| Type | advocacy group |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 9, 1904 |
| Location | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Key people | Jerry Roper, President |
| Area served | United States |
| Focus | Non-profit dedicated to meeting the needs of its member companies through advocacy, education and building businesses by making member connections. |
| Motto | The unified business voice of greater Chicago. |
| Website | Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Official Website |
The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization promoting business in the Chicago metropolitan area of the United States. The Chamber is a voice at local, state and national levels for approximately 2,600 member companies and their 1.3 million employees. The organization is located in Suite 2200 in the Aon Center in the Chicago Loop area of Chicago, Illinois, United States.[1]
Association of Commerce and Industry, as it was originally known, formed in 1904. In 1992, the organization took on the name Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.[2]
The Chamber is headed by Jerry Roper, its President and CEO, who is a national figure in the United States business community. Since 1993, he has been an outspoken advocate for business growth, job creation, entrepreneurship, and civic activity in Chicago and throughout the country.
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Some issues the Chamber regularly advocates on behalf of include:
History: The Chamber is a direct lineal descendent of the Chicago Board of Trade which was founded in 1848. 1904 is the official founding date, for at this time, numerous groups were amalgamated to form the present Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber has played, and continues to play, a major role in the development of the business and civic life of the community. Its record of accomplishments is notable, reflecting with credit the efforts over many years of a continuous succession of articulate business and civic leaders, united by the common goal to make Chicago a better community in which to live, work, and engage in business:
List of major achievements.
The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce has several affiliate entities, which it works closely with to support businesses in the region. Several include:
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Foundation: Every community needs the support and encouragement of individuals and organizations to enhance the welfare of society, the quality of life of its citizens and the success of its businesses.
The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce Foundation is an active participant in this process by funding, developing and administering a variety of programs aimed at both assisting the development of and encouraging excellence within the Chicago region's businesses and communities.
One of the programs that the Foundation has assisted in funding is the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (the CEC), often referred to as "the beacon for small and emerging businesses." The CEC is the only entity in the Chicago region dedicated to serving the more than 350,000 small and mid-sized businesses throughout the region.
The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC): The CEC is a nonprofit affiliate of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce that helps entrepreneurs and high-growth businesses build viable, sustainable, and profitable enterprises. The CEC is the place that unites minds with knowledge, ideas with reality, money with action. The CEC serves as a strategic partner to its clients, offering high-value advisory services to entrepreneurs that help them negotiate crucial early-business decisions. It connects entrepreneurs with the resources and advice they need to grow at different stages of their businesses, and helps them form strategic alliances that can become the backbone of their success.
disabilityworks: disabilityworks is and initiative of the Chamber designed to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities throughout Illinois by bringing together employers, people with disabilities, and disability/ employment service providers. In 2007 the program expanded to become a state wide initiative.[4]
Innovate Now!: Innovate Now! is bringing together businesses, schools and local and statewide governments to create new strategies for business success in Chicagoland and throughout Illinois. Its goal is simple, but ambitious: it aims to enable and promote the knowledge and relationships that will form the foundation for ongoing business innovation and regional economic growth.
Scholarship Chicago: Scholarship Chicago is an organization that provides college scholarships and preparatory programs for students in the area. The goal of this organization is to provide for a better economic situation by assisting graduating students with the transition into the workplace.