RLC Mission 5 Mid-Year Report

Thank You for Investing in Our Community’s Future

The big picture: Whether you are an investor in our mission-work through Vision 100 or through membership in the Chamber, or both, you are helping to fuel these important outcomes for the Rogers-Lowell Area and Northwest Arkansas.

• Thank you for your investment in our community’s future and for taking time to learn more about our mission-work.

Mission 5 Report: This quick overview highlights midyear results, accomplishments, and other outcomes from your Chamber’s efforts to be influencers, catalysts, and conveners; the trusted source for growing business, activating leaders, and building community.

Why it’s important: Our mission-work impacts your business and our community through programming devoted to five key focus areas:

• Advocacy & Government Affairs represents the Voice of Business with our local, state, and national legislators and influences long-term prosperity for all. We are your seat at the regional table.

• Community Development prepares leaders, attracts talent, and ensures quality of life for our next generation by being the Keeper of the Community Vision.

• Destination Marketing & Management increases tourism revenue for regional businesses, generates returns for tourism marketing investment, and champions our destination’s quality of life for both residents and visitors.

• Economic Development attracts, retains, and expands business and industry, grows our tax base, creates jobs and career opportunities, and develops talent pipelines required for local world-class businesses to be successful.

• Small Business & Entrepreneurial Development assists with starting, running, and growing business for our diverse small business community’s needs.

The bottom line: Our Vision is for the Rogers Lowell area to be the center of world-class business, welcoming communities, and opportunities for all. This Vision drives our mission-work and outcomes in this report.

Advocacy & Government Affairs

This mission-work serves as the regional link between business and government to ensure that the Voice of Business is represented and heard. We engage the community in the political process by educating voters, providing contacts for legislators, and influencing the community to get registered and vote.

Highlights:

• Hosted four events to date bringing Chamber businesses and Legislators together.

• Additionally, we brought businesses down to the Capitol weekly to discuss NWA business issues during the legislative session.

• Created a Legislative Agenda for the NWA region; has helped us make headway with workforce education for students becoming a regional priority.

• Hosted a Legislative Wrap-Up in May with 56 people attending.

• Worked with Federal and State delegations to start identifying and tracking policies affecting business; this includes Federal immigration/workforce education, and State -level workforce education/childcare.

• Pushed out informational content that reflects positive interactions between government and business; outside of the session we sent email blasts at least once per month; during session we sent one per week.

• Worked with Community Development division on the Ready? Set. Run! program for September 14; since we are not in a major election year, we’ve also been working on strategies for voter registration/turnout.

• To create more opportunities to educate our membership on the political process, we hosted two meetups for Legislators/Chamber members. We also spoke with our Member Engagement Committee about what we do in Government Affairs.

Community Development

This mission-work activates a diverse, next generation of business and community leaders. We champion community engagement and inclusion initiatives by convening and engaging the right people at the right time. Our work also improves our community’s quality of life by supporting quality of place initiatives.

Highlights:

• Educated 32 leaders on the inner workings of our community and region through Leadership Benton County (goal was 30).

• Coordinated four professional and personal development activities for current and future leaders by working with the NWA Emerging Leaders (NWAEL) Steering Committee and local subject matter experts.

• To date we have increased Minority Participation in all leadership programs by 15 percent in 2023 (goal of 20% by end of year).

• Provided six training programs for Chamber Members on SEI (Social Equity & Innovation) issues, problems, and solutions. Topics included: Diversity in the Workplace; Diversity in NWA; Creating Cross-Cultural Dialogue; Building Inclusive Teams; Unconscious Bias; Creating More Effective & Diverse Boards and Councils; and Choosing Respect in the Workplace.

• Launched two new programs/events to date: LEAD Series and the Sips on the Bricks coming December.

• Increased Membership of NWAEL to 1,017 (goal 1,150 by end of 2023) which is helping us attract and engage the next generation of leaders for the Chamber and community.

• Sold affordable sponsorship solutions for our members to target Spanish speaking audiences (members and community at large) achieving revenue goal of $4,000 in 2023 for the Chamber.

• Signed up 26 new Minority-Owned Businesses to Chamber membership (goal is 25).

