FCHCC comes to the end of another great year and we’re so proud to have accomplished much in the face of uncertainty when you look around at our community and country. While we all have to face these struggles, we can also look on our accomplishments and have confidence going forward. And, we could not have come this far without the help of our members, friends, families, and trustees.
Here’s just a few highlights of our 2011 accomplishments:
- This year, the Education committee reached out to local universities to promote the Achieving the Dream scholarship and received over 80 applications and awarded $45,000 scholarships to talented Hispanic Students. We honored them at our annual luncheon held in October with Mayor Alvin Brown in attendance who also addressed the recipients and presented our Chamber with a proclamation, honoring October 7th as “Achieve the Dream Day” in Jacksonville.
- The first Hurricane Preparedness Guide, a compiled list of Hispanic physicians, and the best Hispanic friendly companies to work for in Northeast Florida was published by Eco Latino Media Group who also is one of our media partners who help with print media.
- We’ve made many upgrades and enhances to our website and social media campaigns which continues to be a HUGE part of how we advertise and keep our members and non-members updated.
- Programs Committee was very busy this year who partnered with SUITE to host “Tuesday Tapas with the Hispanic Chamber” on the third Tuesday of every month. One of our largest networking meetings was during Hispanic Heritage month, Celebrado Victorias! The event was made up of a panel of five Hispanic-owned businesses who each shared their stories and victories as Hispanic business owners.
- Our membership had grown by 42% to over 239 active members as of November 2011 and we thank all our trustees and members for this achievement.
- Our Governmental Affairs Committee led us as we strengthened the relationship we have with the city and our mayor. We have also developed a relationship with the State and National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.