Page 6 - BusinessWest November 24, 2021

Changing the Script
Area Chambers Adjust to New Roles, New Ways to Carry Out Mission
Area chambers of commerce, like businesses in all sectors, have suffered during the pandemic and faced a number of stern challenges. For the most part, they have come through these tough times — smaller in many cases, with many chambers now one-person shows — having proven their value and relevance after helping their members survive upheaval without precedence. The challenge moving forward is to rebuild their memberships, their financial foundations, and, yes,
their staffs, while also creating new and different ways to maintain that relevance they found during the pandemic.
By George O’Brien
Jordan Hart admits to sometimes getting lonely at the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce’s spacious offices on High Street.
There are still monthly board meetings in the large conference room and an occasional visitor. And the entrepreneur leasing a small office toward
the back of the space comes in now and then.
But mostly, it’s just Hart.
Indeed, this chamber is now essentially a one-per-
son operation, the culmination of a trend that started before the pandemic and has only been accelerated by COVID-19.
“I am the chamber,” said Hart, one several relatively new chamber leaders in the region — she became exec- utive director almost a year ago after more than nine years with the agency in various roles, adding that there were five people working in the same space when she first started there.
As part of a broad rebranding and rebuilding effort at the Greater Holyoke Chamber, Jordan Hart is working to build a stronger relationship with the Hispanic business community.
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NOVEMBER 24, 2021
FEATURE
BusinessWest