"Sarasota Tomorrow" - A bold New Initiative by The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce
STELLAR Fundraising Executives, Inc. (STELLAR) has been retained by The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce to design, test and fund a much-needed five-year economic and community development Strategic Action Plan. The proposed plan is designed to address a plethora of community needs, opportunities and threats currently facing the Greater Sarasota area. According to STELLAR Founder and CEO, Terry J. Cusack, “All communities, including wonderful places like Greater Sarasota, have local economic and community development challenges and opportunities that must be dealt with to ensure their future prosperity in the global marketplace. What separates the winning communities from the rest are those that have strong, committed leadership, who are willing to identify and address their challenges and opportunities holistically, via a well-funded Strategic Action Plan that is implemented aggressively. Unfortunately, through our STELLAR work across the country, we have seen too many communities that make little or no progress on their own challenges and opportunities because they get stuck in what we like to call the ‘getting ready to get ready’ mode. As a result, these communities often fail to take any substantive improvement action, unlike the communities we typically work with.”
According to Steve Queior, President and CEO of The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce: "The financial challenges, regulatory constraints, and international competition that exist for local business and its customer base, and the growing need to develop “high skill, high wage” jobs, are now of major concern to the Chamber’s 2,400 members. Immediate challenges range from having enough available sites for commercial and industrial development, to having adequate transportation services, to providing much-needed affordable housing, and sustaining a well trained, highly motivated workforce."Without question, Greater Sarasota is a winning community, and like all communities, it is not without its own individual needs, difficulties and challenges, requiring leadership, resources and attention. The Sarasota Tomorrow Initiative will focus the community’s efforts to address Greater Sarasota’s needs, opportunities and threats with a large-scale multi-million dollar fundraising campaign that will allow for full initiative implementation. Through The Sarasota Tomorrow Initiative, Greater Sarasota will be proactively working to ensure that the community will continue to improve, thrive and prosper for years to come. STELLAR is honored to be assisting the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce with the design, testing and fundraising of The Sarasota Tomorrow Initiative.
