The current economic crisis and associated rise in unemployment is impacting the Greater Richmond Region much like the rest of the country.  Local elected economic development professionals around the nation are scrambling to find new ways to attract new businesses while also retaining current businesses within their regions.  The Greater Richmond region actually has two organizations, the Greater Richmond Chamber and the Greater Richmond Partnership, that seem to doing this in parallel. 

The Chamber is a member-based organization with a mission "To serve our members and enhance our community by building a pro-business environment and outstanding quality of life".  The Partnership mission is "To help grow the Greater Richmond economy through the attraction of high quality jobs and new capital investment, the retention of existing businesses, and the continued improvement of the region's business climate."  Both of these missions seem to be very similar.  The only real difference is the Chamber has a membership base of 1,800 local companies while the Partnership actively recruits new businesses, both domestically and internationally. 

From a funding perspective, the Chamber generates a substantial portion of its revenue from membership dues while the Partnership received funds from local jurisdictions and companies.  Both organizations rely on fund raising drives every few years to bring in additional revenue from regional businesses.  Both organizations occupy prime office space in downtown high-rise buildings. The Chamber has almost the entire seventh floor of the 600 East Main Street building while the Partnership occupies a portion of the eighth floor of Riverfront Plaza.  The Chamber employs a staff of 30 professionals while the Partnership employs a staff of 13 of which three are based internationally.  The current staff of the Partnership could easily fit in the current Chamber space thus eliminating the overhead of the Partnership office.  The Board of Directors for the Chamber is composed of business officials from local companies, while the Partnership board includes a few local business executives along with elected officials from the local jurisdiction of Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico and the City of Richmond.  These localities happen to the be same areas currently served by the Chamber.  They are also the same localities that contribute financially to the Partnership.  On the private side, all of the investors that have contributed to the Partnership's 2009-2014 funding cycle are members of the Chamber.

Isn't it time to reevaluate combing the Partnership and the Chamber in an effort to cut costs while at the same time eliminating the competition between two local organizations?  Both organizations share common goals and have common stakeholders. Other regions that Richmond is frequently compared with,including, Charlotte, NC; and Nashville, TN; have their respective organizations operating as one organization while another, Birmingham, AL; is currently seriously considering such as merger of their Chamber and Economic Development organization.  According to the Birmingham committee chair, Mr. Dudley Reynolds, the move is being done because "it is time for the business community and the political community of the region to speak with one voice".  The Chamber and the Partnership both consistently stress regional cooperation so that the Richmond region can have one voice....isn't it time to do as they say?  The time is now for the Greater Richmond Partnership and the Greater Richmond Chamber to be an example to local businesses on how to adjust to the the current economic climate by making cost-saving changes and elimination of duplicate services while serving the Richmond region with a common voice.