EDITOR’S NOTE: South King Media Founder/Publisher Scott Schaefer now serves on the Board of Directors for the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce.

After more than 15 years of serving the region’s business community from its office space in Tukwila, the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce this week announced it will continue its commitment to its business community by moving closer to the heart of its service area.

The Chamber’s new office is now located inside on the second floor of SeaTac City Hall, located at 4800 South 188th Street, Suite 250, SeaTac, WA 98188 (map below).

“This regional gateway location will allow the Chamber to better serve our members as well as welcome national and international visitors to the area,” CEO/Executive Director Andrea Reay said. “With direct access to I-5 and an abundance of parking, the City Hall location provides convenient access for Chamber visitors. It will also give the Chamber the ability to partner with the City of SeaTac to hold larger meetings and functions in a more centralized location of our service area.”

The Chamber says that it “appreciates the City of SeaTac’s leadership in coordinating a seamless move during this challenging time. We also want to thank all of our municipal partners for their ongoing support. And a special thank you to our Board Chair, Dan Mathews of Kidder Mathews, for all of his help over the last few weeks.”

“The Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce has been a part of creating economic success in our region for 32 years and we look forward to continuing to serve our community in a new space that will better meet the needs of our members,” said Andrea H. Reay, President/CEO, Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce. “No one could have predicted the current crisis we are facing with the human and economic impacts of COVID-19, but we did know, over a year ago, that we needed to adopt more robust virtual learning and connectivity tools to meet the needs of our members. Our new office will have much more remote access and virtual connecting capabilities so that we can continue to provide maximum accessibility to our members and our community during this crisis.”

In addition, the Chamber’s new space will provide for the increased collaboration with community youth, specifically the Chamber’s Success Foundation and its Southside Argonauts Student Summer Program. This Education and Workforce enterprise focuses on preparing young people for jobs and careers vital to our community in an environment that promotes forward-thinking and self-improvement.

The Seattle Southside local economy is deeply dependent on global trade and logistics, aerospace and manufacturing, hospitality and tourism, and the service economy. These sectors have been and will continue to be profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

“We also know that coming together in partnership and collaboration will help ensure that critical infrastructure remains operational while paving the road to economic recovery for our communities. There is value in working together. Together we are Stronger.”

NEW COVID-19 TASKFORCE
The Chamber says that its new location will also serve as the hub of a new regional taskforce: Southside Mitigation and Recovery Taskforce (SMART). This taskforce will gather Industry leaders from all major sectors of our local economy, subject matter experts, and government agencies who will convene (virtually) at least once a week from March 27 through August 28, 2020. These meetings will be a forum to share insight and information, guide decision making, and create multiple action plans with both public and private support that serve the direct needs of our communities. To learn more, please visit https://www.seattlesouthsidechamber.com/smart.

The Chamber has taken occupancy of the new office and looks forward to hosting an open house when it is safe to do so. Until then, please follow the Chamber on social channels (@SeaSouthChamber). To receive announcements and details regarding SMART as well as upcoming online learning and connection opportunities, please email [email protected].

About the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce
The Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit business organization that has served the communities of Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, SeaTac, and Tukwila since 1988. The Chamber focuses on business advancement in the region by helping to build and maintain a strong economic environment.

For more information, visit https://www.seattlesouthsidechamber.com.