Strategic Priorities for Advancing Oceanside in 2021

The Oceanside Chamber of Commerce is about to embark on an incredibly ambitious plan of work for 2021. In addition to the development of our Multi-Year Strategic Plan, we have several key priorities to focus on this year. The following is overview of our Strategic Priorities for 2021 and why your investment in the Chamber continues to be critical to the advancement of Oceanside.

• Business Advocacy - The prosperity of our community is continually threatened when legislative bodies support and enact policies that negatively impact business. We believe it is critical that the Chamber take the lead on ensuring that our business community has a voice at all levels of government. 
• Workforce Development - A properly prepared workforce is key to the growth and sustainability of our business community and to the economic future of Oceanside. The Chamber will play an important role in actively supporting the development of Oceanside’s future workforce. 
• Economic Recovery - One of our key economic drivers, tourism, has been tremendously impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. The Chamber will explore new avenues to better support our local economy while tourism recovers. 
• Restructuring Events - Small businesses have an ongoing need to connect with potential customers through Chamber events. We will strive to create effective events for our business community and to ensure that a contingency plan is in place should we not be able to have events in person. 
• Political Action/Candidate Endorsements​ - The Chamber’s Advance Oceanside Political Action Committee will build on its successes from 2020 to help business friendly candidates get elected to local office once again in 2022.

Business Advocacy

While the Chamber has an ongoing focus on advocating for our businesses, we continue to focus on encouraging and equipping the business community to advocate for themselves as well. In 2020, business owners took a more active role in speaking out on the impacts of mandated closures. 

2021 Priorities

• Build on 2020’s momentum in engaging small businesses in advocacy. While survival was a powerful call to action in 2020, the Chamber plans to build a culture of grassroots advocacy in which business owners advocate for themselves and their respective industries. 
• Identify leaders in industries most impacted by closures and encourage their assistance in engaging others to participate in “industry-targeted” meetings with legislators.
• The Chamber will continue to support the City in its efforts to submit a sand retention project for consideration by the California Coastal Commission.
• In 2020, the Chamber purchased a subscription to OneClickPolitics, a turnkey platform that enables businesses to easily communicate with elected officials on key issues. We will continue to provide tools to allow business owners to more effectively champion their own cause.

Workforce Development

As the primary representative of the Oceanside Business Community, the Chamber will play a leading role in the development of our future workforce. 

2021 Priorities

• Conduct a comprehensive needs analysis to determine the business community’s short-term workforce development needs resulting from the COVID-19 crisis and longer term needs of talent pipeline development. 
• Serve as a catalyst to bring various entities together in support of workforce development.
• Planning/Sustainability: Position Chamber to be long term advocate for workforce development. 
• Program Implementation - Continue with plans to move forward with virtual tours, collaborating with School Districts, Tri-City Medical Center’s SOCAL Initiative and neighboring Chambers and Cities. Prepare for the development of additional programs based on needs assessments and capacity.

Economic Recovery

In 2019 Oceanside was the beneficiary of more than $400M in visitor spending, providing critical support to our hotels, restaurants, retailers, entertainment venues and more. This revenue took a devastating hit in 2020, and it is expected that our tourism economy will take some time to recover. A key part of the Chamber’s 2021 focus will be how to better support our local economy when tourism is down. 

2021 Priorities

• Development of a Chamber Economic Recovery Task Force to facilitate ongoing work on this topic.
• Build an ongoing, year-round “shop local” culture.
• Explore ways of leveraging the Cultural Arts District to stimulate the local economy. 
• Educate the community on Oceanside’s cultural assets and how they can be developed to support our economy

Restructuring Events

While COVID-19 presented tremendous challenges to the Chamber’s ability to serve our businesses through events, it also presented opportunities that had not been previously explored. 

2021 Priorities

• Develop contingency plans for each of the Chamber’s major business/community events for 2021.
• Develop a plan for creating virtual events that inspire people to attend and engage. 
• Develop virtual hybrid events to enhance future in-person events with virtual attendance options. 
• Continue to develop webinar series with topics that educate and inspire, including required training for businesses on HR related topics.

Political Action/Candidate Endorsements

In 2020, the Oceanside Chamber endorsed candidates for the first time in recent history. The Chamber endorsed Ryan Keim and Peter Weiss who were both successful in their bids to maintain seats on the Oceanside City Council.  In 2021, the Chamber will work to build on that momentum in preparation for endorsements in the two council districts that will come up for election in the following year. 

2021 Priorities

• Participate actively in the process of identifying a business-friendly candidate for Oceanside’s District 1 Council vacancy.
• Discuss candidate academy or leadership development strategy.
• Development of a long-term plan to prepare to be proactive for each election cycle.
• Development of sustainable funding sources for future election cycles.
• Ongoing discussion regarding 2022 races to determine in which races Chamber should engage.

2025 Strategic Plan

A key focus for the Chamber in the coming year will be forward planning. We will convene leaders in a wide variety of community sectors to discuss the most important needs of our City and determine where the Chamber can have the greatest impact in the five years leading up to 2025.

The Chamber’s mission is to stimulate economic prosperity and foster a vibrant community. Each of the areas outlined above are critical to our quality of life in Oceanside. We encourage member support and engagement in our 2020 program of work. To find out how you can get involved, please call the Chamber at 760-722-1534.​

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