by Michele Newbern Gillis
The Beach boom has been helped by the efforts of the Beaches division of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce. It’s dedicated to the promotion and development from Mayport to Ponte Vedra.
“We basically do what the downtown Chamber does, but on a smaller scale,” said Jill Sprowell, executive director of the 475-member Beaches division. The chairman of the Beaches division, Joe Mitrick is also the administrator of the Baptist Beaches Hospital.
The Chamber’s mission statement is to provide leadership to create a business environment so strong and positive that it enables existing businesses to flourish and attracts new businesses.
The number one reason people join the Chamber is to access the networking opportunities. Others want to get involved in the community as well as increase their business. The Beaches division conducts monthly mixers and luncheons and focuses on building the business community at the beach.
“No matter what business you are in, relationship building is key to that,” said Sprowell. “So much of it is who you know and who you feel comfortable with. At the beach, the nature of the area is that it is primarily small business. So, almost everything that we do is designed with the small business person in mind.”
“We provide an opportunity for the managers and owners of the Beaches restaurants and hotels to network with other businesses and have visibility within the community through the different events that we offer including the mixers, Coffee on the Coast and the luncheons,” said Mitrick.
There are four task forces: economic development and governmental affairs, military liaison, membership, and tourism. Each has 15-20 Chamber members.
Sprowell said that the Beaches division is the only area of the Chamber that delves at all into tourism.
“Because we are a coastal community, it is such an important part of the economy out here that it is hard not to be involved in that,” she said.
The membership task force coordinates beaches networking events and comes up with programs that will help retain existing beaches members.
“We have a monthly morning mixer that we call Coffee on the Coast,” said Sprowell. “We do monthly luncheons that are very similar to what the area councils do, but everything is primarily for the beaches.”
The military liaison task force works very closely with Naval Station Mayport, particularly on business issues of the military.
“We lobbied quite a bit for the recent Mayport Flyover [a 70-foot-high overpass that links Atlantic Boulevard and Mayport Road] because that was such a key piece for the Navy,” said Sprowell. “We also lobbied heavily for the Wonderwood Connector.” The connector will create a four-lane road from Mayport Road to 9A, providing another east-west route from the Beaches.
The tourism task force promotes tourism at the Beaches including creating media kits that to newspapers and to travel writers in the southeastern states.
“We determined that our area is primarily the drive-in market, so it’s primarily from the southeastern states,” said Sprowell.
To be involved with the Beaches division, contact Jill Sprowell at 249-3868 or [email protected].