Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce – The Cache Valley Initiative
Logan, UT

The Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce located in Logan, Utah; in the middle of Cache Valley, was established in 1892. Membership makeup comes from the surrounding 19 municipalities located in the Valley.

The Chamber was at a point of not wanting to conduct “business as usual” and looked to National Community Development Services, Inc. (NCDS) to help them test a five-year economic development/quality of life program of action through a Feasibility Study.

The study was conducted in June of 2000 to ascertain the viability of generating an economic development effort that would, in the long term, grow the region while at the same time preserving a way of life that the citizens of Cache Valley have known for generations.

• Protection of vistas
• Enhanced public safety
• Protection of agricultural lands
• Creation of at least 500 direct jobs paying $40,000 or more
• Annual additional total payroll to exceed $30,000
• Annual additional bank deposits to exceed $2.3 Million

The Challenges: When work began on the initiative in 2000, NCDS discovered through the feedback of confidential interviews that the test goal of $4.5 million could not be achieved. Potential investors were reluctant to give large amounts of dollars to an organization historically not taking an aggressive economic development approach to the region. A challenge for the Chamber and NCDS was to be inclusive of all the municipalities and the citizens that made up the individual townships so that the Chamber was not only drawing on feedback from the larger city of Logan.

The “reaching out” effort produced positive results. Citizens and community leaders showed strong support for The Cache Valley Initiative and indicated their interest in becoming supportive investors and pro-active players in the five-year community and economic development effort of the Chamber.

The proposed program received positive support with suggestions for program prioritization, refinement and revision. Ultimately, should the Chamber elect to go forward with their strategic initiative, all eyes would be on them; the larger community testing the Chamber to determine if they could do what they said they would do.

Proving themselves was an obstacle the Chamber would have to overcome should there ever be another aggressive multi-year economic development initiative.

The Campaign: NCDS and the Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce tackled these challenges head on.

First , the results of the Feasibility Study guided NCDS to draw a larger group of participants (ultimately 45) to provide additional feedback and revision to the Chamber’s five-year community and economic development initiative. It was decided that the Chamber’s focus should be on something all felt achievable and supported by the greater Cache Valley community. Thus, it was determined that, under the umbrella of “infrastructure access” the Chamber’s focus would be on: Surface Transportation Access, Telecommunications Access, and Air Transportation Access – necessary infrastructure to make Cache Valley a place that works for both Valley citizens and businesses through:

• Preservation of multiple highway corridors
• Interconnected and redundant telecommunications system, and
• Development and expansion of corporate, cargo and regional airport.

When these problems are addressed and solved, the Valley can provide security for better paying jobs with potential for advancement within existing businesses and industry. There are 135 major employers, major manufacturers and high-tech businesses in the Valley. If the business infrastructure is developed to meet their needs, many of these businesses will expand. Other technology businesses will grow or “spin off” from Utah State University (USU) and will generate high paying jobs. These jobs will provide opportunities for the 3,000 yearly graduates of USU and Bridgerland Area Technology Center to remain in the Valley and secure challenging and satisfying employment.

Second , as the Chamber needs to “prove” itself to the Valley, Campaign leadership selection was key. The enlistment of the right leaders for campaign leadership positions was a key factor that created an attitude of cooperation and excitement that influenced the entire fundraising process.

This attitude continues to be carried over to the volunteer participants still involved in various Initiative component committees and or positions. Early financial commitments of several of the leaders were vital for creating the momentum need for investment giving in this valley-wide effort.

The campaign’s leaderships’ perceived power and prestige by the citizens of Cache Valley gave the campaign the necessary credibility, elevating The Cache Valley Initiative, thus the Chamber, in the community’s view. This was further elevated when the Governor of Utah publicly supported the Chamber’ program. Obtaining the support of the Cache County Council, the Mayors’ Association and the 19 Valley City Councils through passage of official “Resolutions of Support” added to the inclusive aspect needed to insure that this was to be a total valley-wide initiative.

Third , it was determined early on in the campaign that NCDS would not ask the Cities or the County for a dollar investment—just their support in working towards the Initiative’s goals. Political support is viewed as “key” to the long-term success of meeting the milestones suggested within The Cache Valley Initiative.

At this early stage in the Chamber’s need to “prove itself,” it was determined that asking for money created a negative element to accomplishing the objectives contained within the Initiative. The change in plan reduced the Chamber’s over-goal potential but elevated a more positive private/public sector partnership needed for the long haul. The Chamber needed the individual governmental bodies to step up to the plate to help accomplish the Initiative’s mission—without them; the program would not be a success.

It is clear the Chamber has successfully established this partnership with the private and public sectors and now has a forum in which to move forward with achieving the various goals

As a result, the private sector total reached just over $1.3 million.

The Results: Since the conclusion of the short-term eight-month campaign for their five-year community and economic development initiative, the Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce has seen many accomplishments, including:

• The Initiative received $1,345,200 in pledges at the start of this project.
• $524,000 has been received as investments that are being used as matching funds to assist with projects for the Airport, Corridor Access and Agriculture Protection initiatives.
• Over 500 jobs have been created with expansion of existing companies and the Smart Site at the Innovation Campus.
• The Chamber is predicting another 100 high-wage jobs to be announced by the end of the year.
• Senator Robert Bennett “earmarked” funds from the Federal Government for an ILS (Instrument Landing System) at the Logan/Cache Airport.  The airport was awarded $1.75 million. This brings the Valley closer to the goal of commercial air cargo and passenger service.
• An Economic Impact Analysis of upgrades to the Logan/Cache Airport has been completed. It estimates that in ten years there will be 128 new jobs as a result of airport expansion.
• A marketing firm has been engaged by the Airport Development Task Force to bring commercial air service to the Logan/Cache Airport.
• The ADTF (Airport Development Task Force) has drafted a job description for hiring a full time airport manager to assist the airport in its next crucial stage of development from an executive airport into a facility with commercial air cargo service and then adding regional passenger air service.
• The Corridor Access Management Plan for Highway 89/91 and other major corridors are now being implemented as a statewide ordinance and will go a long way in protecting highway access and vistas in Cache Valley.
• Support has been given to the Agricultural Advisory Board to assist in the identification and protection of Cache Valley’s agricultural lands.
• A plan for telecommunication redundancy and increased bandwidth has been proposed by a consortium of three telecommunication companies which they hope to announce to the public in the near future.

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