2 minute read
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
"LIVE LOCAL LOVE LOCAL SHOP LOCAL" Get Caught Shopping Local!
Because the Greater Flag Chamber believes that a healthy business climate and a thriving community are inseparable, we ask you to play your part and please SHOP LOCAL! The most prosperous and inviting communities across our great land are those with many small locally owned businesses that give their communities a distinct character and flare. Sound like Flagstaff? Well it is! We’re fortunate that Flagstaff is one of them. For many years, the Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce has supported and promoted SHOP LOCAL because we know that the lifeblood of our small business community relies on high volume of consumers taking advantage of the great products they provide. If you’re like me, you like choices and small businesses offer unique and diverse items that we really cannot find in other types of stores. You don’t have to leave Flagstaff to find top notch retailers, great deals and exceptional customer service!
When we Shop local, we are helping retailers that provide a valuable tax base for the government, and much needed jobs for local residents. In addition to providing a tax base for city services like street repairs, fire protection, trash collection, small businesses provide a tremendous amount of support to non-profits too so they can provide for those less fortunate. It’s obvious that everything we’re looking for cannot always be found in Flagstaff, but please before you go out of town or look online, look around and shop in your hometown first. There’s great value shopping here in your backyard. Shop Flagstaff first so your money stays LOCAL.
Now more than ever with labor rates rising, business needs to feel confident that they can make it and keep their doors open with a larger consumer base, not a smaller one. Keeping your dollars local will add to the prosperity of our community and our quality of life which we all enjoy. If you were to go to a community down South and do your shopping, you are elevating their economy. The Chamber asks you to stay put and shop here to elevate our local economy. Lots of great local businesses cater to outdoor recreation gear, culinary delights, boutique style clothing and jewelry, beer and wine, river running, snowboarding, skiing, you name a retail need, we likely have an outlet in Flagstaff with those items.
So please LIVE LOCAL- LOVE LOCAL- SHOP LOCAL! WHY? Our Greater Flag Chamber motto states it the best: BECAUSE A HEALTHY BUSINESS CLIMATE AND A THRIVING COMMUNITY ARE INSEPARABLE.
President Chief Executive Officer
Julie Pastrick President & CEO
Greater Flagstaff Chamber Skills for Workplace Success 2023 Culinary Partnerships Conclude
We ended the Culinary Skills for Success partnership between Little America and FHS/CHS at NAU's School of Hotel and Restaurant Management. The high school youth got a first hand feel for what type of postsecondary education in culinary is offered at NAU and a talk about the types of jobs are available. These are pics of the last day at the NAU School of HRM through Dean Mark .
The Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce’s awardwinning initiative Skills for Workplace Success continues to bring classrooms and businesses together to expose students to potential careers in medicine, science, hotel and restaurant management, engineering, technology, photography, digital media, fashion design and merchandise, construction, finance, business management and more fields of work.
Business mentors visit classrooms and share real world experiences and cover topics such as:
• Challenges and opportunities in business operations and preferred knowledge, skills and abilities
• Resume building and writing, completing job applications, and improving interview skills
• Tours of business operations with hands-on learning from department managers
• Increasing students’ employability and job success
• Exploring job opportunities in the greater Flagstaff area
• Establishing classroom partnerships that pave the way to internships