The Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce has launched a new Economic Development Roadmap designed to strengthen regional growth and attract investment over the next two years. This initiative follows the 2023 consolidation of three major economic development organizations—the Rockford Chamber of Commerce, Rockford Area Economic Development Council, and Greater Rockford Growth Partnership—into a single, unified entity.\n\nChamber CEO Angela Kay Larson described the organization’s evolution from a traditional membership association into a proactive driver of economic progress. “We serve as the convener, connector, and catalyst for regional advancement,” she said, emphasizing the chamber’s expanded role in shaping the local economy.\n\nThe roadmap, developed in collaboration with Eight Fifteen Impact—a consulting firm led by Terrance Hall and Matthew Simpson—focuses on six strategic priorities. These include enhancing business retention and expansion efforts, promoting the region to target industries, improving the readiness of development sites in partnership with GoRockford, aligning workforce training with employer needs through collaboration with Workforce Connection, and highlighting the area’s innovative capabilities.\n\nHall explained that the plan was designed to be action-oriented rather than aspirational. “We wanted to identify the most impactful actions we can take in the next 18 to 24 months,” he noted, distinguishing the roadmap from broader, less focused economic strategies.\n\nCurrently employing 10 staff members, the chamber aims to hire up to three additional personnel to conduct outreach to businesses across Winnebago County, supporting their growth plans and identifying barriers to expansion. The organization may also seek increased support from local municipalities to expand its operational capacity and expertise.\n\nA key component of the strategy involves strengthening the manufacturing sector, which contributes 23% to the region’s $4 billion annual gross domestic product and supports 25,000 jobs. Larson emphasized a proactive stance: “We’re not waiting for opportunity—we’re creating it.”\n\nThe roadmap builds on previous restructuring efforts, which included reducing the staff by three positions during the consolidation phase. Now, with a clearer mandate and strategic direction, the chamber is positioning itself as a central institution in Rockford’s economic revitalization.\n— news from Rockford Register Star\n\n— News Original —\nRockford Chamber looks to expand as it embarks on new Economic Development Roadmap\nROCKFORD, IL — Two years after merging the city ‘s leading business development agencies into a consolidated Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce, the organization has released an “Economic Development Roadmap.” n nThe framework that ‘s expected to guide the organization in the coming years calls for increasing the organization ‘s efforts in business retention, attraction and expansion. The plan seeks to ensure long-term growth and investment, Chamber CEO Angela Kay Larson said. n n”The chamber has evolved beyond a traditional membership organization,” Larson said. “Today, we serve as the convener, connector and driver of regional economic progress.” n nThe Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce was created by merging the Rockford Chamber of Commerce, Rockford Area Economic Development Council and Greater Rockford Growth Partnership into a single organization in October 2023. n nAs it did so, the Chamber laid off three of its 12 staffers as part of the consolidation. n nThe organization now has 10 employees and hopes to hire up to three more over the next two years who would conduct business retention and expansion visits throughout Winnebago County to support their expansion plans. n nIt could seek greater support from area municipalities in an effort to beef up its staff and expertise to become more effective. n nMore: Rockford Chamber is designated survivor as business world merges n nThe chamber commissioned Eight Fifteen Impact, a local consulting firm operated by Terrance Hall and Matthew Simpson, to compile the framework. n nThe roadmap has six focus areas. It calls for expanding capacity to drive business growth, market the region to industries and employers, partner with GoRockford to improve marketability of existing development sites, work with the Workforce Connection to better prepare employees and promote the region ‘s innovative and “break-through ideas.” n n”We really set out for the roadmap to be a tactical plan,” Hall said. “A lot of economic development strategies look at a collective of everything you could do. This isn ‘t everything you could do or even everything we maybe should do. We really wanted to look at the most impactful things we could do to drive economic development in the next 18 to 24 months.” n nLarson said part of the plan is to focus on expanding manufacturing as it still accounts for 23% of the region ‘s $4 billion annual gross domestic product and employs 25,000 people. n n”We ‘re not waiting for opportunity,” Larson said. “We are creating it.”