Greater Fort Wayne Inc. 2020 Chamber of the Year Finalist with John Urbahns

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability and to correct obvious transcription errors while preserving the meaning of the original conversation.

Episode 79 — Greater Fort Wayne Inc. 2020 Chamber of the Year Finalist with John Urbahns
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: John Urbahns
Automated QA: Passed

00:00.2 Brandon Burton
This special episode is part of our 2020 Chamber of the Year Finalist series, where you get to hear from some of the top chambers across the country. I hope you find great value in this series, but first, the intro. This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
00:33.686 Brandon Burton
My dad, Brandon Burton. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. This is Brandon Burton, and it is my goal to help introduce you to people and ideas so you can better serve your Chamber members and your community. This is episode 79 of Chamber Chat Podcast, and it's also our eighth interview for our 2020 ACCE Chamber of the Year finalist series. If you are new to listening to Chamber Chat Podcast, I'd invite you to check out our Get Started page at Chamberchatpodcast.comslash start, where you can get some nondues revenue ideas as well as our free chamber podcasting guide if you ever have any interest in starting your own podcast for your chamber. Again, those can both be found at Chamber Chat Podcast.com slash start. So our guest today as we continue on with our Chamber of the Year finalist series. is John Urbahns, who's the president and CEO of the Greater Fort Wayne Inc. in Indiana. John joined Greater Fort Wayne Inc. in 2014. Prior to his appointment as CEO in 2019, he served as executive vice president of economic development. In that role, he led an economic development team that assisted with 132 business expansions and relocations in Allen County. resulting in more than seventy eight hundred new jobs and three hundred and thirty-five million dollars in new annual payroll. John has managed and negotiated aspects of transformational downtown investments. He co-led the Road to One Million, the Regional Cities Initiative Plan, which resulted in a $42 million award from the state of Indiana for quality of quality of place improvement projects throughout the region. Under his leadership, the GFW Inc. team has provided counsel to community leaders throughout northeast Indiana and Northwest Ohio, coaching them on setting a community vision, historic preservation, real estate finance, and private sector investment strategies. Prior to joining GFW Inc.,
02:51.628 Brandon Burton
John served as a director of community development for the city of Fort Wayne, where he managed the city's strategic planning, land use, redevelopment, housing, and economic development, among other responsibilities. He led and assisted with multiple high-profile projects at the direction of the mayor and has facilitated comprehensive downtown and neighborhood planning processes. John has spent much of his career engaging with local residents. neighborhood groups, elected officials, and business leaders to cast a visionary future for Allen County's communities. Over the course of his career, John has served on numerous community boards. He was a founding board member of the Fort Wayne Downtown Development Trust, the Fort Wayne New Markets Revitalization Fund, and Fort4Fitness. John graduated from Ball State University with degrees in urban planning and environmental design. and is an AICP certified urban planner. He is a proud dad to three great kids and a lifelong Hoosier. I'm excited to get into my discussion with John today as we talk about what is making Greater Fort Wayne Inc. stand out to be considered as a Chamber of the Year finalist here in 2020. And we will get into that discussion as soon as we get back from hearing from our sponsor. Chambers are not considered for Chamber of the Year without having great programs and steady streams of non-dues revenue. I want to introduce you to a great affinity program from Swypit. In partnership with Chamber Chat Podcast, Swypit is one of the best credit card processors in the business. With the Swypit Affinity program, you can save up to 40% on your credit card processing fees at the Chamber and help your member partners to do the same. Chambers who take advantage of the Swypit Affinity program can add thousands of dollars to their non-dues revenue annually. Please visit Chamberchatpodcast.com/slash CC for more information and to request your complimentary cost savings analysis from the experts at Swypit. The first 20 chambers to respond will qualify for free equipment to get set up. Again, visit Chamberchatpodcast.com
05:14.634 Brandon Burton
slash C C to start swiping with Swypit. All right, John, we are back. If you would take a moment and say hello to all the chamber champions out there listening and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little bit better.
05:33.262 John Urbahns
well, hello. Thanks for having me on here today. it's a it's a great pleasure to be representing Greater Fort Wayne Inc. and our community in in the process. you know, a little something interesting about me. I I think it's a lot of people found it interesting. I'm for a very small town here in Indiana. that and I went off to study urban planning and city planning in college and everybody kind of wondered, you know, what what's this what's this guy doing from a town of less than two thousand people going off to studying urban issues and and urban and city planning. So but I found my home here in Fort Wayne after college and have really used that experience and and my years at the city and here at Greater Fort Wayne to to really help make an impact in our community.
06:18.946 Brandon Burton
So now you are a city slicker, right?
06:22.33 John Urbahns
Now I'm a city slicker. But you know, I'll be honest, it's it's really helped in the region that we work in, to be able to understand what what's going on in a lot of our smaller communities as well and to help them out, make them as as the best places that they can be.
06:37.312 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. I think it brings a great perspective because a lot of that what you're focusing on on the bigger cities, it it does have that ripple effect into those smaller communities as well. And being able to see how that affects them is it's an important aspect to bring. So let's let's have you share a little bit more about Greater Fort Wayne Fort Wayne Inc., just so we can all get an idea of your organization, maybe size, location, budget, just so we have a a better idea of the perspective that you bring to this discussion.
07:06.39 John Urbahns
So we're located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is in the the northeast corner of Indiana, second largest city in the state, about two hundred and seventy thousand people in the city, about three hundred and seventy in Allen County, which is which which is our area of influence. So we we represent all of Allen County. we have about a three point one million dollar budget and twenty staff members. You know, you may think that we've been around a long time, but we haven't. We've been around since two thousand fourteen when we when we actually merged our hundred plus year old Chamber of Commerce, our twenty-year-old public private partnership or our Economic Development Alliance, and our leadership development program, which was about thirty-five years old. we merged all those together back in two thousand fourteen, really with the idea of having one voice of business within the community. trying to bring those together and make them all stronger. And I think we've been very successful in in how we've done that.
08:08.396 Brandon Burton
That's great. I know in some cities you see that being divided up. And I always I'm always more of an advocate of seeing them come together. So you have that synergy working together and and a little bit less red tape to get things done. So as we kind of move along to the the topic of of chamber of the year and the application process and and the the programs that you guys submitted on your your synopsis. Can you take us through those highlights on on what those programs are?
08:41.452 John Urbahns
Yeah, you know, we one of the things that we've really established through our organizational strategic plan last year when I came in as CEO was really focusing on the core values of the organization and really focusing those around inclusion, collaboration and results. But I think inclusion really is the leading value in what we've what we focused on. And that's that's a big part of the two programs that we submitted. you know, we we don't want to be your grandfather's chamber. We want to be a very inclusive environment. and that's that's an area that we have been obviously focused on and the two programs. One is it's called the GFW Inc. Bridge program. Back in 2017, we had Techstars come in and do an assessment of the entrepreneurial community within Fort Wayne and Allen County. And one of the things that we we saw was that there was there was a need to help to continue to build relationships, continue to build that culture of entrepreneurship in the community. You know, Fort Wayne's a community that was founded on entrepreneurship. When you think about electric lighting, when you think about refrigeration and washing machines, the calculator, all things that were invented here. So, you know, we have a long history of entrepreneurs. But one of the things we found was that while we had a number of What we call ESOs or economic or entrepreneurial service organ support organizations, one of the challenges we saw was we had a great entrepreneurial community and we had a great corporate community, but it was kind of never the two shall meet. So we were trying to bridge that gap between startup and success for our entrepreneurs, and doing so in a way that connected them with established corporations, at the same time helping to build. chamber membership and and support for for the organization. We ultimately in working with the kind of finding that gap in the support organizations, developed this program and we we ended up wanting to do a pilot. We ended up getting we targeted 15 corporations to sponsor an entrepreneur for a five-year period. So not just a you know kind of simple coaching for a year or so, but really sponsor them to be
11:04.654 John Urbahns
part of the organization. So we ended up we we got all 15 corporations on board to do that. the next question was would we have the entrepreneurs be interested in signing up to be part of the program? And some of the feedback we heard was that, you know, at the time there was some some questions of whether they would want to be part of the chamber or what was seen as the old guard at the time. So we ended up putting out an open call for entrepreneurs. Ended up with 98 applications for people to be in the program. we ended up working to kind of down select those to what we felt were the the most viable entrepreneurs, and then put those out to those 30 entrepreneurs out to the 15 corporations that were interested in sponsoring them and let them choose who they wanted to sponsor. We ended up with with fourteen of the fifteen ended up with their first choice on the on the on the pair-ups. So it wasn't like they were all fighting over the same entrepreneur. so we had a lot of great involvement there. It's it's really turned out to be a great opportunity for these entrepreneurs f to learn from people that have been involved, you know, in business for for 30 years, 25 years as as CEOs or high level folks in in organizations to really help coach them. and it's not only been good for the entrepreneurs, but we've got a lot of feedback from the from the business leaders that it's been good for them, that it's it's been good for them to give back to the community in a different way, get back to kind of the heart of building building a business and helping somebody that has a passion and figuring out how to fulfill their dreams. So we've been very very proud of the work that's gone on here. We're getting we're gonna be launching a second cohort of entrepreneurs and and sponsors later this summer. So it's a program that we look to continue to grow. since there's a five year kind of a five year commitment from both the entrepreneur and the corporation, it it kind of gives us the ability to bring on a new subset every year and just to continue to build that.
13:20.494 Brandon Burton
So are there certain requirements that you look for in the entrepreneur side when they're doing their application that maybe been in business for so long or so many employees or a certain type of industry or any any parameters like that that you're looking for?
13:36.906 John Urbahns
You know, we wanted to help kind of all entrepreneurs. So there was they couldn't have been established for more than I I think about a five year period. They had to they had to have they couldn't have kind of already made it as far as revenue. So there were some parameters there. but there's you know, it ranges from restaurateurs to social media experts to some folks that are starting a nonprofit. So it's not just your traditional business. and and we've had some great pair-ups and already leading to some great some great momentum. You know, we've been at this now for just over a year. We've already had a couple that have have gone into bricks and mortar facilities now that have really accelerated their business. And what it what it's what it's been able to do is kind of take out that struggle period. where they maybe are struggling to figure out their way or fig struggling to figure things out and they can they can kind of jump through some of the hoops quicker. They have somebody to lean on and help them make those decisions to help push them forward a little bit a little bit faster.
14:52.91 Brandon Burton
So I'm curious when you put the call out for entrepreneurs to apply, what kind of messaging did you put out there? I I ask because I see a lot of entrepreneurs kind of have that mindset of they want to do it on on their own or they don't want to ask for help. They don't want to share their idea with somebody, you know. So to be able to to message that in a way that just like you were saying, to be able to get over those hurdles, get over those struggles faster, I think is perfect. And and I'm sure somehow that was implemented. But I'd love to to hear from you how that was that messaging came across.
15:22.69 John Urbahns
That's that's where we were trying to play the that's where the inclusion comes in. We were really just trying to get them into the mix and into the conversation so that their voice was heard and they weren't just out, you know, working in their living room or their basement on their own, but they were now part of the conversation and now out into the community. You know, a number of these entrepreneurs we hadn't even heard of before, didn't know that they were they were working. You know, we we worked through the the different organizations that were helping entrepreneurs. to get that message out. But the idea was that we didn't we weren't looking to obviously we weren't looking to take over their business. We weren't looking for them to partner in a financial perspective with with the corporation. It was really about this is an opportunity to now get involved, be included, have the have the door opened to attending our networking events and our our other events throughout the year. for them to just get more engaged in the community and then also start to develop a relationship. I think they all felt that they they understood that they needed some assistance in in getting out there.
