Letter From The CEO – 5/18/20

Yellow…who would have ever thought that the color of caution would be so enticing. I know that it has been a long road for many of our businesses over the past two months and for that I am truly sorry. Our businesses have had to endure many uncertainties, numerous emotions, and significant impact to your business and employees. For those of you whose businesses have been closed and most impacted, it is time to transition to reopening and to move toward recovery if you are able to do so under the Yellow phase.  Others of you have been operating at a fraction of your typical income and are looking to better understand the new normal, whatever that is. No one knows the speed with which we will get there nor how it will be done – but know that we are here to help move Cumberland County forward in a concerted fashion with the help of our four Chambers.

With the onset of Yellow, CAEDC, in collaboration with the Carlisle Area Chamber, the Mechanicsburg Chamber, the Shippensburg Area Chamber, and the West Shore Chamber of Commerce, is working on an Economic Recovery Plan for Cumberland County this week. The Plan consists of three phases…Respond, Recover, and Reinvent. We have been in Respond mode for the past two months responding to your inquiries and providing many resources as they become available to us.

We are anticipating and waiting patiently to see what resources are made available to the County through the Federal Cares Act – and we stand ready to roll out resources to help our businesses recover and resume as quickly as possible.  If we have not yet heard from you about your needs, please contact us….as we are in the process of developing programs that can be scaled to meet your most critical needs. The plan outlines strategies relative to financial resources, technical support, workforce and marketing needs to help our County businesses with reopening and business continuity. As we still don’t know all the details for each industry or operation type, the plan will be dynamic and change as additional guidance is secured.

While the past two months has been extremely challenging and trying for many of you, we are looking forward to Yellow on May 22 and beyond. Please reach out to your local Chamber or CAEDC as needs arise.

Jamie Keener, CEO