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Your Chamber is Here for You In the blink of an eye, life as we knew it has drastically changed by COVID-19. We are all now trying to cope in our personal and professional lives. These are unprecedented times and businesses are finding it challenging to navigate this uncharted territory. The Chamber is here to help all businesses and our community through this difficult time. Like many other businesses and not for profit organizations, the Chamber has closed our office and the staff is working remotely. While operating differently than normal, our focus is on supporting the business community by providing up to date information, answering your questions, advocating on your behalf, promoting local businesses, and helping us all stay connected.
Keeping You Informed We understand that there is a lot of information flowing from numerous sources. It takes time to sort through and process and can be confusing. Each day the Chamber sends an email with information from trusted sources on how people can help themselves, their families, and their communities to stay safe. Business owners also need to find the information that is relevant to helping their business survive and their employees stay safe. In early March, the Chamber started sending these daily email updates to our members, but also made them available to the entire community. These emails summarize announcements, resources, and information that could be helpful for businesses. These updates draw information from trusted sources including the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, and Region of Waterloo Public Health. The information in these updates can also be found on the Chamber’s blog and our website’s main page. The Chamber’s COVID-19 Resources for Your Business page on our website helps provide a central hub of information for businesses to refer to. We are updating this page daily with the most current information. On this page, you will find information and resources that include protecting your business, government programs, resources to help people stay safe, and mental health resources.
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In addition, the Chamber has been hosting a series of webinars that feature experts who share detailed and valuable information to help the business community. These webinars provide an opportunity for attendees to get information in a timely manner as well as ask any questions they may have. For those who are not able to attend the webinars live, we are recording the webinars and posting them on the Chamber’s website (greaterkwchamber.com) for future reference.
Answering Your Questions In this time of uncertainty and information overload, businesses have questions about which government programs they are eligible for, how they can access those programs, and how they can keep their staff safe. We are here to help. Our Chamber team has reached out and called all of our members over the last few weeks to check-in on how they are doing and offer support. We have been receiving questions from our members and the larger business community and we are happy to pass along information and resources that we have or look for the answers that will help you. If you have questions about managing your business through this time, please reach out to us.
Advocating on Your Behalf Advocacy is one of the Chamber’s four pillars. And now it is of tremendous importance. We continue to advocate on behalf of business by voicing concerns and sharing feedback to all levels of government. It is critical that we hear about your experiences, challenges, and possible solutions so that we can pass this feedback along to our elected officials at the municipal, provincial and federal level. The Chamber has partnered with Communitech, Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation (Waterloo EDC), and the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce to give our collective view on how to support business. This included a letter to the Prime Minister and the Premier of Ontario, outlining 6 items for immediate action. Soon after this letter was sent, we were pleased that many of these suggestions were implemented. In addition, our Chamber is a partner in the Business and Economic Support Team of Waterloo Region (BESTWR). This initiative is a partnership that includes all seven
