Chamber Voice - Vision 100 Edition | January 2025

Chamber Voice of Business Magazine

December 2024 | Vol. 19 Issue 12

What’s Inside?

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4 From the President: Vision 100 6-7 December Events Recap 9 2025 Signature Events 10 Sips on the Bricks Recap

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13 January RLC Events

C h a m b e r Vo i c e o f B u s i n e s s M a g a z i n e | D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 4

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Quick & Clickable Links MEET OUR NEWEST MEMBERS

MEMBER RENEWALS 1 - 30+ YRS

recent RIBBON CUTTINGS

Meet our board

317 West Walnut Street Rogers, Arkansas 72756 P: (479) 636-1240 F: (479) 636-5485

December 2024 | www.RogersLowell.com

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A message from the President Raymond Burns, CCE | President/CEO | RLC

Happy New Year!

We’re entering the final year of our 3-Year-Strategic Plan, Vision 100, inspiring us to imagine our journey of dynamic growth and re-imagine the Chamber.

• Vision 100: The Rogers Lowell Chamber has incorporated our visioning to develop programs, philosophy and strategy geared towards how we approach growth, building, and bonds for our area.

Why it matters: • Relevance: This is ensuring we’re relevant to the next generation of servant leaders who desire to serve business and community together.

• Competence: It is also helping us to be competent in an era of rapid change, and to remain necessary because our mission-work is solving important business and community challenges.

• Sustainable: And it’s moving us in the direction of being more sustainable with our long-term funding from our customers, members, and investors.

Our Progress: The 2024 Leaders Conference was held at the Embassy Suites on June 27, 2024, bringing together business and community leaders to provide an update on Vision 100 as well as discuss the future of our community.

• The group heard from leaders from around the region including Robert Burns with the Walton Family Foundation, Dr. Jeff Perry with Rogers Public Schools, City Officials from both Rogers and Lowell, and Nelson Peacock with the NWA Council.

Conclusion: The stage is set for dramatic growth in Northwest Arkansas, which means a focus on the incoming population MUST play a more prominent role. At the 2024 Leaders Conference, local business and community leaders discussed the solutions and challenges in maintaining a quality of life aligned with the small-town hometown feel that everyone desires, as we develop into a larger metropolitan area.

• Dig deeper here.

C h a m b e r Vo i c e o f B u s i n e s s M a g a z i n e | D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 4

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2025 Board Directory

Now Accepting 2025 Door Prize Donations!

Click fo more r info!

December 2024 | www.RogersLowell.com

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December Events Recap Mixer de Negocios

Business After Hours

Coffee Connection C h a m b e r Vo i c e o f B u s i n e s s M a g a z i n e | D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 4

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Art on the Bricks Art Walk

Downtown Merchant Meet-Up Learn more on pg. 11

Central Referral Connection December 2024 | www.RogersLowell.com

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FREE NWA Employer Awareness Video Sessions with NWA Council Current efforts are ongoing to provide awareness of our region’s hiring needs and to build awareness of each of our employers.

• We want to ensure your employment needs are presented to our students, job-seekers and beyond.

We will kick off 2025 by offering our employers FREE recording session to showcase immediate and upcoming hiring needs and training opportunities through our employer highlight series and we want to highlight YOUR organizations!

These videos: • Typically consist of a 3-4 minutes and provide either face-to-face discussion or B-Roll that informs viewers as to immediate hiring needs, highlighted benefits, company culture, how to connect and more.

• These videos will be pushed out via multiple social media streams to our regions’ job seekers.

With additional recording spaces available, please let us know if you or your organization would like to be featured in our lineup.

To register for these spaces, please contact Joe Rollins at Joe@NWACouncil.org

C h a m b e r Vo i c e o f B u s i n e s s M a g a z i n e | D e c e m b e r 2 0 2 4

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Join us for our

2025 Signature Events

2025 MAJOR EVENTS CALENDAR

rship Sponsook & bo re! info he

EVENT NAME Chamber Night Rogers Public Schools Chamber Night City of Lowell Chamber Night City of Rogers Annual Celebration Academic Awards National Civics Bee Local Competition NWA Spring Job Fair Educator of the Year AwardsNAME Tourism Talk Chamber Picnic NWA YP Summit

DATE Jan. 21 Feb. 18 Feb. 25 Mar. 13 April April 14 April 16 May May 8 June 6 June 13

