Jeanine McKenna - Chamber CEO
March 11, 2008
Executive Director of the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce Jeanine McKenna will answer your questions on Emporia’s Blue Print for Growth campaign or the activities of the chamber.
Moderator: Our guest today is Jeanine McKenna, president and CEO of the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce. We have received a number of questions in advance, but will continue to accept questions through the Web site until the chat ends at 2 p.m. McKenna will answer as many questions as there is time for. Remember to click on the refresh button frequently to stay up to date on the chat. Here we go. The first question is about the Chrsitmas parade.
mythoughts: It's hard for me to enjoy the Christmas Parade because everyone sits there with their cars running. I can't breathe! Could we have a couple of "Car Free" blocks for those of us who don't mind being outside?
Jeanine McKenna: That is a concern that I have not heard before, and something that I had not thought about. I do know that at one time we provided bleachers in front of our office for people to use. Unfortunately, they were underutilized and we stopped having them brought downtown for the event. I don’t know if we can have a “car free” block or two, but I am willing to relook at this issue and see what we can do about having a pedestrian area. Thanks for your suggestion.
mythoughts: Why don't our parades have more music and horses? Staring at people in cars staring back at me isn't much fun.
Jeanine McKenna: I can only comment for the Christmas Parade which is organized by our office. The 2007 Christmas Parade had four marching bands; ESU, EHS, Madison High School, and Peabody-Burns High School Band. We mail entry forms and invite all area high school bands to participate. Also various floats play music. I don’t know the answer as to why there are not more horses. My guess is that the weather plays a factor in this. If the weather is very cold on the day of our parade, we get a lot of calls with parade entry cancelations. (all entries, not just horses). Please let our office know of any connections you have with any local musicians and/or bands and with groups with horses. We will be glad to add them to our list of names who receive registration forms. Registration forms are also available on our website: www.emporiakschamber.org
ozland: What comes first-the rights of an Emporia resident or corporate interest?
Jeanine McKenna: I am not sure what you are trying to ask with your question. The Chamber of Commerce is a business organization. Our mission is to “Create an environment for business and community success.” Our office was established 111 years ago by the Business Men’s Association. They were concerned about stable economy, jobs and having adequate service and conditions to attract business and industry. We are concerned about the same issues today.
Peyton: How is the Blueprint project going to change inlight of the Tyson layoffs? What is the money being raised for the project going towards? And why is it being raised...don't you have enough funding with the RDA, CVB and Chamber budgets?
Jeanine McKenna: Building Futures is an exciting, comprehensive five-year action plan to grow our community. I feel that this campaign in more important now than ever in light of the Tyson Lay-offs. Within the Building Futures Campaign is what we call a Blueprint for growth and development. The Blueprint is a five-year plan consisting of nine goals. The nine goals are: • Enhance how Emporia is thought of by citizen, guests and other connected with the community. • Create new high-skill jobs that provide competitive wages. • Allocate city service to effectively fit the needs of the community. • Expand the culture, dining and retail services available in the Emporia area. • Enhance the housing available in the Emporia area. • Strengthen the services and community partnerships in order to enhance the educational opportunities’ available to people in all walks of life. • Improve and increase the recreational opportunities available in the Emporia area. • Increase tourism to the Emporia Area • Facilitate population growth in the Emporia area. The money that is being raised will assist us in moving each of these goals forward. The Chamber is contributing approximately $20,000 from its Keystone membership, and the CVB will contribute up to $10,000. I invite anyone in the community who is interested to become involved to give me a call at the Chamber office. I would be happy to meet with you and discuss ways for you to participate. Building Futures will be a successful campaign with the entire community participating.
quarterback: What happened with the Chamber's efforts to work on city-county consolidation? The Chamber said it was important a couple of years ago so why are they still not working on it?
Jeanine McKenna: After a full year of study, two years ago the Chamber made three recommendations to the Lyon County Commission. The first being to hire a full-time professional administrator, the second was to expand the commission from three to five members. Our third and final recommendation is to continue to look at ways to form partnerships and streamline operations between other government entities and between departments. We feel that recommendations one and two must be accomplished for this third recommendation to succeed. The first two issues were put on the ballot and failed. One thing that we learned while out speaking to the community is that many residents do not understand how their property tax is figured, what they pay and to whom they pay it. As an example, we found that most people, both city and rural, do not realize that Emporia city residents pay taxes to Lyon County, as well as to the City of Emporia. In knowing this, we have gone back to the basics and are working with two interns from Emporia State University who are helping us put together educational information on how our property taxes are figured. It is very complicated and I have learned a lot through this process. I also believe our efforts have spawned more participation from the residents to be more involved and ask questions on efficiencies and have helped our local units of government set priorities.
moderator: How much money has been raised for the Blueprint for Growth campaign What happens if you can not raise $100,000 a year for five years? What will the money be used for?
