Mission & Actions Projects & Services

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2012

CHUGIAK-EAGLE RIVER CHAMBER

PROFILE OF PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

BEAR PAW  2012 – July 11-15

Our 27th annual Bear Paw Festival is already in the planning stages. Join us for “It’s A Jungle Out There” as we swing our way through the trees and celebrate our community.  Lots of fun activities will return including The  Jammin Salmon Cook-off, Grand Parade, Classic Car Show, young Men’s & Women’s Scholarship Pageant, Jeopardy, Bear Paw’s Got Talent and the famous Slippery Salmon Olympics. Bear Paw 2012 is July 11-15!  Check out our dedicated website at www.bearpawfestival.org with the events and photo highlights or “like us” on Facebook for the recap of the 2011 Festival.

Chief Alex Park, a Chamber funded project begun in 1983, is the gateway entrance to the Eagle River Business District. This one acre vest pocket park enjoys excellent volunteer support from Cub Scouts, Alaska Military Youth Academy as well as Eagle River/Chugiak Parks, Recreation and Community Development. Our annual capital campaign for the park includes the Famous Spring Tea in April and Friends of Chief Alex Park. Watch for these events.

The new “Welcome to Eagle River” sign is complete with grant funding through BP Alaska and marks the South entrance to the Eagle River Business District. The sculpted eagle boats 3,000 hand carved feathers..

The Downtown Beautification Banners are a Chamber sponsored project since 1990.  Displayed only in the summer to celebrate the “land of the midnight sun”, they bring light and color to our business district. 

Completed in June 2006, the Town Clock is in the center of Chief Alex Park marking the South entrance to the Business District.  This project was four years in the making.  The engraved brick garden surrounding the Clock is a visible reminder of our community through the commemoration & memorials by family and friends. 

After nearly a decade of work, the Chamber initiative to create our Town Center was completed in 2009.  The Center co-locates all Municipal offices and an expanded Gold Level Alaska Club all within the newly refurbished Valley River Center Building A – a nearly 100,000 square foot project on Business Boulevard.

In order to address downtown circulation and access issues, the Municipality of Anchorage completed the Downtown Circulation Transportation Study in 2010. This study defines the projects which we will improve circulation and access into our business district. The Chamber goal is for our business district to be a competitive and enjoyable place for our community to do their retail shopping and access professional services.  

The 13th edition of the Chugiak-Eagle River Business & Services Directory is in circulation to all 14,000 households in the area.  Additional directories are available at our Chamber office. This heavily requested publication highlights the myriad of talents available in our community.  The directory features all local businesses along with lots of information on our local community. It is an excellent resource for new residents.

MAPS: The Chamber has community maps available for free distribution to residents, visitors and businesses. These are reprinted with street updates periodically.

Bumper Stickers “I ♥ Chugiak-Eagle River My Alaskan Home Town” along with our tri-fold brochure highlight things to see and do are available at the Chamber Office.

WEB PAGES & FACEBOOK The Chamber has an active website designed to showcase our community, upcoming events and activities at of the Chamber.  Visit us at  www.cer.org  For our big summer festival, Bear Paw, visit the dedicated website at www.bearpawfestival.org. Schedules, event descriptions, applications and sponsorship opportunities are all available online.   Like us on FACEBOOK – we have two organization pages …. Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber and Bear Paw Festival.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

The Chamber annually hosts workshops that help small business. Held at convenient hours and short in duration, these are designed for the busy manager/employer as well as employees to help keep abreast of current trends in law and business.  This program is co-sponsored by BP Alaska.

This annual project, held in late May or early in June, is a wonderful networking opportunity and a whole lot of fun. Funds raised help support our visitor and community information center. We meet at the “tees” for a battle on the greens. This is a great event, whether or not you are a golfer!  We play best ball with a tee time start.

Business After Hours is held on a request basis. Call us for a date to showcase your business and network with members after business hours.

Current Membership is at +350.  Networking opportunities, free advertising opportunities and information and referral services along with many other benefits are yours as a member

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Luncheon Forums are held on the first and third Wednesday of each month. These are open to the public and are designed to educate our members and community friends on a myriad of current topics and events. Speakers are scheduled about 8 weeks out. In addition, during the political season, the Chamber hosts Pancakes & Politics. This program offers a forum to those dedicated folks running for public office. The Pancake Breakfast series is scheduled only during election season and dates are based on availability of speakers.

Operation of our staffed visitor and community information center is a year-round function of the Chamber. The Chamber provides state-wide community information as well as referrals out to our businesses and nonprofit community. In addition to working with our business community, the Chamber actively meets with many agencies and organizations to keep abreast and affect issues critical to our community.

The Chamber Ambassador Program is very successful with 30+ members. The Ambassadors form the volunteer backbone for all Chamber events. All interested folks are welcome to join.

GOVERNMENT

The Chamber works with our seven State legislative delegates, our Federal Congressional delegation and our two Assembly members on a variety of issues impacting our community.  Efforts are always ongoing to identify appropriate capital projects necessary to maintain a quality community. The last forum in December is always a pre-legislative briefing – stay tuned for this informative event.

LANDUSE/TRANSPORTATION

The Chugiak-Eagle River Comprehensive Plan and its companion document, the Chugiak-Eagle River Long Range Transportation Plan, have been updated recently. In addition, the MOA has completed the very needed downtown circulation study which has identified critical projects to insure good traffic flow.  In addition, the Chamber and Assembly successfully passed the Overlay District for the old downtown section which will help competitively shape our business district into the future.

EDUCATION

The Chamber has a strong working relationship with the Anchorage School District and the UAA/Chugiak-Eagle River campus. The Chamber brings the business perspective to the district by providing representatives to serve on a number of advisory committees. The community is home to 8 elementary schools (including the Charter School – Eagle Academy) two middle schools and two high schools. The Chamber continues to be a strong advocate for adequate college level/work force development facilities to meet the growing demand for programs at the UAA/Chugiak-Eagle River Campus.

Work continues with the Municipality to increase the presence of APD officers in this community. 

In the area of Homeland Security, the Chamber and Parks & Rec & Community Development are tied in with Anchorage EOC communications on issues of Homeland Security.

Annually, our Chamber continues to be an outlet for the Anchorage Fire Department on wild-land fire mitigation information.

Activity continues apace with the successful creation of the One-Stop permanent recycling center at the Hiland Landfill. Our Chamber continues to work collaborative on City-wide Cleanup Day sponsored annually by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce.