Question: What role does the Knox County Chamber of Commerce play with the Area Development Foundation and Experience Mount Vernon projects? Why are they all separate entities?
MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Chamber of Commerce, Area Development Foundation and Experience Mount Vernon (Main Street Mount Vernon) are all separate entities.
But all have worked on similar projects and goals for the city and Knox County in the past, according to leaders of the organizations.
In short, they do work together.
“For ADF and the Chamber, it is divided by its constituent groups (governments and large businesses vs. small business). Experience Mount Vernon and the Chamber both serve small businesses but do it in different areas (Downtown Mount Vernon vs. countywide),” ADF President Jeff Gottke said.
“Because of this, each of the groups have the same goal, but go about it differently,” he said.
Gottke said each Ohio county has different structure to support economic development.
“In Knox County they are all separate with separate boards, offices, budgets and missions. In a setup like this, communication among the three of us is crucial,” he said.
The Area Development Foundation, founded in the 1950s, focuses on manufacturing, revolving loan fund, tax abatements, loan bank and other services.
The Knox County Chamber of Commerce, founded in February 1916, plays an important role in local economic development, according to Carol Grubaugh, its executive director.
Chambers are membership-based organizations that provide a myriad of services to local businesses, according to Grubaugh, who joined the organization in 2000 and has been its leader since 2009.
Experience Mount Vernon, formerly Main Street Mount Vernon, coordinates and plans community events, working alongside the chamber by sharing updates on current and upcoming projects and collaborating at times, she said.
“Experience Mount Vernon does this through our flagship community-wide events such as, First Fridays, Johnny Appleseed Festival, and Winter in Downtown, small business support and development, on-going beautification projects, and strong community partnerships,” Executive Director Lacey Filkins said.
Though Gottke is the president of ADF, he serves on both the Chamber and Experience Mount Vernon boards and meets with the director of each entity at least monthly.
“The Chamber is also part of WorkDev. So while we are operationally and organizationally separate, we collaborate regularly and know what each other is doing,” he aid.
Keeping each group separate allows them to maintain autonomy, missions and unique activities, Gottke said, while collaborating regularly allows the three groups to coordinate efforts, without redundancy, to expand economic opportunity in Knox County.
When organizations are co-signing, Gottke said he sees the COVID response as a working example.
“The local COVID response coordinating group, led by EMA, tasked ADF, the Chamber and Experience Mount Vernon with assisting the county’s businesses with financial stability during the shutdowns and reopening once they were over,” Gottke said.
Once businesses were permitted to open again, Gottke said, the three entities launched a “reopening campaign” that included business trainings, referral resources and common marketing.
“Working within our own individual spheres, but meeting twice weekly, the three groups were able to push about $600,000 to local businesses for financial stability, become the ‘messaging HQ’ for COVID related business information,” he said.