16:34.77 Brandon Burton
You had mentioned that you're getting ready to ramp up kind of round two of it this summer. Are you targeting different corporate sponsors for it? Or are some of the same fifteen gonna be a part of that group or is it a whole new group?
16:48.206 John Urbahns
So once we once we launched it with those 15, we had a number of people come out of the woodwork of, hey, I want to help an entrepreneur, I want to be involved, how can I how can I how can I get an entrepreneur or a bridge partner to to help? so it we're gonna be having new new sponsors come on board. the the the ones that were already paired up last year will be working through the next still the next four years with their partner. Now there may be some that say we want another we want to take on an additional bridge sponsor bridge entrepreneur and we'd be happy to have that, but it's gonna be mostly new new corporations, new business leaders that are interested in taking taking these on.
17:30.476 Brandon Burton
That's awesome. Sounds like a terrific program. should we move on to the the other program that you guys submitted?
17:38.764 John Urbahns
Yeah, so the other program we've been working at for about a year and a half now, maybe maybe wrapping up the second year by this point, but we identified a real challenge in the community, again on the inclusion side, is working with disabilities. So we started a program called Employing People with Disabilities Initiative, with the idea being that our unemployment rate, like a lot of areas in the country, we're was extremely low. you know, three percent. so our our biggest struggle for for growth of a lot of our industries was was sheer workforce. but at the same time we were looking at the fact that if you have a disability, your unemployment rate is significantly higher. so we worked with we have a local foundation that's very involved in in the disability and inclusion community here in Fort Wayne and we worked with them to to fund a three year pilot. so like I said, we're we're pretty much wrapping up year two, we're going into year three of of this pilot program where we actually brought somebody on staff that is their sole focus is to work with businesses every day on helping them understand the opportunities for employing people with disabilities. And we're not operating a we're not operating a kind of a placement service. We're in the business of help spreading the word about Opportunities for employment for all individuals in the community, but especially those with some form of disability. So we brought an individual on, Kevin Morse has been leading this program. he has a strong background in human resources and in hiring folks with disabilities out in the workforce. So he's been working with companies helping them understand maybe the challenges that they have internally. to bring somebody on that has a different skill set, maybe requires a different a different environment to work in. But we've had a a great deal of success. Last year we had 32 businesses hire 51 individuals with with a disability. So we have we have a lot of different programs out in the community that are helping people with disabilities and we're connecting those the businesses with the
20:04.714 John Urbahns
with the folks that are are helping people with disabilities. So but you know, to give you an example, we had a a local bank that was that was very interested in the program. We worked very closely with them, got them helped them understand kind of even some of the interviewing processes that maybe they needed to look at differently for people with different types of disabilities. They ultimately ended up wanting to hire one of the individuals and it took several months just to figure out kind of some of the work changing their work rules and some of their procedures to get the person on board. now our team helped them through that process and and the great thing is now they can they can go on and do it again. And that's what we've seen with a lot of folks that have hired somebody through this program is they don't just hire one individual. They ultimately end up hiring additional individuals because they see the work ethic you know they people show up, they are very dedicated, and it's just opened the eyes of a of a number of folks in our community to a different workforce that that wasn't that wasn't there in their traditional interviewing process and and different traditional hiring processes.
21:18.648 Brandon Burton
So I I love the the spirit behind this whole the employing people with disabilities. as you went about working with the employers, I mean when you when you say people with disabilities, there's obviously a wide range. you know, it could be somebody with a physical handicap, it could be a mental thing, it could be, you know, Down syndrome or autism or you know, d a wide spectrum of different different disabilities. So when you talk about Changing the interviewing process and and things like that. I mean, would they I I'm just trying to maybe digest this for myself. Would they look for one type of disability first to try to branch there? Or is it more of a broad spectrum and try to make their system work depending on who's coming in for the interviews?
22:08.29 John Urbahns
So it's it's it's broad at the start, but then as as you narrow it down as they start to see maybe who's interested, Kevin can work with them on the different, you know, if if it's a physical hand if it's a physical disability, it's different than if it's a mental disability. Or, you know, if if they're on the spectrum. So you know, things like maybe the interview isn't sitting down at a desk talking with somebody, maybe it's walking around the facility, having a conversation. Maybe it's it's looking at different ways you do the training. those are all things that that the team will work with them on and really kind of tailor it to the the different types of of disabilities that are out there.
22:53.528 Brandon Burton
So these employers were they trying to create positions to be able to purposely hire people with disabilities or were they saying this is a position we have and it could work with somebody with the disability?
23:06.466 John Urbahns
That's a great question. So, you know, what we what we try to do is, you know, one of the things just from a traditional business retention and expansion process, our team's going in and meeting with 500 plus businesses a year. So this isn't just about one person running this program. We've worked it into our all of our different programming. So it could you know, it could be just a staff person going out and having a conversation and understanding the challenges that maybe they're having and hiring different positions and then Starting the conversation, have you considered how a person with a disability could fill that position? And a lot of times the answer is no. And that's when we can open it up and say, you know, how about if we have somebody come in and talk with you about specifically these types of positions? And the great thing is that the you know, Kevin knows a type of positions that are are are good fits for people with different types of disabilities. whether it be a a physical or a mental or cognitive, he can work with those individuals, work with their HR departments to then connect them with with organizations that are maybe working with someone with a physical challenge or somebody with a with a mental challenge and then provide that connection and then help them, help coach them through some of the the things that they need to look at.
24:28.706 Brandon Burton
That is great. So d I wanted to ask you, as as you guys are obviously being considered as a a chamber of the year chamber, what what is your organization doing to stand out that maybe other chambers are not doing?
24:46.626 John Urbahns
I think one of the things that obviously as an organization is focused not just on traditional chamber activities, but also being the economic development organization and also the leadership development programming organization. We've got a wide spectrum of of what we do and how we impact the community, the types of businesses we interact with and how we interact with them. It's not it's not just in one in in one way. It's it's very holistic in the things that we are doing to really achieve our mission, which is to build a nationally recognized economy here in Allen County. That that is our focus, is to be nationally recognized as an economy that that folks want to mimic or be like. I I think the inclusion is an area that has really set us sets us apart from a number of other chambers. You know, we I I mentioned earlier we don't want to be your grandfather's chamber. We want to be inclusive of the community. We see ourselves representing the community. You know it it it's You see it in our programming. You see it in, you know, whether it be the disability initiative or the bridge program. You know, if it we're involved in conversations that we're involved in the uncom in the uncomfortable conversations that that communities need to have. You know, last year we focused one of the things we do is an intercity visit every year to to look at other communities that are doing things right. you know, and that's really helped us in regards to our downtown. our riverfront, things that we have looked at in the past in communities like Greenville and Chattanooga and Providence, Des Moines. You know, last year we really said we want to focus on this inclusion in a very intentional way and really wanted to focus on race relations and inner city development. so we ended up taking a group of 42 individuals down to Louisville, Kentucky last year to look and see what they were doing in their community in regards to neighborhood development. and tackling some of the the race issues that that they have within their neighborhoods. Not traditional conversations that chambers of commerce have. But we wanted to be very intentional about that. And you know we we we went down to Louisville, had it had a a great look at the community and you know is I was struck by we met with the mayor one evening, he came and spoke to us and and the mayor said, you know, we've had a lot of groups come in and look at our riverfront, look at our downtown
27:11.438 John Urbahns
You know, nobody's ever come to look at our neighborhoods, our and especially our inner city neighborhoods. and and just kind of applauded us for really taking a specific and intentional look at that. we're we're very involved in those conversations here in our community, working in parts of the community that that have seen a lack of investment or disinvestment over several years, and are a little bit are are more challenged in some of the the community issues. And we we've kind of jumped feet first in or head first into those and really are part of those conversations. So getting outside the norm, getting into those, like I say, those uncomfortable conversations within the community to really include everybody and and tackle those big issues.
27:56.022 Brandon Burton
So I'm catching a theme here. It seems like inclusion's pretty important to you guys.
28:01.418 John Urbahns
Inclusion is very much very much important. And that you know, that I mentioned like dealing with race issues or or inner city development. We've got inclusion fr from with you know, our county is very while we have a very urban core in Fort Wayne, we also have a very rural part of our c part of our county. you know, with a large Amish population. you know, it's it's a very agriculturally centered county, very large geographically. So We've got a lot of different we've got a lot of different diversity and inclusion that we're trying to work through. and it's not all it's not all one thing. And that's why we try to that's why we see it as one of our core values to be inclusive. You know, we we really do value the contributions of all aspects of our community and try to incorporate those into the work that we are doing.
28:53.95 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. And I think Louisville is a great place for you guys doing your your visit and being able to see their their inner workings in their their communities. I know there's a a wide mix of different different races there. I had Kent Euler from GLI on last year as they were a finalist on the
29:12.942 John Urbahns
Yeah, it was kinda nice that we went there we went there just probably within a month of when they had received when they'd won Chamber of the Year last year. So they were come they had just come off that and it was a great time for us to visit and really see what was going on down in their community.
29:29.206 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. Well, I wanted to maybe shift gears a little bit here. I know as as chambers across the country and and even throughout the world are kind of trying to figure out how to navigate their way through the the financial impact that everyone's seeing from from the COVID nineteen pandemic. would you share what your plans are of how you plan to lead your business community through specifically the economic recovery?
29:59.5 John Urbahns
Yeah, so we have been very we like all chambers, like all businesses, you know, had to quickly pivot what was going on with some of our work. You know, the gr the great thing is we we really stuck we really held true to our mission, and and the things that we needed to be focused on, just shifting the way we were doing it. So, you know, all of our programming that was going on, like our women's network, our leadership development programs, Those have all just switched to a virtual world. you know, running them through platforms like Zoom, continuing to have those meetings. Our you know, our our leadership classes haven't missed a date. They just start taking place in a different different different world. you know, we really focused what as soon as things started to kind of come down here locally, you know, first thing we did was we we took the team and said, Hey, we need to call every member in the next week. So we We took a week and called all roughly fourteen hundred members trying to figure out how they were being affected, the things that were challenging them, and quickly you know, kind of figured out what we needed to be doing was providing them good information, information they didn't have to dig through. So rather than them reading eight hundred pages of the CARES Act, we needed to become experts and be able to help them. started running webinars with on you know the paycheck protection program and the EIDL loan process. And as we started getting businesses through all of that, we started having the conversation and and during this time we were very engaged with our local health department and our local elected officials. So the local health department was really looking at us to be to connect them with the business. so we were playing that role and really shifted quickly to you know, how do we start to reopen our businesses? And in Indiana, we've had a I think Governor Holcomb and Indiana has had a great response to the pandemic. we have figured out we're in stage three of a five-stage back-on-track Indiana plan. As we started that process, what we ended up doing was partnering with a local health organization, Parkview Health, and our local health department to really focus on a healthy reopening. so we are wrapping up actually today after this call, we'll be wrapping up our 15th webinar with different industries.
32:21.416 John Urbahns
on different items that they really need to be looking at and be focused on, on getting reopened and how to get open reopened safely and in a healthy fashion. So we we've really taken that charge and and led the way, trying to connect the business community with the health professionals to get the right information out so that they aren't just hearing random information, but they're getting it actually from health professionals. At the same time, we're we're working locally with the state, with our the city and county and with the state on local local programs that can help businesses as they look to recover and reopen. So we're we're continuing those conversations and getting those programs started so that we can help them help them get reopened. we were in the we were just in the final stages of identifying someone to help us develop a five-year economic development strategy for the community. and I think we're it's a perfect time now. I I'm I'm I'm glad we're in the position of starting that rather than you know wrapping up an economic development strategy that doesn't take into account a pandemic and and working remotely and all of that. So I think we are well positioned to to keep moving forward. I think Indiana as a whole is very well positioned. You know, one of the things that work for force was a big challenge for us. obviously the pandemic's gonna change things, but I think we had already started to we had turned a corner on our domestic migration, you know, going from decades of negative domestic migration to now now years of positive and growing domestic migration. So the things that we have done to invest in our community and attract people to our community, I think that I think mid sized communities like ours and economies like ours that are very well diversified are ripe for growth coming out of coming out of the pandemic.
