-Profit assistance, Workforce, Education, Small Business, Member Value, Diversity, Healthcare and Finance. Each committee was built with board members and member volunteers. From there the work began. As a member you might have noticed we did a lot of surveys to find out what we could do to help you. Some highlights include the following: Our Government Advocacy Committee engaged political candidates and partnered in a political forum, our Technology committee hosted our first Cyber Security Summit, our Education committee launched a school pride and educational pathway campaign that includes 10 banners at each Monroe City Schools and a STEM Music concert for all of our city 3rd and 4th graders, our Healthcare committee launched Medical Moments, our Workforce committee is in the middle of helping form a Manufacturing Council and partnered with other local organizations to hire a dedicated workforce employee, our Diversity committee partnered with others to put on a diversity training and our Small Business committee launched a new monthly networking event called Coffee & Conversation as well as partnering with the city to hold real estate and business district meetings. And…………. we’re just getting started. 2023 will see us build on all of those efforts. We are also adding a committee called Community Engagement and Pride. Another project we began in 2022, was revamping our entire marketing effort. Working with our partners at Kinetix we revamped our website to include more videos and updated community, committee, and member information. Our newsletter was overhauled, and our social media efforts took off. We launched campaigns thanking our Total Resource Sponsors, saluting Oneroe stars and 100 Days of Funroe. Over the holidays we ran a Shop Local – Eat Local Ouachita campaign and Thanks to Randy Stone and Ashley Doughty Able we have a regular spot on Louisiana Living celebrating our members. As you read through the following pages you will see recaps of numerous chamber events. Thanks to Daphne Garrett and Terri Arthur our events and GALA skyrocketed. You will also see articles highlighting local manufacturers in a series called “Made in Monroe”. We make some amazing things in our city and we all should celebrate these amazing companies making some amazing things.

THE CITY:

Wow – Wow – Wow – I tell people they won’t recognize our city 5 years from now. The city is in phase 2 of our Downtown Master Plan and launched a master plan for our parks and recreation centers. RFP’s have gone out for the Candy Company buildings and the Kansas Lane project. The city hired a Mainstreet Director (Nirali Patel) to spearhead the downtown efforts. $300,000,000 of Capital Outlay money is being invested all over our city to improve, fix, repair or upgrade much needed projects. Much of the work is in infrastructure which is needed so other projects can be developed and happen. Ground has been broken on the new Bio-Medical Research and Innovation Park. In early November the city hosted the Southern Rail Commission to discuss passenger rail from Atlanta to Dallas with a new station in Downtown Monroe. Our friend Tom Pearson continues to elevate our zoo and another good friend, Melissa Saye is well on the way to relocating The Northeast Louisiana Children’s Museum to a new 20,000 square foot building in Forsythe Park. Michael and Kristy Echols continue to do amazing renovation work in our downtown. Dr. Berry and the team at ULM continue to WOW us with some amazing things happening on the Bayou. VCOM-Louisiana just white coated their 3rd class and Louisiana Delta Community College leads the entire system in innovative ways to teach, train and match students with the workforce needs of our local businesses and manufacturers. Leaders like Governor Edwards, Senator Kennedy, Senator Cassidy and Congresswoman Letlow use words like transformative and collaboration when describing the team approach to change in our city. The good news is as Mayor Ellis would say ……. Uncle Roy we’re just getting started.