South County resource center opens on Friday
Chamber, partners to offer assistance to area businesses
After dipping its toes into San Luis, Arizona, a couple of years ago, the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce is now jumping into the water.
In a partnership with various organizations, the chamber is opening a new office on Friday in the Aztec Plaza, 1453 N. Main St., Suite 5. It will be called the South County Business Resource Center.
John Courtis, the chamber’s executive director, explained the reason behind the name. He said the office will be manned by the chamber staff and several partners that also want to deliver programs, services and assistance to businesses in South County.
Those partners include the Greater Yuma Economic Development Corporation, the Arizona Western College Small Business Development Corp., Arizona@Work and the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Courtis noted that they “have enthusiastically agreed to be our partners in creating this much needed ‘incubator.’”
At the inception of the idea, both Hector Tapia, the economic development director of Somerton, and Jenny Torres, the economic development director of San Luis, agreed that the office could be in either San Luis or Somerton, as long as South County had representation.
The location choice, with assistance from Jerry Lococo of SVN Velocity, and building owner Bob Spaulding, came down to being “the nicest available office in the northernmost part of San Luis, to make it more convenient for the businesses of Somerton,” Courtis said.
The office will officially open at 12:30 p.m. Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. All businesses and elected officials are welcome to celebrate this “long-overdue venture,” Courtis said.
The chamber first announced the creation of a “South County Partnership” in April 2018, with the intention of filling a void in the areas of Somerton, Gadsden and San Luis, Arizona.
At the time, a letter from the chamber stated: “For far too long, your Chamber of Commerce has not given South County the attention and the respect it deserves. Great, innovative things are happening in Somerton, San Luis and Gadsden, and we now have a mechanism to make sure we are attentive to the needs of our South County members and partners.”
The letter noted that the partnership would not be replacing the Somerton Chamber of Commerce or any other chamber in the area.
It would simply be “partnering with those organizations and businesses to bring our services, events and programs to South County.”
The business community had been asking for training, networking, more outreach, connections to other businesses in the area and ribbon cuttings, the letter indicated. They also asked for training in marketing, social media, website development, financial skills including how to read their books, planning ahead and working on their business plans.
The chamber already held a few networking events and training sessions in Somerton and San Luis as well as established a presence at the Gadsden Historical Society Building at 18765 Highway 95.
Recognizing that South County is home to many Spanish-speaking business owners and managers, the chamber gave a slide presentation on team building and customer service both in English and Spanish.
For more information, call the chamber at 928782-2567.