Page 7 - BusinessWest November 24, 2021

Grace Barone says the East of the River Five Town Chamber has brought back many of its events, but with adjustments due to COVID.
And Holyoke’s is not the only area chamber to be run by a staff of one. That’s the model now in place at several agencies, including the Springfield Regional Chamber (SRC), which had five staff members just prior to COVID, but now there’s just one computer humming at its suite of offices at the TD Bank Building, a downsizing that happened over time.
“Part of it was attrition, part of its was bud- getary as a result of COVID,” said Nancy Creed, president of the SRC, who announced earlier this month that she will be stepping down from her position no later than next spring to care for her elderly mother.
Coping with smaller staffs — and, in some cases, some loneliness — has been just one of the adjustments area chambers have had to make over the last few years, and especially since COVID. There have been some changes in the services they provide and how they are provided, and there has been somewhat of a change in role as well.
Indeed, where once chambers existed to help promote members and connect them to one another and the community, while also provid- ing needed information on matters ranging from new legislation to changes in tax laws, the mission escalated during COVID — up to and including simply helping members survive an unprecedented disruption to their business and their life.
“As chambers stepped up, people saw us as a lifeline,” said Claudia Pazmany, executive direc- tor of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce. “We’re in the business of serving businesses, but never did we realize that we would actually be saving businesses.”
Overall, the chamber members we spoke with summarized what’s happened over the past 21 months or so by saying chambers became more relevant during the pandemic, as
“As chambers stepped up, people saw us as a lifeline. We’re in the business of serving businesses, but never did we realize that we would actually be saving businesses.”
evidenced by the fact that membership didn’t decrease for many of them at a time of extreme financial duress for many of their members. In some cases, it actually increased.
“Throughout all of this, chambers have really shown their relevance,” Creed said. “It’s like hav- ing health insurance in some respects; you don’t ever want to use it, but you’re glad that it’s there when you need to use it, and we’ve shown what we can do and what our value proposition is.”
Now, the challenge is to remain relevant, they said with one voice, noting that they’re going about this assignment in many different ways.
At the Holyoke Chamber, for example, there has been a rebranding — a new logo and a new website, for starters — but also some strong
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FEATURE
NOVEMBER 24, 2021 7
BusinessWest