I’m often blown away by the work our business community will do to make Colorado the best place to do business, find a great job and raise a family. Here are two efforts this week that illustrate just that:
We stand together as a business community on education. Over 440 business and civic leaders signed on personally and with their companies to tell our representatives at the Capitol that we are strong supporters of school accountability and measuring student progress.
That’s because we know that today too many of our students are leaving high school unprepared—in fact, 37 percent of our high school grads are spending time and money on at least one remedial course in college. In the next five years, 74 percent of jobs in Colorado will require some post-secondary education—our kids can’t be spending this valuable time and even more resources playing catch up.
The principles of high expectations matched with a means of measuring performance are echoed in House Bill 1323, which implements the recommendations of the standards and assessments task force. We fully support the task force recommendations and this bill. Meanwhile, we’re fighting Senate bills 223 and 233, which undermine the reforms put in place and the core of why we assess students and schools. Please stand with us to ensure our kids get the future they deserve and we get the workforce we need.
You may have noticed some BIG changes at the Chamber. Over this past year we’ve updated our space to work smarter for our members. We've all noticed the improvement in natural light—I’ve even had members ask if we added windows (we didn’t). You’ve all noticed our standing desks and you may have even taken a walk on the treadmill desk. Well, we’re in the home stretch of our renovation and thanks to the investment of our members, the Chamber's space will serve us all better to get more work done.
The change is noticeable the minute you walk in the downstairs lobby. And, the fourth floor deck—what a wonderful reminder of the outdoor lifestyle we all love! If you’re there for an event, you’ll probably be able to enjoy a Blue Moon in our Molson Coors taproom. Soon we will all be taking our stairs, spruced up thanks to Kaiser Permanente, to improve our health—and decorated with one of our fourteeners! And, you'll see photography of the west by western artists. Not only are they striking, but they share the story of our Chamber and the work we do. Hats off to Cathey Finlon, Deborah Jordy and Mimi Ruderman for their hard work curating this collection and making this space so reflective of the business community in Colorado.
We want you to check out all of the changes over at the Chamber with a special open house for all our members on May 14. Mark it on your calendar; we’ll keep you posted with more details to come.
Kelly Brough is the president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
[Photo by peace6x]
