Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
Encyclopedia
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
.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
promoting business in the Chicago metropolitan area of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. 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
Aon Center (Chicago)
The Aon Center is a modern skyscraper in the Chicago Loop, Chicago, Illinois, United States, designed by architect firms Edward Durell Stone and The Perkins and Will partnership, and completed in 1973 as the Standard Oil Building...
in the Chicago Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...
area of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
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.
The Chamber is headed by Jerry Roper
Jerry Roper
Gerald J. Roper is the President and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce located in Chicago, IL. Roper has been President and CEO of the Chamber since 1993....
, 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.
Issues
Some issues the Chamber regularly advocates on behalf of include:- TAXATION
- A tax and regulatory climate that promotes and encourages private sector expansion
and a competitive tax climate, and general structural reform of the tax system to reduce the reliance on property taxes to fund education and governmental entities.
- A Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights at all levels of government to give all taxpayers fairness
and equity when dealing with government on a contestable notice.
- A tax and regulatory climate that promotes and encourages private sector expansion
- TRANSPORTATION
- Coordinated efforts among the business community, local governments and our
Congressional delegation to maximize federal funding for the region.
- Coordinated efforts among the business community, local governments and our
- BUSINESS CLIMATE
- Wage levels set by market forces and a reasonable minimum wage set by the federal
government, keeping our region on par with competing states.
- Wage levels set by market forces and a reasonable minimum wage set by the federal
- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
- Efforts to promote entrepreneurship and small and emerging businesses through the
Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center.
- Promotion of international business investment and relocation on behalf of the region.
- Efforts to promote entrepreneurship and small and emerging businesses through the
- ENVIRONMENT
- Strengthening energy infrastructure, reliability and affordability by supporting continued investment in generation, transmission and distribution systems, and promoting renewable energy resources and energy efficiency in order to create job opportunities, advance the competitive potential of Illinois, and enhance reliability and economic performance.
- TECHNOLOGY & ENTREPRENEURSHIP
- Investment to ensure all people have access to the resources of the Information Age
so that companies in all industries and business sectors can have access to a skilled
information technology labor force.
- Investment to ensure all people have access to the resources of the Information Age
- EDUCATION & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
- Adequately funding elementary and secondary schools and diminishing the over-reliance on local property taxes.
- Expanding the number of schools organized and operated to achieve high performance outcomes for students.
- Adequately funding elementary and secondary schools and diminishing the over-reliance on local property taxes.
History of the Chamber
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.
- 1908 - the Chamber helps Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
found its School of Commerce.
- 1912 - the Chamber contributes to the creation and organization of the United States Chamber of CommerceUnited States Chamber of CommerceThe United States Chamber of Commerce is an American lobbying group representing the interests of many businesses and trade associations. It is not an agency of the United States government....
.
- 1920’s - the Chamber organizes the "Secret Six." This group became an internationally famous crime fighting body, and was headed by Chamber President Colonel Robert Isham Randolph.
- 1940's - the Chamber conducts a series of surveys resulting in the ordinance that took the public schools out of politics and created the position of General Superintendent of Schools.
- 1950: The Chamber conducted a successful Chicagoland Fair, Commerce and Industry Exposition in 1957, and an even more successful Chicago International Trade Fair of 1959 followed it. The latter brought Her Majesty, Elizabeth, Queen of the British Commonwealth, to Chicago as well as a giant U.S. Naval Flotilla. The trade fair added millions of dollars to 1959 Chicago business totals.
- 1965: Mayor Richard J. Daley presented the Chamber with a 1965 Human Relations Commission Award for, "initiating and successfully carrying out unique programs with the business community to open up more and better job opportunities for minority group people."
- 1975: The Chamber organized a citizen's sponsoring committee, which raised $450,000 to educate the public about the essential need for the Regional Transportation Authority in 1974. The Chamber was also an active member in the successful passage of the six-county referendum that created the Regional Transportation Authority.
- 1987 - the Chamber participates in the broad-based school reform coalition that led to the landmark School Reform Act of 1988.
- 2001 – Chamber is vocal advocate for expansion of O'Hare International AirportO'Hare International AirportChicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...
to support the region’s business needs.
- 2002 - the Chamber is awarded four-star accreditation by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for its outstanding contribution to positive change in the community. The Chamber has earned the highest rating to date for any Chamber in the United States.
- 2006 - partnership established with Scholarship of Chicago.
- 2008 – the Chamber’s Chicagoland Entrepreneurship Center launches the Illinois Innovation Accelerator Fund. Awarded top honors by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with five-star accreditation.
Programs and Alliances
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.
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.