Inside the Chamber: Solving Challenges through Collaboration 

By Angie Anderson
President & CEO, Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association

The Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association (GSCRA) works hard to accomplish our mission of helping your business thrive, and we’ve learned over the last couple of years especially that working together with others is essential to achieving this. This fall, we are focused on solving challenges through a variety of collaborations including Prosper Glenwood, a Business Resiliency Learning Series, the Mountain Chamber Alliance and the chamber ski pass discount program.

At the beginning of the pandemic, a group of local businesses and organizations came together to support our local businesses during those challenging times. The GSCRA is proud to work together with the City of Glenwood Springs, Downtown Development Authority, Glenwood Springs Post Independent, Colorado Workforce Center and local businesses on a collaboration that has continued and evolved into Prosper Glenwood. The group is dedicated to enhancing the economic sustainability and vibrancy of Glenwood Springs through community partnership and is working to solve challenges and to develop new resources to support local businesses. 

Earlier this summer, Prosper Glenwood conducted a survey and a few consistent themes emerged as barriers to success for businesses: staffing, cost of living, housing, canyon closures and wildfires. While a variety of organizations are working on creative ways to begin tackling these issues, Prosper Glenwood continues to engage in additional outreach to listen and learn from local businesses so we can work together to find solutions. The group will continue to share progress with the community on those efforts.

Our Fall Business Resiliency Learning Series, in partnership with FirstBank, is another way we are working to help your business thrive. The first session “Preparing for the Unexpected” will address steps businesses can take now to minimize downtime and maintain functionality when dealing with anything form natural disasters to data loss. The second session, “Flipping the Switch,” will focus on how businesses can make remote work effective, leverage technology and how climate and culture can lead to business success.  “What’s Coming Down the Pipeline?” is the final session, which will cover new laws and regulations businesses should be preparing for now.  Learn more at glenwoodchamber.com/seminars.

Widening the net even further, the GSCRA is proud to be a part of the Mountain Chamber Alliance (MCA), which is a partnership of chambers of commerce across the central Rockies region including Aspen Chamber Resort Association, Basalt Chamber of Commerce, Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce Carbondale Chamber of Commerce, Colorado River Valley Chamber, Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce, Grand Lake Chamber of Commerce, Gunnison Chamber of Commerce, Gypsum Chamber of Commerce, Salida Chamber of Commerce, Steamboat Springs Chamber, Summit Chamber of Commerce and Vail Valley Partnership.

The mission of the MCA is to apply the collaborative impact of the chambers of commerce across the central Rockies, including the thousands of businesses and employees we represent, to ensure the mountain communities have a voice on regional and state issues of importance. We are excited to collaborate with our fellow chambers of commerce in the mountain region, as we all work to solve similar challenges. By working together, we can share ideas and resources, and ultimately amplify the voice of our businesses and communities.

Last but certainly not least, the chamber ski pass discount program is one of our longest-standing collaborations with both Aspen Snowmass and Sunlight Mountain Resort. How does this solve a business challenge? Offering a ski pass benefit may play a role in helping some businesses with employee attraction and retention. Through this program, chamber members can take advantage of savings on ski passes through Aspen Snowmass and Sunlight Mountain Resort. The most significant savings are realized by September 16 for Aspen Snowmass passes, and the discounts with Sunlight Mountain Resort are only available until September 15. Learn more about these and other benefits at glenwoodchamber.com.