• Have assisted 48 Minority Entrepreneurs to date (goal of 150 by end of year).

• Launched Chamber Tutorial in Spanish with 19 people participating to date.

• Partnered with Spanish media to raise awareness about Chamber programming in 2023; appeared in Spanish media 10 times to date.

• Represented the community on SEI boards and commissions such as EngageNWA, TRU NWA, University of Arkansas, Endeavor Foundation, NWA Council, and others.

Destination Marketing & Management

This mission-work activates quality experiences for both visitors and residents and markets our destination by targeting leisure, meetings, and sports groups to visit and conduct their business here. We cultivate tourism to create economic and community development opportunities. Our destination leadership and stewardship help balance responsible economic growth with sustainable tourism and quality of life.

Highlights:

• Year to date, we are well above 50% completion of achieving goals in increasing Total Leads, New Leads, Total Room Nights, Total Definite Room Nights, and New Business Definite Room Nights through our sales efforts:

• Supported sales efforts through Digital and Social Media Marketing strategies including the launch of the new Destination Rogers brand and website (formerly Visit Rogers); published two email campaigns to the groups and meeting audience and two to the leisure audience.

• The hospitality workforce dedicated Tourism Talk event in April at Rogers High School attracted 400 students and 40 community businesses and partners.

• Hosted Northwest Arkansas chapter meeting of Arkansas Hospitality Association at Embassy Suites Rogers as part of our efforts to strengthen strategic partnerships.

• Director of Sales, Luke Wiggins, completed two modules of Destinations International’s Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) credential program and was also honored “Partner of the Year” by the Arkansas Society of Association Executives (ASAE).

Economic Development

This mission-work creates a pro-business, pro-growth economic environment. It spurs economic growth as a key driver for increasing the sales tax base which funds education, public safety, and infrastructure. We also develop talent pipelines for current and future workforce needs by connecting educators and students with industry. Our resources and support help our community sustain responsible economic development growth from Downtown Rogers to Uptown Rogers and Lowell.

Overall Economic Development Highlights:

• We’ve connected industries and educators to address workforce needs in our area by creating a pipeline of new workers, educating children and parents of local career opportunities, and promoting workforce development programs in our area. To date we have hosted two K2J Connect sessions, facilitated 14 connections between public schools and businesses, partnered to host Draft Day NWA with over 3,000 local students participating, and hosted a medium/heavy taskforce to implement diesel tech program.

• We continue to work towards getting Benton County ACT Work Key certified and had two companies complete the skills audit to date.

• Worked with Rogers New Tech High School to host a career fair for high school seniors seeking employment after graduation and to increase interest in underclassmen for in-demand careers within NWA; 34 local businesses and Be Pro Be Proud participated as well as 300 students.

• Promoted workforce development efforts and resources through Mission Minute videos and Voice of Business Podcasts.

• Hosted the NWA Spring Job Fair connecting 250 job seekers with 98 area employers hiring.

• Promoted Careersnwa.com to Chamber members (via Podcast and Chamber Tutorial) as a free resource to employers to help increase hiring and raise awareness of in-demand careers.

• Worked with developers, employers, city staff, and community leaders to increase commercial growth by announcing $800 million in new development projects (including the new USL soccer stadium) within Rogers and Lowell in 2023 (goals is $150 million).

• Hosted two Large Industry Council meetings to date focusing on workforce development with Rogers Public Schools and University of Arkansas Global Campus.

• Year to date we have engaged with 47 (goal is 85) existing industries to discuss expansion and retention plans and opportunities to foster home-grown economic growth.

• Year to date we have conducted 38 (goal is 85) Employer Retention and Expansion Surveys with area employers.

• Partnered with City of Lowell staff to identify trends and future growth areas; presented high growth potential areas and worked together to redo some zoning changes.

Downtown Economic Development Highlights:

• Multifamily Housing starts and announcements for new projects have significantly exceeded our expectations, including the $25 million project, First Street Flats, which broke ground to build 121 Apartments. Our goal is a 40% Increase; this single development takes us to 140% increase in multi-family.

