Shown (L-R) at the Chamber’s office in Jamestown are Kristy Kathman, Jamestown Renaissance Corporation; Courtney Curatolo, Small Business Development Center at JCC; Katrina Fuller representing Congressman Tom Reed; Todd Tranum, Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce; Mark Geise, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development; Grant Umberger, Workforce Readiness Director at JCC; and Marie Carrubba, Jamestown City Council President.
JAMESTOWN – The Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Development Center, and Workforce Readiness at Jamestown Community College launched Small Business Week with an open house on Monday, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce.
Chamber president Todd Tranum talked about the important role small businesses play in our community.
“It’s important that we recognize the value of our small businesses and what they do for our economy, and that we do everything we can to support them – keeping our business local – and supporting them in a variety ways to help improve their commerce and drive economic activity,” Tranum explained.
Joining Chamber Tranum was Mark Geise, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development and Jamestown City Council President Marie Carrubba – who each presented proclamations recognizing the week on behalf of their respective municipalities.
Both Chamber offices on the JCC campuses in Jamestown and Olean also hosted small business people for a light lunch and conversation about services available to help small businesses increase foot traffic, meet compliance requirements, and provide for their employees.
The Small Business Appreciation Open Houses also kicked off the Chamber’s spring membership drive for 2019.
We do a lot of things related to our database and our services to help amplify our members’ search engine optimization. We have a closed loop gift card system which we use to directly drive foot traffic to our members. We put on over a hundred events in Chautauqua County promoting foot traffic into local businesses. And we’ve launched some services to help our members – particularly our small members – to comply with some of the human resource compliance laws from New York State and the Federal level. That’s a new platform we’re currently rolling out,” Tranum explained.
According to the chamber, Small businesses represent all economic sectors in Chautauqua County: manufacturing, retail, food service, entertainment, agriculture, construction, professional services, and more. In Chautauqua County, 99 percent of all businesses have fewer than 500 employees. Last year alone in Chautauqua County, there were 51 new startup small businesses.
To learn more about the chamber, visit it’s website at ChautauquaChamber.org.