I just got back from lunch with Denise Willis, owner of New Neighbors. She has operated this private business for several years and maintains two other New Neighbors businesses, one in Mitchell, SD, and one in Minnesota.
New Neighbors is a member of the Rapid City Chamber but receives no noticeable business from their membership. The Chamber relocation package does not at this time include information about this welcome service, and it is difficult to find information about it online. New Neighbors has a stronger presence in Box Elder and Ellsworth and the Northern Hills than in Rapid City where the business is based.
I suggested that we become a Welcoming Committee before I knew there was one in town. Since there is a welcoming committee that is not fully represented by the Chamber, I now propose that we help raise awareness of New Neighbors and help the program form an alliance with the Chamber.
This would require a very small time commitment, mostly around activities you already do every day. While you're enjoying coffee with your best friend, hang a flyer on the coffee shop's bulletin board. While you're grocery shopping, talk to the person behind you in line. And while we are participating in a leadership program sponsored by the Chamber, we can help this small business become a household name by utilizing the connections we form during the course of this inaugural WCLI session.
Denise wants a stronger relationship with our fabulous Chamber of Commerce. We can help her get information about New Neighbors into the Chamber's relocation package and maintain a booth at Summer Nights if anyone besides me thinks they can attend all or most Thursdays this summer. Denise has all the promotional materials we may need and will provide them. She also has employment opportunities now, and if we successfully promote New Neighbors, employment opportunities will increase as well.
New Neighbors is a member of the Rapid City Chamber but receives no noticeable business from their membership. The Chamber relocation package does not at this time include information about this welcome service, and it is difficult to find information about it online. New Neighbors has a stronger presence in Box Elder and Ellsworth and the Northern Hills than in Rapid City where the business is based.
I suggested that we become a Welcoming Committee before I knew there was one in town. Since there is a welcoming committee that is not fully represented by the Chamber, I now propose that we help raise awareness of New Neighbors and help the program form an alliance with the Chamber.
This would require a very small time commitment, mostly around activities you already do every day. While you're enjoying coffee with your best friend, hang a flyer on the coffee shop's bulletin board. While you're grocery shopping, talk to the person behind you in line. And while we are participating in a leadership program sponsored by the Chamber, we can help this small business become a household name by utilizing the connections we form during the course of this inaugural WCLI session.
Denise wants a stronger relationship with our fabulous Chamber of Commerce. We can help her get information about New Neighbors into the Chamber's relocation package and maintain a booth at Summer Nights if anyone besides me thinks they can attend all or most Thursdays this summer. Denise has all the promotional materials we may need and will provide them. She also has employment opportunities now, and if we successfully promote New Neighbors, employment opportunities will increase as well.
Although I think a welcome committee is a good idea, it appears that there is already a business out there. In the past there has been a welcome committee through the chamber that has died off. I think it is more of a time commitment than you realize. Putting on events and making baskets and what not takes a good amount of ongoing continuous time. I also think this would need to focus on all new residents. The hope was that our group would have a focus on women.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I mentioned in my post. There is a business, but it is not, at this time, connected with the chamber. We have the connection to help this small business become more fully utilized in this community. She would like us to help with promoting, especially to ensure that New Neighbors is represented in the Chamber's relocation packet and help create a digital presence.
ReplyDeleteWhen we met today, we discussed a way WCLI can make a significant impact just around things we do each day. She has packets and people to put them together, but she only reaches out to home owners right now and she has no Chamber affiliation other than a membership. She has requested for New Neighbors to be represented by the Chamber and disperse information but so far has not met with much success.
Putting on an event such as a clothing drive will be very time consuming as well. I helped organize a Diaper Drive in October and am planning another event in April.
I am still proposing we help New Neighbors become a more prominent service so that newcomers are not overlooked just because they (and by they I mean we) are renting. I still feel this will be less of a time commitment because we won't have to start from ground zero; all the business connections are in place and we are helping to promote the program and integrate the idea with the Chamber's already fantastic services. Much of that can be done around daily activities and online from anywhere.
I just wanted to add that the focus could be on whatever we as a group see as a worthy project. Again, let me say, the welcoming committee would be helping promote a female busniess owner as well as reaching further into the community. I still do not think there is a strong need for a clothing closet. i beleive that if women have money they will buy new clothing and if they can't afford clothing, they can get referrals from many agencies to a the Salvation Army, the Cornerstone, or CAP. res.
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