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With the start of the 2023 hurricane season, chambers and governments throughout Florida are reassessing their resiliency as they prepare for the next storm.
In one of the country’s most vulnerable areas, the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce is leading its community in this endeavor, recently organizing a trip to Lee County to learn from the chambers and cities still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian.
“We don’t know what we didn’t know and that was why we started this effort too,” says Christie Bruner, vice president of advocacy for the chamber. “Our CEO understands we must be leaders in our community by taking the precautions needed for this type of event.”
The trip took place in May and included more than 30 business and government leaders. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch came, along with 10 other city officials. The Tampa Bay Times sent a reporter and reported on the activity.
The effort was one part of the organization's Sustainability Task Force, which was developed because sustainability and resiliency is central to the mission of the chamber.
On the trip, the group toured the devastation and heard about the lessons learned from the storm. This included meeting with local chambers, the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce.
“We heard from our chamber partners on how essential it is to have 90 days of cash reserve,” Bruner says. “They warned us about thinking that state and federal relief funds will be coming quickly once approved. It takes time and the businesses that didn’t have three months of cash reserves are the ones that did not survive.”
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