The same day that Jacksonville was named No. 26 on Businessweek.com’s list of “America’s Best Places to Live,” the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce launched what it called “a new, organized approach today to lead Northeast Florida to greater economic prosperity.”
The chamber said the unified image includes a consistent message and appearance throughout the chamber as well as the new name, JAX Chamber, and corresponding logos. In July, Cornerstone changed its name to JAXUSA Partnership.
“The chamber led the rebuilding of Jacksonville 110 years ago after the Great Fire, and we recognized it was time to unite, organize and take action once again,” said Wally Lee, president of JAX Chamber.
The chamber said it would implement programs to assist business growth and attract new companies and that it also was redesigning its Downtown headquarters.
The chamber is starting the “Business Growth Series” that will include workshops on managing cash flow, financing growth, tax planning, networking and marketing.
Also, its GrowJAX program is working with community resources, such as the Association for Corporate Growth, to assist business owners with identifying lending opportunities and other needs to drive growth.
The chamber said it chose Content Design Group and Halback Design Group to design Downtown’s “new front door.” It said the project includes renovating the building’s interior and exterior chamber and its adjacent parking lot.
A new “Buy Chamber” program helps member business owners more easily market to other members. A new online marketplace on the chamber’s website will allow members to promote sales for their business to other members.
The new logo was designed by St. John & Partners. “While the skyline in the logo is reflective of Downtown Jacksonville, the Jacksonville International Airport’s identifier, JAX, is reflective of the city and region and the arrow points to the region’s northeastern location,” said the chamber.
Meanwhile, Businessweek.com reported that its first America’s Best Cities ranking was completed with assistance from Bloomberg Rankings.
It evaluated 100 of the country’s largest cities based on 16 criteria, which include the number of restaurants, bars and museums per capita; the number of colleges, libraries and professional sports teams; the income, poverty, unemployment, crime and foreclosure rates; the percent of population with bachelor’s degrees, public school performance, park acres per 1,000 residents and air quality.
It said greater weighting was placed on recreational amenities such as parks, bars, restaurants, and museums, and on educational attainment, school performance, poverty, and air quality.
The data came from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sperling’s BestPlaces, GreatSchools, Onboard Informatics, RealtyTrac and the Trust for Public Land.
“With miles of Florida beaches nearby and thousands of acres of parks and preserves, residents of Jacksonville are spoiled with outdoor activities,” said Businessweek.com.
“The Atlantic Ocean provides both great air quality and a hurricane now and then. The city has good schools, low poverty rates, and plenty of great options for nightlife.”
The top city was Raleigh, N.C.