Main Line Chamber Of Commerce Named PA's Chamber Of The Year

WAYNE, PA — The Pennsylvania Association of Chamber Professionals, a statewide professional development organization, has recognized The Main Line Chamber of Commerce as its 2021 Chamber of the Year in the large chamber category.

"This award recognizes the hard work of the chamber staff, board and committee since early 2020 as the team brought businesspeople together in virtual and, more recently, in-person gatherings while helping businesses adapt and recover in these challenging economic times," said Robert Cohen, the volunteer chairman of the chamber and a shareholder at the law firm Riley Riper Hollin & Colagreco.

Gov. Tom Wolf made note of the role that chambers of commerce play in an October announcement about Local Chamber of Commerce Month in Pennsylvania.

"I am grateful for our local chambers of commerce for the invaluable role that they play in ensuring that businesses new and old can continue to prosper in Pennsylvania," Wolf said.

In addition to recognizing organizational excellence, the Pennsylvania Association of Chamber Professionals (PACP) Chamber of the Year Award focuses on acknowledging one or more significant achievement that a chamber has initiated, stimulated, or led in its respective service area at some point during the previous 18 months.

Organizational excellence is evaluated in the areas of membership, programs, planning and finance.

The Main Line Chamber was honored primarily for its response to the pandemic, which included the creation of a Recovery Resources email news aggregator that helped identify funding opportunities, explained shutdown orders and shared knowledge about remote work practices.

A series of 11 Recovery Resources Live events bought members together for pandemic-related content from elected officials, corporate trainers and professional services firms.

The chamber was also in part awarded for its creation of its virtual Diversity Equity and Inclusion Roundtable for chief diversity officers and senior human resource leaders in cooperation with the Urban Affairs Coalition in Philadelphia.

In the 18-month period evaluated for the award, the chamber created interactive opportunities for 2,000 employees in the region while providing leadership development programs for 38 individuals and professional development for 400 college students.

It also distributed of 350 personal protective equipment kits to small businesses.

The announcement of the award came a week after the chamber unveiled its Shop Dine Main Line campaign to encourage the thousands of employees who work for member companies and other community members to shop local.

As part of the campaign supported by a Wells Fargo Foundation grant, the chamber worked with Wayne-based BTC Marketing and Communications to create a new web portal to businesses at online here.

The chamber also collaborated to bring from Philadelphia to the suburbs a new app called Let’s Rallie that is available for download on the Apple Store and on Google Play.

The Let’s Rallie app promotes businesses and things to do within a 10-mile radius of any user in the areas it serves.

"It’s great to receive an award," said chamber president and CEO Bernard Dagenais. "But what’s more important is that we work to serve our members every day through connecting businesses, delivering our professional development programs and helping companies to execute on their talent acquisition programs with local colleges and universities."

The PACP made the announcement at an annual conference held in Johnstown in October. The chamber is only now sharing the information locally because it sought to keep the focus on the organization’s Shop Dine Main Line holiday shopping campaign.

The Main Line Chamber of Commerce is located in Wayne with 900 corporate and nonprofit members primarily based in Delaware, Chester, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.