The Boulder Chamber of Commerce and the Latino Chamber on Friday will hold a virtual listening session for minority, veteran and women business owners to share input on their needs during the coronavirus pandemic.
Participants will join facilitated Zoom conversations focusing on short- and long-term economic recovery needs, according to the event’s website.
Staff and board members of the chambers will listen in to better understand the most effective response strategies to help meet their needs and achieve long-term recovery, said John Tayer, Boulder Chamber president and CEO.
“This is a coordinated and collaborative effort of all of our regional economic development and business support organizations and we will collectively review the information we gather,” he said. “We will identify themes that are regional in nature as well as specific to individual communities, and then build appropriate response strategies around them.”
This free session from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Friday will be one in a series of input forums throughout Boulder County and is one of many outreach efforts targeting minority, veteran and women-owned businesses, according to Tayer.
“We want to make sure they know we will have services and extra attention to their specific needs based on this conversation,” he said.
Women-owned and minority-owned small businesses have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic compared to male-owned and non-minority small businesses, according to recent reports from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
And a survey by the Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families found a higher percentage of veteran-owned businesses have closed due to COVID-19 compared to businesses owned by non-veterans.
The Boulder Chamber and other involved partners are interested in learning how to serve those and all sectors of the business community through the input sessions, Tayer said.
“We are working very hard to make sure we touch all elements of our business community in order to reflect the impacts of the COVID crisis on the full diversity of our businesses and our workforce,” he said.
To register for the free event, click here.
