GROWing
a better political climate–
If you are caught
up in the rush of daily business, it’s difficult – but
essential – to take time out to understand the issues and political
forces that can dominate your business. The OSBC will help you see
just how important your personal involvement in the legislative
and regulatory process can be to your future success.
The OSBC continually identifies ways to bring your views to the
legislative decision-making process. While our small business lobbyist
keeps a daily watch on the legislative process, your personal involvement
is the most effective weapon in our battle against onerous regulations
or misguided legislation. Our “GrassRoots Ohio Works”
program – GROW for short – is focused on mobilizing small
business leaders to speak out at just the right moment.
Through special partnerships with local chambers of commerce, GROW
seeks out small business owners who have the desire, but not the
time or resources, to make their voices heard. The partnership enables
Ohio’s small business owners who share common concerns to harness
their collective strength and shape local, state and federal legislation
and regulations. GROW partners also work with the Chamber’s
Political and Candidate Education Program (P.a.C.E.) to help recruit
and support small-business candidates for political office.
Each GROW partnership takes shape on the local level — community,
county or legislative district — and moves through this four-stage
development process:
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1.
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LAUNCH
The OSBC and the participating local chamber recruit and train
local chamber members who form interview teams. Their job is
to perform in-person interviews and collect data from a representative
sample of local small business leaders. Other small business
leaders are invited to submit data through a direct-mail survey. |
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2.
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DISCOVERY
Using the newly collected data, we create two databases. The
statistical database includes business demographics; local,
state and federal public policy issues as prioritized by the
small business leaders; and their ‘confidence ratings’
of elected officials. The complimentary grassroots database
identifies individual business leaders who desire to become
active participants in the statewide GROW-Network to make sure
the small business point of view is heard by public policy makers. |
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3.
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STRATEGY
We bring together the participating small business leaders,
interview volunteers and local chamber leadership for a special
report and strategy meeting where the survey results are reported.
It’s here that pressing concerns are identified and strategies
are crafted to tackle the most critical local and state issues. |
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4.
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ACTION
The GROW partners spring into action. The local chambers and
their business leaders frequently focus their initial efforts
on the most critical local issues. As their legislative and
regulatory priorities emerge, they will increasingly partner
with the OSBC to affect the outcome on state issues. Concurrently,
the small business leaders are encouraged to identify, recruit
and support pro-business candidates for public offices to help
build a stronger pro-business climate in their own community
and in state government. |
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