When Jared Faltys and Dennis Houston of the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce, invited the Elkhorn Valley Economic Development Council to lease space in its new planned building, the group’s executive director, Dave Simonsen, couldn’t find a downside.
“Since I’ve been here, working together has been the main theme,” Simonsen said. “It’s vital for our success as a community.”
Up until last summer, the council — which focuses on economic development in areas of business attraction, retention and start-up and includes entrepreneurial development and marketing — and the chamber had been located in the same building.
Putting the organizations under the same roof again seemed to be a logical step because co-location would provide an open line of communication and bring consistency to the role each group plays in economic development.
Simonsen said that even though his group and the chamber currently are located only a block apart, there are times when the council and chamber are working on the same project without knowing about it.
“Hopefully, being co-located will eliminate some of that duplication and wasted effort,” Simonsen said.
The new building and co-location of organizations will also be a huge selling point for Norfolk. That’s where the Norfolk Area Recruiters (NAR) — an organization that focuses on bringing former residents back to Norfolk and linking them into the community — comes into play.
NAR founder Jay Knobbe said the recruiting organization became involved in the new building from the action side of the philosophy of unity. The NAR will be located in the same building as the chamber, Service Corps of Retired Executives, Elkhorn Valley Economic Development Council, the Madison County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Nebraska Business Development Council when construction of the new facility is complete.
Knobbe said NAR members believe the new building will provide a professional environment for attracting new business, assist existing businesses with retention and expansion, and provide the recruitment efforts of a highly skilled workforce to the community and surrounding area.
With several organizations under one roof, it will be easier to introduce newcomers to the community to the services provided by each one, Knobbe said. “When we recruit people, they want to be around progress,” Knobbe said. “When you bring them in, it’s logical to think of the chamber as a resource.”
Simonsen said the new chamber building project is a step forward while other communities are struggling in the economy. That step forward, he added, will give Norfolk and the region, a leg up in the future.
“We’re not competing with the Waynes and the Stantons like it was 15 to 20 years ago,” he said. “It’s communities and other states. It’s communities in other countries. We’re in a world market. Those are the ones we’re competing with, and we’re setting ourselves up to be competitive. We have a lot of work to do, but we’re definitely going in the right direction.”
