Chamber Updates

Finding Opportunity in Inconvenience Over the years I have heard grumblings from community members, businesses owners and some of the general populace anytime a special event our activity possibly disrupts the norm of the community. This could include critical construction or infrastructure projects that alters traffic, community events or special programs that affect the use…

Planning Ahead for Potential Impacts from Labor Disputes Last week, SAG-AFTRA announced it was going on strike, joining the WGA in disputes with Hollywood producers. While this contract dispute may certainly disrupt entertainment and media over the coming months, for business, the more important contract dispute to watch has an August 1 deadline and its…

Barriers to Work and the Renewed Emphasis on Childcare Today is the opening day for a new daycare center at John’s Pharmacy here in Cape Girardeau. The organization wasn’t planning to expand into the childcare business but after struggling to hire and retain employees with young children and recognizing a lack of accessible/affordable childcare in…

Education and Business working together to build the future Last week, more than 40 educators from 7 different school districts took part in the Southeast Missouri Show Me Careers program hosted locally by the Missouri Chamber of Business & Industry, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, SE MO REDi, and the Cape Chamber. Visiting…

Developing Skills for New Business Opportunities July 23rd is the registration deadline for the new cohort of students in Codefi’s workforce development program Code Labs. This 10-month training program, that is no cost to participants, serves not just as a workforce development program but also as an economic development engine for Southeast Missouri. Code Labs is…

Business Succession planning through Employee Ownership Certified EO, identifies over 6,300 companies in the US and 181 in Missouri that meet their standard of Employee-Owned meaning at least 30% of the company is owned by the employees. They highlight the benefits such as increased wealth building for the community, a better work environment and stronger…

A Broader Regional Perspective The 14 County region referred as Southeast Missouri by the Missouri Department of Economic Development in their MERIC Data profile indicates little to no economic growth over the last decade when measured by GDP. When you narrow down to the immediate area of Cape Girardeau, Perry, and Scott Counties the last…

“Topping Out” a great new development in Cape Girardeau This Wednesday, June 7, 2023, Century Casino will host a “Topping Out” Ceremony as Penzel construction sets the final structural steel beam in place on the new Casino Hotel tower. This is a common celebration stage of major construction projects but the broader representation of the…

The Value Veteran’s Can Bring as Employees With increased competition and demand for finding workforce talent, its never been more important to find great talent to add to your organization. One area of talent that sometimes is overlooked is the opportunity to work with individuals that have recently left military service and are ready to…

Show Mo Act & Business Opportunities with Film It’s not a given that Governor Parsons will sign the bill into law, but the opportunity once again to try using film tax credit incentives to recruit production to this state seems like a great opportunity. Afterall, how much more authentic would the Netflix Series Ozark had…