One of the main priorities to come out of the Athens Area Chamber’s 2022-2024 Strategic Plan was for the Chamber to become the public policy voice for our area’s business community. We are pleased to announce that after several months of preparation, the Chamber has officially launched the framework for our new Business Advocacy Committee.
This standing committee seeks to build a business-friendly Athens Area that allows businesses to fully compete for customers and market-share based on the goods and services they provide. The primary responsibility of the Business Advocacy Committee is to promote a positive, proactive business environment in the Athens Area by:
- Developing and supporting legislation and other governmental action which promotes a strong business climate and job growth opportunities.
- Opposing legislation and other governmental action which inhibits a strong business climate and diminishes job growth opportunities.
- Establishing productive relationships between business interests and public officials.
- Providing forums to inform public officials and candidates for public office on issues impacting the business community.
- Communicating official Chamber positions to the appropriate public officials prior to their action on the issue.
- Endeavoring to hold public officials accountable for their actions and the resulting impacts on the business community.
Importantly, while the Business Advocacy Committee is charged with the responsibility to promote a positive, proactive business environment, the Chamber is a non-partisan organization and shall neither endorse candidates for public office nor political parties.
We will be announcing the full line-up of the committee in the next month. In the meantime, you can view the public policy criteria that the committee will be using or fill out a Request for Advocacy Form on our Business Advocacy Committee page: www.athenschamber.com/advocacy. And in the near future, once the committee has taken on requests for advocacy, that page will also feature their public decisions.