Jeanine McKenna: We have currently raised $50,000 for the first year. We are out working with the business community on raising this money and have also applied for grant funding from both local and regional foundations. I feel confident that we will raise the money. As stated in an earlier question, the money will go towards our efforts in moving the nine goals forward. If we do not raise the money, we will scale back our efforts and do what we can with the money we have raised.
poacher: I am new to the community and was wondering what is the role of the Chamber in the community? Is it to be a cheerleader for the community and make people feel good? What do you do for businesses?
Jeanine McKenna: We are business organization. The reason we are organized is to help the business community grow and prosper. As mentioned earlier, our mission is to “Create an environment for business and community success.” Our annual business plan is based on that mission and the feedback we receive from our members. This year’s plan of work includes goals to develop a workforce task force. The task force will survey the membership to see what their workforce needs are and from that survey an action plan will be developed. Being the voice of Emporia’s business community is another action step in this year’s business plan. We co-sponsor the Eggs and Issues forums with our state and local elected officials. We have hosted lobbying 101 workshops for our members and have a calling tree in which we stay in touch with our legislators during the legislative session. We are also concentrating on membership development and growing our young professional’s organization. The Building Futures Campaign is a campaign in which many groups are involved: City, Emporia Main Street, RDA, University and many others. However, we are the organizing agency and will be spending a lot of time making sure that the individual committees are moving forward and making progress. This is just some of what we do and I feel all of them benefit the business community and the community as a whole. Are we community cheerleaders? You bet; but I think every citizen should be. We should be proud of the community we have and constantly strive to make it better. I think this is what our staff strives for every day.
moderator: Since you have been here what projects have you been most proud of? What do you think has been your biggest impact on the community?
Jeanine McKenna: I am proud of many things. I must first say that I came into a very well-run, organization. However, I learned very quickly that we cannot be all things to all people and that we needed to shore up our efforts and really listen to what our members were saying. One of the first things I implemented was our Total Resource Campaign. The businesses get hit-up everyday with requests. They asked that we come to them one time in the year and present all of our projects to them; that is the basis of the total resource campaign. The total resource campaign also made us closely evaluate each program; we found which programs our members saw value and which one’s they didn’t. We discontinued the programs in which they found no value. I am very proud of our efforts two years ago with the campaign to expand the County Commission from two to three and to have a professional administrator hired. Even though these issues failed at the election, I do feel that more citizens have become engaged in the process. We are in our third year of having Keystone members. We have 19 members who pay at least $1,000 additional in their dues. The additional funds go toward projects to improve our community, such as the Building Futures Campaign. I am proud of the Young Emporia Professionals group that is getting organized. We have a great core of young professionals who want to make Emporia their home. Finally, I am proud of the Building Futures Campaign. I feel this Campaign can and will have the largest impact on the community. I don’t know too many people who can say they love their jobs and feel like they make a difference every day in the community they live. It is not just me, but the wonderful people and volunteers that I work for. Together we are making Emporia a better place to live, work and raise our families.
gazette_reader: A common complaint I hear (and share) is this: many Emporians work really hard to send their kids to college (often ESU). However, unless they're in the education or medical fields, there isn't a very strong chance that those new college grads are going to find decent employment in Emporia. What's more, it's hard to move to Emporia (especially for university jobs, for example) if you have a degree-holding spouse who expects to work, as well. What are the Chamber's short-term and long-term plans to make Emporia a place people with advanced degrees can live and work? While I don't have any children, I can just imagine what it must be like to send your kids to college, knowing you've also probably sentenced them to moving out of town.
Jeanine McKenna: You are correct, this is a concern for many including our office. I mentioned the Young Emporia Professionals earlier. This group, less than a month ago, met with students that are involved in the LEAD program on campus. It is our hope we can make a connection with the students and show them the opportunities that are available to them in teh Emporia area. It is also the hope that the Building Futures Campaign will address this issue. Goal two is to create new high-skill jobs that provide competitive wages. By accomplishing this goal, we hope to open up opportunties for not only the students graduating, but the spouses of incoming faculity. Goal four addresses some of the amenities that are being asked for by our residents. Once again, both play a part in helping solve this problem/concern. ESU has reported that of last May 21.5% of ESU graduates stayed in our area. I don't know how that compares to other University towns, but I think that is something to be proud of.
Moderator: That's the last question we have time for. Thanks to Jeanine McKenna for taking the time to come to The Gazette office and answer these questions. Thanks also to the people who submitted questions. A transcript of today's chat will be published in Wednesday's Gazette.