b'GIVING TIME, TALENT AND TREASURE TO SOLVE REGIONAL BUSINESS, Zucker is proud of the Chambers work with partners in the educationECONOMIC AND field. The Chamber has remained wholly engaged with what is happeningCOMMUNITY within our four school districts in our three counties. Weve worked hard to make sure theres a strong apprenticeship program at Trident TechnicalNEEDSCollege. She is chair of the two-year college at this time and explains that the Department of Labor brought the Charleston Regional Youth Apprenticeships platform to TTC and the Chamber to prepare rising highThe Chamber participates in regional strategic planning school juniors, seniors and graduating seniors for rewarding careers in awith the Charleston Regional Development Alliance variety of fields. (CRDA), which attracts high-value industries, companies and entrepreneurs to the region and helps them with site selection, talent acquisition, workforce training and financing. Zucker says, When the Naval Base closed in 1996, people thought Charleston would fail. Because we were the Metro Chamber, we brought the three counties and area leadership to the table to find the right way forward. We created CRDA immediately to begin to bring new businesses to our community to regrow jobs that were THE CHAMBER MASTERFULLYlost. With CRDA, the Chamber worked on this continuously over the next decade to make sure we were going to save TRAINS UP ADVOCATESpeople from having to get up and leave.The Chamber trains members to represent our community the way itThe Lowcountry Minority Business Accelerator (MBA) needs to be represented, she says, making sure we know our electedis a program of the Charleston Metro Chamber designed officials and who to meet with at the state level and communicatingto facilitate economic growth and prosperity for high-policy each year so we work hand in hand with the Chamber topotential, minority-owned firms. Cohorts are offered advocate for the important issues. instruction and one-on-one mentor coaching. Zucker is pleased women of color are getting the training they need We have a highly invested, active, forward and forward-thinkingto create their own businesses and to be entrepreneurial, membership. The Chamber listens to the needs of membership andbecause that is a skill that is so important today. She helps us form at the grassroots level around those things we wantsays when the Chamber launched the program, she called to go fight for at the state level. What policies are in place that dontimmediately to ask to be a sponsor. work for our community? What policies impacting businesses, schools, colleges and universities in our community do we need to make certainwere moving in the right direction? This istikkun olamAnother example, she says, of the Chambers efforts to connect giving people new Charleston-area residents, in spirit as much as to place, is the Arthuropportunities to learn Ravenel Jr. bridge (Cooper River Bridge to locals) that crosses from downtown Charleston to Mount Pleasant. Nearly two decades later,skills that will give them she still marvels that we got that beautiful bridgethis amazing structure that brings people so much happinessthats useful forgreat life opportunities.driving, walking, running, bikingthat meets all different kinds of needs in this communitythat opened what was going on across the river to downtown.It took a partnership between the Chamber, state government and the community to make it happen. It took a lot of time, talent and tremendous amount of treasure.29 REPAIR OF THE WORLD'