PAGE 28 28 28 17 4 43 19 5 16 12 32

Thank-a-Teacher NWA Community Showcase Networking with a Purpose @ BAH Chamber Golf Tournament RLC Sporting Clays Classic Holiday Sips on the Bricks NWA Fall Job Fair Taste of RogersT Coffee Connection or BA Hours Spotlight Series Hustle in Heels

e 2m5b e 2 0N2S4O |R w wIwP .SR o& gAeDr sVLEoRwTeI Sl l I. N c oGm 5 5D| e2c 0 S rP O SH

Aug. 7 Sept. 13 Sept. 18 Oct. 10 Nov. 14 Dec. 5 Oct. TBD Monthly Quarterly 7 events

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7 34 15 18 21 35 20 23 8,9,10,13 22 14

Sips on the Bricks Recap

Read allt about i here!

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Merchant Meetup Recap

Downtown Rogers Merchant Meet-Up: Business Tusk & Trotter: Dec. 19 owners and their team members joined us at 2nd Street • Collaboration: Tusk and Trotter shared their Studio on Nov. 21 and Tusk & Trotter on Dec. 19 for farm-to-table approach and the importance of an opportunity to connect and collaborate with local local business collaboration, highlighting how businesses throughout the holiday season. partnerships are a powerful way to give back to the community while fostering meaningful 2nd Street Studio: Nov. 21 connections.

• Guest Speaker: Kaylee Williamson, Manager/ Director/Producer at 2nd Street Studio took us Mission Work: This monthly meet-up is part of behind the scenes of Onyx Coffee’s 2nd Street the Chamber’s ongoing initiative to support small Studio, while sharing social media calendar tips. businesses and entrepreneurship in Downtown Rogers.

December 2024 | www.RogersLowell.com

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Investing in Young Leaders ARVEST First Leadership (AFL) invests in the future of our community by providing an innovative, studentfocused program promoting personal growth and leadership development opportunities.

• This free program introduces students to leadership skills and competencies, builds selfesteem, explores career paths, and develops interpersonal skills.

Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas Visit • On-site Learning: On Dec. 11, AFL toured the Mercy Hospital facilities, heard from tradition and nontraditional healthcare workers and learned more about the industry’s opportunities and challenges.

Mission work: As the Chamber continues its 28th year of AFL, we continue to increase engagement with the next generation of leaders and define pathways for leadership opportunities in both the Chamber and our community!

• Have questions: Contact us to learn more about RLC’s various leadership programs.

Quarterly Spotlight Series Recap RLC’s Spotlight Series is designed to bring the RIGHT PEOPLE together at the RIGHT TIME to spark innovation, inspire ideas and align our community around common goals.

• Issue: What are we as a region doing to create talent pipelines, upskill existing workers, and encouraging future workforce to engage with in-demand careers?

• Solution: Raising awareness on the need for Workforce Development has been a strong focus of the Rogers Lowell Chamber and others in NWA. December Speakers: • Dr. Joe Rollins, Director of Workforce Development, NWA Council • Dr. Tara Dryer, Vice Chancellor for Economic Development, University of Arkansas • Bethany Hollis, Talent Acquisition Relationship Manager, Mercy Health

Mission work: Each series spotlights different issues and progress with opportunities for growing business, activating high-impact leaders, and building a strong and diverse place to visit, live, invest, work and play!

• Thank you to our sponsors!

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January 2025

Rogers Lowell Chamber Events Benton County Business After Hours

Thursday, January 16 from 5:00 - 6:30 pm Landers Toyota NWA 411 South Metro Parkway, Rogers

Coffee Connection

Tuesday, January 14 from 8:30 - 9:30 am Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney & Faucette 809 S. 52nd St., Rogers

Central Referral Connection Every Wednesday from 9 - 10:15 am Golden Corral | 2605 West Pleasant Crossing Drive, Rogers

NWA Night Out at the Capitol Tuesday, January 28 from 4:30 - 6:30 pm Next Level Events | 1400 West Markham Street, Ste. 104, Little Rock $50 tickets

RogersLowell.com/events December 2024 | www.RogersLowell.com 13

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Address Rogers Lowell Chamber 317 W. Walnut St. Rogers, AR 72756

Phone (479) 636-1240

Email info@RogersLowell.com

Fax (479) 636-5485

Website www.RogersLowell.com