34:20.353 Brandon Burton
That's great. I love how early on how you guys reached out and made phone calls and and contacted all fourteen hundred so members to find out what their needs were and become that source of information. I think that's so important to to see what what is it that's on their mind and and how can you be an answer to their concerns? That's so important. So as we start to kind of wrap things up here, I wanted to to ask is Maybe if there's one piece of advice or an action item that you can share to the the chamber professionals that are listening today that they could do and implement back at their chamber to to take their organization up to the next level.
35:01.048 John Urbahns
You know, I think of things that we all need to do is is take the lead in helping to set the vision for the community. the business community needs to step up and and be a part of that vision setting for the community. And being, you know, I I mentioned it earlier, but being present for the uncomfortable conversations. You know, it's it's easy to just be part of the part of those comfortable conversations that you know where they're gonna go, you know how you're gonna react, the feel-good conversations. You need to and I think this is where we have we're trying to set the bar in having those uncomforta uncomfortable conversations that really help push us forward. you know, if I had advice for anybody, you know, that's starting out in this profession, it's it's it's it's be present for those uncomfortable conversations and be part of the solution and and help figure out how to move forward with issues that maybe nobody else has been able to figure out.
36:00.8 Brandon Burton
I love that answer. This this final question I I asked everybody that I have on the podcast is as we look to the future of chambers of commerce, how do you see their purpose moving forward?
36:15.192 John Urbahns
I I think the purpose of the of the of the chamber is to keep businesses together, to keep the business keep the business influence out there, but also to to again to lead in ways that they haven't seen in the past. I think for chambers to continue to be re relevant, you're gonna have to take part in those conversations. You're gonna have to really help push that community forward. You know, I I mentioned collaboration was a one of our our core values that c keeping the public sector and the private sector aligned are gonna help move your community forward. If if you're out of alignment, one can't push the other around. You have to keep them aligned and moving together in in a forward in forward movement. So you know, I I think chambers play a key role in that. And keeping the businesses aligned, but also keeping them aligned with our public sector partners to help advance our communities.
37:18.166 Brandon Burton
Great great words of wisdom. I appreciate you sharing that. John, as as we get ready to to wrap up this interview, I wanted to give you an opportunity to maybe share the best ways for listeners to reach out and connect with you if they have any questions about what you've discussed or they wanted to continue this conversation offline.
37:40.162 John Urbahns
Yeah, if if you want to reach out to me, I'm happy to have a conversation. Our website is greaterfortwayneinc dot com. my email is J Urbahns. That's U-R-B-A-H-N s at gfwinc.com. I am happy to have any conversation. Our team is is is happy to have any conversation. You know, while I say we're focused on on Fort Wayne, Allen County, New Haven, you are communities here in Allen County. we're willing to help anybody, you know, and and we've been helping people across the line in Ohio and elsewhere in our region and and trying to play a role in helping people across the state. So we're here to help anybody that wants to have conversation with us.
38:24.322 Brandon Burton
Very inclusive of you. I appreciate that.
38:27.374 John Urbahns
Thanks for working that in.
38:29.262 Brandon Burton
We'll get your your contact information updated on our show notes page, which will be found at chamberchatpodcast dot com slash episode seventy nine. But again, John, thank you so much for taking time out of your day and I wish you and Greater Fort Wayne Inc. the best of luck with Chamber of the Year.
38:46.722 John Urbahns
Brandon, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on today.
38:51.126 Brandon Burton
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