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Vail Daily column: 2015 year in review

Vail Valley Partnership, in our various iterations, has been in existence since 1964. While our focus has evolved over the years, we’ve always remained focused on building an environment for businesses to succeed and offering programs and services to strengthen our community.

You’re invited to join us for our annual meeting on Tuesday from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Minturn Town Center (302 Pine St.) as we highlight successes and accomplishments for 2015 and look ahead into some of our new programs and efforts in 2016.

Our focus on building an environment for businesses to succeed remains vital as our economy requires successful entrepreneurs and small businesses in order to diversify and expand. Vail Valley Partnership and Vail Valley Economic Development contribute to the strength and vitality of our communities through our programing and business support services. We seek to build strong partnerships and create lasting value in our communities by developing and coordinating programs that address key needs and enhance the economic vitality of the Vail Valley.



BUSY YEAR

We’ve been busy, and 2015 has been a year of positive momentum. We’d like to share some key accomplishments related to our efforts to enhance our regional economy and provide tools to help businesses:

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• Creation of an Eagle County Business Brand: A community led process resulted in the launch of Vail Valley Economic Development. The language of the brand has been communicated to our targets via a new countywide business development website at http://vailvalleymeansbusiness.com.

• Design and implementation of a “trailing spouse” program: In partnership with the High Country Human Resource Association and Vail Valley Partnership, MyPartner Career Network makes it easier for local businesses to recruit and retain great employees by helping find employment, when needed, for spouses or partners of prospective employees to help their families better integrate into our community. Details can be found at https://vailvalleymeansbusiness.com/about/services/mypartner-career-network/.

• Business Services through Vail Valley Economic Development: Year-to-date, Vail Valley Economic Development has serviced nearly 60 business inquiries and has had a hand in six business starts or relocations. These businesses now provide at least 15 local jobs, six of which are professional full-time roles with benefits. All told, these businesses have invested well over $1.7 million into Eagle County in 2015 alone, to say nothing of the positive economic contributions they will make in capital spending, payroll and tax revenues in future years.

• Launch of Local InSite Commercial Property Tool: All Eagle County commercial property listings available within the Vail Multi-List Service are now available on the VailValleyMeans Business.com site. This was made possible through collaboration with Vail Board of Realtors. The tool allows visitors to visit http://www.vailvalleymeans business.com to find up-to-date local area data and demographics information, general community and local area information and available commercial properties (both buildings and sites) all in one place. The tool helps us more effectively showcase available commercial properties to those who are actively looking at business and entrepreneurship opportunities in Eagle County.

• Vail Valley Partnership named finalist for Chamber of the Year: VVP was recognized by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives as a Chamber of the Year finalist. The award recognizes chambers for their work leading businesses and communities as well as excellence in operations and member services.

• Roll-out of inclusive business listings on VisitVailValley.com and VailValleyPartnership.com: VVP is offering complimentary business listings to all businesses within the Vail Valley. This service will list all participating businesses on VailValley Partnership.com and VisitVailValley.com — providing a comprehensive list of businesses within the valley for visitors, prospective businesses and locals.

• Comprehensive Valley Wide Calendar of Events: VVP offers complimentary event listings in our event calendar on VisitVailValley.com (events targeting leisure visitors) and VailValleyPartnership.com (events targeting the local audience). This service allows event producers to upload their events to the appropriate calendar to reach a wider audience and to supply users with a comprehensive list of events throughout the valley.

• Co-hosted Eagle County Schools/Vail Valley Rotary Clubs/Vail Valley Partnership Career Fair for high school students and Co-Hosting Winter Job Fair with Colorado Workforce Center & Colorado Mountain College. The Partnership coordinated all business participants for the annual high school career fair, which had over 500 student participants and over 100 Vail Valley business and nonprofit organizations represented. We are also working with the Colorado Workforce and Colorado Mountain College to host a winter job fair in November.

We continue to encourage activities and to provide programming and services that promote community development. These programs positively impact the business community through information, costs savings and business resources.

ANNUAL MEETING

As you can see, it’s been a busy year. We invite you to join us for our annual meeting on Tuesday to learn more about how your business can benefit from, and engage in, our community efforts.

Chris Romer is president and CEO of the Vail Valley Partnership.


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