April 2026 MCCE Board Member Newsletter Article

Laura Stein

Apr 23 2026

Why isn’t our Chamber doing that?

Nort Johnson
President/CEO
Faribault Area Chamber of
Commerce and Tourism

In our shared work world we have a saying, “If you’ve seen one Chamber – you’ve seen ONE Chamber.” Our respective organizations have unique boards, membership, staff skills, experiences, and resources, creating endless profiles for a Chamber. No two of us are completely alike, nor should we be! We work to be the best for our communities. Members, however, don’t always see it that way.

At our office in Faribault, I’ll get a call or e-mail probably 5 or 6 times a year asking why we aren’t doing something Brad’s doing in Owatonna, or that Jane in Northfield is knocking out of the park, or Hastings or Red Wing or …well, you get it. Our response varies depending on who caller is, what Chamber is showing us up, and how the activity we’re being questioned on may fit our strategic priorities. The tone of the inquiry makes a big difference too.

Usually, we’ll explore and examine the subject and weigh it against the good work our team is already doing. As most of you understand – we’ve only got so much capacity. So, adding something like Hutchinson is doing with their School District probably means we would have to move one of our active projects to the back burner or off the stovetop completely! So which kid gives up the life jacket for the new kid?

Our office does have some solid framework to guide those decisions – our list of strategic priorities. These are agreed upon topics that our Board reviews and updates annually. This “customization” of the Faribault Chamber is separate from the core Chamber work. We all work in the important areas of promotion, advocacy, convening and networking.

Our office’s unique priorities are labeled Visionary as they’ve been extracted from our Community 2040 Vision documents and relate to community and economic development activities. Our current list includes:

  • Excellence in Education (emphasis on public schools, pathways to local tech jobs)
  • Leadership Collaboration – especially in Economic Development
  • Historic District revitalization
  • Home ownership opportunities for workforce
  • Daycare/Early Learning

When we consider taking on or modifying our workload when new or modified activities are proposed, we weigh the proposal against this list.  If the idea makes the cut – we then look for the right partners to help lift the new load. Our list of partners is community wide and compelling.  Private and public schools, city and county EDAs and HRAs, Foundations, miscellaneous experts and stakeholders, and appropriate businesses.  ALL of the progress on these priorities moves ahead through partnerships and collaborations with our primary role being convening and facilitating.

That’s our response to the question “Why isn’t our Chamber doing that?”

What’s your response?