• A development with two multifamily apartment buildings flanking the intersection of N. 1st St. and W. Chestnut St. has been announced. The project will provide 45 units to Downtown Rogers.

• We’re attracting new companies to Downtown Rogers to increase the number of new jobs this year including the $2.2 million renovation of an abandoned 30,000 square-foot factory into a mixed-use building with 27 warehouse units and coworking space called Loloft.

• Announced a $2+ million investment in The District at S 1st Street and W. Elm St. to offer two restaurants, a bar, an office and a vacation rental in a property that was vacant for more than six years.

• The new Downtown Rogers Merchant Monthly Meetup for Downtown is attracting a growing number of business owners as well as the media who have attended several meetings. This helps establish the Chamber as the primary point of contact for doing business in Downtown Rogers.

• Chamber staff have spoken to six groups this year about Economic Development in Downtown Rogers including Women in Commercial Real Estate, the Urban Land Institute Retail Symposium and a ULI Downtown Walking Tour, Rotary Club of Downtown Rogers, and a downtown Frisco Texas Developers Group.

• At least three Bentonville based businesses are expanding into Downtown Rogers and a Fayetteville based non-profit, and an artist, each opened their first brick & mortar downtown.

• The Weekly Go Downtown Rogers newsletter has an impressive 40% open rate and 3,000 subscribers. The newsletter helps activate downtown by promoting businesses and activities to the community.

• Consistent branding and promotion of the Art on the Bricks Art Walk (AOTB) has attracted the attention of Walmart Foundation. AOTB, a Chamber program, was awarded a 3rd Space Grant to further promote Downtown Rogers’ vibrant arts and entertainment community.

• We issued 13 press releases in the first two quarters related to quality of life, arts and entertainment and interactive experiences. News media have been very receptive to our press releases related to downtown arts and entertainment. July 2023 news releases by Chamber staff resulted in 17 appearances by the TV news stations and two appearances by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette photographers.

Small Business & Entrepreneurial Development

This mission-work includes curating essential resources for starting, running, and growing business. We open new doors to new business connections for small businesspeople and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds by delivering educational and networking events. We also listen to our Small Business Council who guides us as the Voice of Small Business and helps understand and represent their needs.

Highlights:

• We updated and continue to evolve our online Small Business Toolkit in January to provide education for small business owners with helpful links to articles and essential information on relevant topics in these content categories: • STARTUP | Learn about starting a business from concept to planning to doing. • OPERATIONS | Explore strategies for running and growing your business. • OFFICE & HR | Make better decisions protecting your business and hiring, managing, rewarding, and retaining the best employees. • FINANCE | Manage your small business and personal finances. • TAX RETURN | Learn how to comply with federal and state obligations while lowering your tax bill. • TECHNOLOGY | Learn about the different ways to incorporate and utilize technology properly into your business. • MARKETING | Discover new marketing and promotion tactics, tools, and techniques.

• Hosted four in-person Chamber Tutorial sessions to help members get the most from their membership; the program is presented by the Chamber’s Small Business Council.

• Partnered with area institutions and outside trainers to offer seven business-relevant training sessions to date including Chamber-2-Community seminars and Large Industry Council meetings.

• Partnered with the World Trade Center Arkansas , UA Global Campus , Start-Up Junkie , ASBTDC and SCORE to offer four training programs to date for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

• Utilized the Small Business Council to visit 40 member businesses to fill out business questionnaires to help us promote them during Small Business Week and throughout the year.

• Our Member Engagement Committee has visited 139 member businesses to date (goal is 240) to engage them and educate them on the benefits of membership relevant to their reason for joining.

• The Chamber has been very busy this year hosting networking, educational and community-impact events for our small businesses. Networking events include monthly Coffee Connection, Business After Hours, and Central Referral Connection (held in Rogers and now in Fayetteville). Signature events to date included our Annual Celebration of Business & Community, Tee Off at TopGolf, Tourism Talk, NWA Spring Job Fair, Annual Chamber Picnic, the quarterly Spotlight Series, Art on the Bricks Art Walk in Downtown Rogers, and the Thank-a-Teacher Celebration and Fair held at Rogers High School.