Paving a Roadmap to Recovery - Santa Maria Valley Chamber Partners with Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber to Get Local Communities Back to Business

It has been a year now since the pandemic began, and the impact on local businesses cannot be overstated. As an advocate for our business community, the Santa Maria Valley Chamber continues to look for ways to support our local businesses through reopening and recovery. As part of that effort, the Santa Maria Valley Chamber has partnered with the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber on their Roadmap to Recovery. The plan maps a course for local economic recovery based on efforts over the next 6 months and beyond, and as long as it takes for our businesses to recover.

“Our Chamber has remained focused on helping businesses get back on their feet and thriving, and to offer resources wherever they are needed,” explained Glenn Morris, President/CEO for the Santa Maria Valley Chamber. “The Roadmap to Recovery adds to these efforts by establishing realistic goals for business opening, tourism growth, manufacturing output, customer visits, financial improvements, and the return of the workforce.”

The Roadmap was created by the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce as a business-community focused plan, featuring tactics and milestones that will help local communities through and out of the current economic crisis.

“We applaud the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber for putting in the work to develop this Roadmap to Recovery,” said Edgar Gascon, Chairman of the Santa Maria Valley Chamber Board of Directors. “The Santa Maria Valley Chamber’s mission is to be a champion for our local businesses, and the plan they have developed directly aligns with our goal of advocating for our business community. The Santa Maria Valley Chamber Board is proud to endorse this effort and partner with the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber to present a unified, county-wide position on the issues related to business reopening and recovery.”

By endorsing the Roadmap to Recovery, the Santa Maria Valley Chamber with partner with the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber in advocating for the principles and milestones that are outlined in the plan with local and regional elected officials.

A major component of the Roadmap to Recovery is a recommendation that businesses utilizing the COVID Safety 5-Step Method (masks, sanitizing, social distancing, ventilation, plexiglass/ barriers) should be allowed to operate. Recommendations from the CDC and the County’s attestation process confirm these five steps have been determined as the most effective responses to operating safely.

The plan also provides detailed goals and a timeline to get communities back to business over the course of the next 6 months. Components of the timeline include reopening businesses, bringing students back to in-person learning, the vaccine rollout and resuming travel.

“The partnership with the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber on this effort is another great example of how we can work more efficiently and have a greater impact by taking a regional approach,” explained Tim Ritchie, Chairman of the Santa Maria Valley Chamber Business & Government Roundtable. “A full reopening and recovery of our local businesses is something all of us want, and we look forward to joining the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber in advocating for the principles and milestones outlined in the Roadmap to Recovery.”

Additional details about the Roadmap to Recovery can be found at goletachamber. com/advocate/roadmap-to-recovery/.

A major component of the Roadmap to Recovery is a recommendation that businesses utilizing the COVID Safety 5-Step Method (masks, sanitizing, social distancing, ventilation, plexiglass/barriers) should be allowed to operate. Recommendations from the CDC and the County’s attestation process confirm these five steps have been determined as the most effective responses to operating safely.