Dear Chamber Members, 

Most of us have been working remotely for about 8 weeks now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders. It is hard to believe how much time has passed since this historic public health crisis erupted in March. Your Chamber has remained both productive and innovative during this time. 

We are fighting back on behalf of our business community as we work closely with local chambers of commerce, city and county leaders and state officials.  We are still creating webinars with up-to-date information on financial aid for our members and taking other actions to keep businesses connected to our services. The leads groups, ambassadors and industry groups are meeting virtually and remain active.  We have established a Reopen Hollywood Business Task Force to work with local stakeholders and our local government leaders, plus a Task Force Sub-Committee focused on Beach and Downtown businesses. These task forces meet weekly.  We have used Zoom technology to host virtual versions of our recurring Good Morning Hollywood Breakfast and Business After Hours events. We also virtually relaunched our Leadership Hollywood program. And we are preparing to launch our Shop Local Campaign as we team up with the 90 dayiLoveLocal2020 campaign led by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance and Broward County.

Our Chamber’s revenue remains depressed.  In April, I took several actions to reduce expenses. I have canceled some outside services, shrunk the size of the Chamber staff, and cut the salaries of all remaining team members, including mine. The Chamber also has started charging minimal admission fees for some of our virtual meetings. I am meeting with the Executive Committee every two weeks now to reevaluate our financial situation to see if further cost reductions are warranted. 

Despite our distress, the Chamber is not eligible for some of pandemic-related financial relief that many of our members have or can receive. The CARES Act excludes from eligibility all chambers of commerce and associations designated as 501 C (6) organizations. These are extremely challenging times for all of us.  Now, more than ever, I need your leadership and support on our journey through this crisis to continue serving our community. We are all in this together.

What’s next? As we enter the next phase one of this journey, the initial “re-opening” our economy and our community, we feel renewed energy and anticipation. We need to remain vigilant, of course, and continue to follow the CDC guidelines as new questions arise. How can Chamber meetings and events adapt to keep us connected and support safe commerce? Across all industries, how will our businesses need to adapt to ensure the safety and security of their customers? Who can allow a customer onto business premises and how? These and many more questions will need to be answered. Though the answers may be complex, we nevertheless are starting to shift our focus to reinventing and re-imagining our local economy as we build on recovery and embrace change.

Best,

Marie Suarez, IOM
CEO / Executive Director
Greater Hollywood Chamber of Commerce