Stephanie Immelman, CEO, Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce

Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce CEO Stephanie Immelman talked to Invest: about the multitude of advocacy efforts underway to provide support, not only to the small businesses in Delray Beach, but also to the local community’s workforce and their families. These efforts facilitate mutually-beneficial opportunities for prosperity, she said.

Reflecting on the past year, what have been some of the most significant milestones for the chamber?
Our focus for the past year has been workforce development. In late 2023, we surveyed our members, and one of the most commonly identified issues was finding qualified people. Inflation was also a major concern. Car dealerships in particular faced trouble recruiting mechanics, even when offering $70,000-$80,000 salaries to high-school graduates.
These challenges sparked our workforce development program, starting with our many automotive dealerships, who had been looking as far as Port St. Lucie for employees. We partnered with CareerSource and local high schools to garner student interest and placed them in jobs right out of school, which helped kids in underserved areas obtain great jobs in their community. This program was followed up by an open job fair.
Healthcare is the second sector facing significant challenges. CareerSource is an integral partner in this industry as well, and with their assistance, many people procured jobs at a recent job fair on the spot. We also arranged high-school tours for students on healthcare tracks to hear from professionals about careers they could start now.
CareerSource is also helping us reach out to the local hospitality sector. We intend to hold a job fair early next year and organize student field trips to major hotels, restaurants and attractions. Construction and technology will likely be the next industries we focus on in the future.
Our brand is community, and our chamber effectively brings people together to solve problems. We connect people with jobs and connect businesses with employees to help create great opportunities.

What trends are you observing in the local market, and how are your chamber members adapting to meet those changes?
Almost all of our members are small businesses, and we focus on advocacy and providing them with tools to ensure their success. To further this goal we started a new program called the UGROW Business Series that helps small businesses with issues like scaling. These companies are great at what they do but often need help with marketing, branding and finance, and the Chamber provides the necessary tools to allow these small businesses to supplement their expertise. The tools and assistance we provide also allows members to help each other.

What progress has been made over the last year in affordable housing, and what steps are being considered for the near term?
Affordable housing is still a problem, and the only way to tackle it is by coming together to solve it creatively. The issue worsened after covid due to the influx of people and increased supply and demand pressures. To address this, we are working with an affordable housing task force through Rene Jadusingh with the Delray CRA.

What advocacy efforts is the chamber spearheading?
We strongly support an important program that offers full-day, voluntary preschool. We see this as a workforce issue because parents need to be able to work full-time. The chamber is not alone in this perspective, and it will likely be brought up again by state legislators. When it comes to employees, the chamber also advocates for business flexibility.

How have roundtables impacted collaboration, and what are your plans to expand them?
The workforce initiative originated from our roundtable discussions. The real estate roundtable includes brokers, financiers, interior designers and others in related fields. Our nonprofit council focuses on supporting the community and connecting nonprofits with for-profits to collaborate on community needs.
In October, we held an event where nonprofits and for-profits came together, with 75 chamber members working to improve the community. We also plan to start a health and wellness roundtable to bring in gyms, chiropractors and mental health organizations to help our community stay healthy and fit.

What initiatives are in place to invest in the quality of life of Delray Beach’s community?
We want 2025 to be the “Year of the Small Business,” and we have reached out to our partners at the City of Delray Beach to create a calendar of events for all organizations to uplift small businesses, like the DDA’s Shop Small Saturday, job fairs, the UGROW business series, wherein we will offer free webinars and consulting for small businesses. Our goal is to create and promote a year-long calendar of events to amplify our message and support for small businesses.

What are some of your top priorities for the chamber over the next two to three years?
I am happy with the efforts in progress. Working collaboratively is one of the most important things we can continue doing. Advocacy at the national, state, county and city levels will continue to be important over time. Our chamber has worked on a legislative agenda for quite some time and want to continue strengthening our advocacy at the legislative level. I anticipate we will continue to focus on enhancing our advocacy efforts and will emphasize engagement among our chamber members to help with these goals. We started these goals at such a small, local level, and we intend to expand our influence over the next few years to further advocate on behalf of small business issues.