Contact: Mary Kaye Wilkosz
President, Advisory Committee, Manistee Area Chamber of Commerce
231-723-9117


For Immediate Release

MANISTEE CHAMBER REQUESTS PROPOSALS TO
IDENTIFY BEST PRACTICES FOR NEW CHAMBER STRATEGY

Manistee, Michigan – A Request for Proposals (RFP) has been issued by the Manistee Area Chamber of Commerce to identify “best practices” of other Chambers of Commerce so that they can be considered as the Manistee Chamber develops its plan for the future.

“It just makes sense to have an ongoing process to find out what our fellow Chambers are doing and make use of good ideas and practices,” said Mary Kaye Wilkosz, President of the Advisory Committee for the Manistee Area Chamber of Commerce. “We will be looking at other chambers that serve counties comparable to Manistee. This will help us bring tried and tested services to our members without reinventing the wheel.”

The project is intended to identify best practices involving member services and programs and options for governance and operations so that they can be considered in a new three-year plan for the Manistee Chamber which will be completed in late September 2007.

The RFP is being administered by the Manistee Economic Development Office (EDO) on behalf of the Chamber. A total of $10,000 is available to be granted for the project, with funds provided by the EDO. A similar project was carried out in 2006 as part of the effort to re-engineer the EDO. The Chamber Advisory Committee will review proposals and make the contractor selection.

A copy of the RFP is attached to this news release. Questions may be directed to Tim Ervin or Betsy Keson at 231-723-4325 or bkeson@manistee.com.