Building a Strong Local Economy

Looking to the future, tourism is becoming an increasingly critical component of our area's economy.  One of the Chamber's primary goals is to attract new visitors and tourism business to the Greater Newport Area and to maintain our existing visitor base, all the while growing that base with more frequent visits and longer stays.  We are also exploring ways to link our school programs with local businesses to give students the experience employers value while providing businesses with student talent and fresh ideas.

Networking & Business Development

Whether it be monthly member meetings, Chamber-sponsored events or our annual awards night, we are committed to providing members with valuable opportunities to network with other members, potential customers and referral sources.  We spotlight members on our website, educating our members about the goods and services other members have to offer and encouraging them to support each other. We are looking to roll out a number of programs in 2011 to promote "shopping local" and increasing members' awareness of each others' businesses, services and target demographics.

Promoting the Community

The Chamber and its members are involved in either organizing, sponsoring, promoting or otherwise supporting virtually every community event in the Greater Newport Area.  We present our annual "Citizen of the Year" and "Business of the Year" awards and our Board members and staff serve on or are represented on numerous other community and state organizations including:  Pend Oreille Centennial Committee, Pend Oreille Business Network, Pend Oreille Revitalization Project, Water Trails Committee, Newport/Priest River Rotary Club, Pend Oreille Youth Task Force, United School Insurance Programs, Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, Pend Oreille Microenterprise Development Organization, Newport City Council, etc.

Engaging in Political Action

The Chamber maintains active relationships with city, county and state political representatives in order to ensure our members are kept up to date on legislative developments that impact them and their businesses and provide a forum in which our members are encouraged to ask questions of and provide feedback to elected representatives.  County Commissioner Laura Merrill has an ex-officio seat on our Board and chairs our Governmental Affairs Committee.