Chamber High 5 Initiatives
Each year the Chamber identifies five short-term goals, called our “High Five.” These goals can be thought of as our “intensive care” list and may be either core programs or tactical initiatives.

We plan to accomplish the following goals in the upcoming year, or sooner, and expect to be held accountable. The Chamber board, representing our 1000 members, will receive regular reports on these goals. Each goal is tied to at least one of our long-term strategies.

HIGH FIVE #1: Improve our ability to communicate effectively and efficiently with members and other stakeholders.
We have an obligation to provide members and others with relevant, useful, timely, and quality information and to make sure we get the feedback we need to be effective. To achieve this important multi-year goal we will establish a task force that will:
• Identify, evaluate, develop and plan the implementation of initiatives to improve how we communicate with our members and other stakeholders, with special emphasis on quality, quantity, relevancy and efficiency.
• Identify, evaluate, develop and plan the implementation of initiatives to improve the methods we use to hear from our members and other stakeholders.
• Identify, evaluate, develop and plan the implementation of initiatives to improve technology resources to support this initiative.
• The Chamber will complete a plan of action with specific implementation milestones and cost estimates not later than June 2005.

HIGH FIVE #2: Enhance the ability for small business to be successful.
60% of Chamber members have ten or fewer employees. 93% have 100 or fewer. We must make sure that these small businesses have every opportunity to become established, to thrive, and to grow. In this multi-year goal we will convene a broad-based task force to:
• Identify, evaluate, develop and plan the implementation of additional initiatives to improve the ability of small businesses to be successful in our community.
• Identify, evaluate, develop and plan the implementation of initiatives to communicate the importance of small business to the community, and especially to elected and appointed officials.
• The Chamber will complete a plan of action with specific implementation milestones not later than April 2005.

HIGH FIVE #3: Facilitate effective and cooperative linkages between business and other community sectors.
A core element in building thriving communities is the ability of the different community sectors – business, city and county governments, non-profit organizations, and P-16 education – to work together effectively to develop common visions, to establish supporting goals, to agree on success metrics, and to work cooperatively toward completing the goals. While our community’s many successes testify to the existence of such linkages, there are opportunities for improvement. To help facilitate these linkages, the Chamber will:
• Craft, distribute and analyze the results of a questionnaire sent to a broad representation of government, education, business and non-profit leaders. This questionnaire will provide baseline information about this issue.
• Interview key leaders in each sector to assess their perspectives and recommendations about this issue.
• Convene a meeting of key leaders to identify actions to enhance linkages and establish responsibilities and implementation schedule for those actions.
• Prepare and distribute a report about this initiative.
• Follow up with community leaders to facilitate implementation of the recommendations.
• A report with recommendations for follow on action will be distributed by July 2005.

HIGH FIVE #4: Publish a new infrastructure study.
In the past, with the cooperation of other organizations and individuals, the Chamber has published a comprehensive infrastructure study for the community. This document makes assessments and provides recommendations regarding key infrastructure resources, including transportation, utilities, telecommunications, storm water and drainage, developable land, and others. The report has been valuable as public and private sectors plan for the future and evaluate investments. The infrastructure study will be completed and distributed not later than October 2005.

HIGH FIVE #5: Collaborate with Bloomington Life Sciences Partnership to establish a life sciences education and workforce development strategy for Monroe County and the surrounding areas.
The education and business community have an opportunity to work together to understand the skill sets that life sciences employers currently need and will need in the future, and to discuss activities and partnerships that will better position our region to develop in the life sciences employment arena. Toward those ends, we will:
• Convene a Life Sciences visioning retreat with key business and education leaders to develop targeted goals and objectives for a K-16 seamless life sciences education/workforce development plan.
• Form a Life Sciences Task Force to coordinate existing strategies/programs, identify new opportunities and action items, and strategize on the best course of action to push initiatives forward.
• Identify statistics to work towards improving that will show our success in developing a life sciences workforce.
• Publish a life sciences education/workforce development strategic plan for K-16 educational opportunities and benchmarks.
• The task force will prepare and distribute the strategic plan not later than August 2005.