Making that new focus official, the chamber membership approved what was termed the organization’s 2020 Vision plan during its annual meeting Friday.
Incoming chamber President Jonah Spivak said the tenor of his presidency “will be about building bridges, tearing down obstacles and forging friendships.”
His vision, he told members, “is for a single, unified chamber organization throughout the entire Shires of Vermont. … I think that the value and the power of us working together as the entire Shires region is going to be something that can utterly transform us, and that is the kind of thing that Bennington really needs to revitalize us moving forward.”
During an interview before the meeting, Harrington said the 2020 Vision involves recruiting new members in the Northshire towns, planning events throughout the county, and eventually adding a staff presence in the Manchester area.
In March the Manchester and the Mountains chamber discontinued operations. Business and community members have been discussing how to fill that void.
“This is not a Manchester takeover,” Harrington said. He said the Bennington chamber intends to cooperate with any promotional organization that emerges in the Northshire, as it already does with such entities as the Better Bennington Corp., which promotes the downtown.
A nonprofit promotional organization is being discussed in the Manchester area.
The new vision plan, Harrington said, fits well with a focus on collaboration and cooperation among organizations and individuals across the Shires of Vermont — primarily Bennington County — and other areas of southern Vermont.
He said the Bennington chamber’s size and stable organization make it well suited to promote the entire area and local business development countywide.
“I think we have a good organization, which has good governance and has been around for 50 or 60 years,” Harrington said.
After some research, he said the Bennington chamber was formed and chartered in 1925 and incorporated during the 1950s.
Details of its 2020 Vision plan were hammered out in meetings and retreats involving staff and the executive board over the past year, Harrington said. Those include development of key strategies and goals, both short-term and long-term.
Strategies include a commitment to expanding the membership, especially in the Northshire; enhancing revenue through new membership fees and other sources; improving and expanding chamber operations; improving services to member businesses; and effectively promoting and branding the area.
Key tasks for the coming year, Harrington said, are to launch a new chamber website; expand, rename and improve the organization’s annual spring regional guide to include the Northshire; plan mixers and other events for members and others countywide; and continue to work closely with the Shires of Vermont Regional Marketing Organization to increase economic development and promote southern Vermont.
Spivak previously served as the president of the regional marketing organization, having stepped down last month.
Harrington said the chamber hopes to expand membership 25 percent a year.
He said there now are about 350 business members in the Bennington chamber, but only 10 to 15 are Manchester-based, which means the Northshire is the targeted area for expansion. One tangible result, he said, would be an office in Manchester.
More information on the Bennington chamber can be found on its website.