Cedar Rapids Chamber CEO shares disaster recovery lessons

Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce President Shannon Meyer is making sure the nation hears the lessons of business flood recovery learned in Cedar Rapids since the June 2008 flood.

An active role by chambers and local business support groups is vital, Meyer said. The government's response hasn't filled the need.

“The sheer simple fact is it's not enough, it will never be enough, and it certainly isn't quick enough,” Meyer said, who spoke at the annual luncheon of SCORE of East Central Iowa on Wednesday.

Meyer has served on a disaster recovery working group of 27 assembled by the Business Civic Leadership Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Development Organizations and International Economic Development Council.

She also sat on a panel of four that spoke last week to America's Small Business Summit, a large event for small business owners and chamber leaders in late May.

Most importantly, Meyer said, she recently participated in more than 25 hours of conference calls to provide guidance to leaders of recovery efforts in Nashville and Clarksville, Tenn., responding to massive spring floods.

The Tennessee leaders are interested in coming to Cedar Rapids to learn about the business disaster recovery here, Meyer said.

SCORE members are staffing a chamber business long-term recovery initiative in Cedar Rapids that reaches out to meet with businesses affected by the flood, assess their condition and provide assistance.

SCORE is a volunteer organization that provides counseling services to small businesses.

Team members were asked to join SCORE to make use of SCORE's case management system for working with small businesses, said Greg Tomsic, chairman of SCORE of East Central Iowa.

SCORE of East Central Iowa has been a valuable partner in flood recovery, Meyer said.

“Almost 75 percent of these businesses need additional support beyond financial resources,” she said.

Some other chamber groups around the country that she has talked to about disaster recovery don't have a SCORE chapter as strong as the Eastern Iowa chapter, which has 60 volunteers, she said.

Meyer said timeliness was key to one of the chamber's most successful flood recovery efforts - a fund that provided $25,000 grants to flood-affected businesses about one month after the flood from a $6 million fund assembled with public and private donations.

Some businesses have said they wouldn't have survived without the liquidity provided by the grants, Meyer said.

The chamber has worked with government officials to develop eight other business assistance programs.

“I firmly believe we will become an icon around the country for how you can recover from a double-whammy disaster of flood and a national recession,” Meyer said.