Chamber Chat

Rich Cantillon

The Chamber’s Partners in Education (PIE) will have their wrap up meeting Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Board of Education Office located downtown at 613 E. Grand Avenue. All PIE partners are encouraged to attend. The school principals, both public and private, will report what took place this year with their individual PIE partners. This is an amazing benefit for the students of Ponca City. The Chamber’s PIE Program links our businesses with our schools to assist in ways the state budget might not allow. This is another important project of the Education and Workforce Development Committee.

As a business in Ponca City, that may not currently be a member of the Chamber, here are a few reasons to support what we do:

• We promote “Shop Ponca First” which includes campaigns like our Santa Buck Giveaway, Crazy Days and Cash Mob.

• We market Shop Ponca First and why it is important. This campaign educates people that shopping Ponca First provides jobs for our family and friends. Plus we educate that when you Shop Ponca First you provide needed sales tax dollars to our City and also help our local business community support all of the charitable needs in Ponca City.

• The Chamber offers free customer service training called PRIDE Training.

• Our Chamber Buck program – In 2016 over $300,000 was spent through this program keeping money in Ponca City with our Chamber members.

• Our Member-to-Member Discount Card is supplied to our members at no cost and encourages Chamber members to shop with each other.

• Our Chamber Directory is our version of the Yellow Pages! Chamber members look there first when looking for a new service provider or retail business. Every new resident in Ponca City gets a copy of this directory, as well, through the utility department of the city.

• We host Ribbon Cutting Ceremonies for all new businesses, major remodels and business relocations.

• The Chamber provides at least 4 educational workshops on how to operate a business each year.

• The Chamber’s Tourism Bureau promotes Ponca City through advertising and attending tourism trade shows. This brings people to our community and has a direct impact on our retail industry.

Phone the Chamber Office for more details on how you can join the Chamber 765-4400.