Brake bullish on Owensboro’s economic outlook
While national polls suggest Americans aren’t optimistic about the health of the economy, Candance Castlen Brake is bullish on what’s ahead for businesses in Owensboro — in 2024 and beyond.
Brake, CEO and president of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, said she signed up to 30 letters a week to new business owners in 2023, welcoming them to the business community and encouraging them to join the chamber.
“You don’t start a new business if you’re not an optimist,” she said. “You don’t go into second-phase growth if you’re not optimistic, or add a new product line. We have such an innovative business community here. They are pushing the envelope, doing new things, new offerings, and opening new places.
“I sense optimism every day I am here. Our business community is vibrant, and they’re stubborn in a great way — don’t tell me or I will prove you wrong. I think that’s how Owensboro is in general, but our business community takes it a step further.”
Brake said the chamber had a great 2023, though it’s difficult to quantify because the nature of the chamber’s work on projects and issues can span decades.
“With us, there is no such thing as a year boundary,” she said. “Our work is all process work, whether it’s for our membership, with community priorities, projects that we’ve been working on, some for 10 years, some for 20 years, some for 30. A lot of it is continuance. But from an operational perspective, we ended the year with great membership. We feel like we’ve been able to connect our members to opportunities.”
Brake said a key to those connections is the contacts made through the Chamber’s talent programs, such as Leadership Owensboro and Young Professionals, among many others.
“We’re consistently looking at talent programs,” she said. “We know that communities around the country who are leading, who are healthy communities, who have a healthy level of civic engagement, those are communities where people have opportunities to connect.
“You see the news and that Americans feel more isolated than ever, and when people are isolated, they’re not necessarily driving the economy up. So we know it’s important for us to provide opportunities for our business community, our nonprofits, our executives, for people across the game to connect.”
Brake said the connections made through Rooster Booster and Chamber’s annual celebration also can’t be underestimated in the overall success of the Owensboro business community.
“We have hundreds and hundreds of people that participate in our programming, but what we hope to do is find other ways to engage our general membership, opportunities to do philanthropic work, or connect with volunteer opportunities, or leadership opportunities, like boards throughout the community,” she said. “That’s what grows individual businesses, is getting involved. And it raises the level of engagement for our young people.
“We look at ways to engage our young population and create a community where young people want to be.”
With the Kentucky legislature in session, the Chamber is working to make sure its legislative priorities are being heard, including a reduction in the state income tax. The Chamber is also seeking a Home Rule option.
“We’re working on trying to get a constitutional amendment to allow communities like Owensboro to be able to have different revenue-raising opportunities,” she said. “Because of the size of our city, we can only do property, occupational, net profit and insurance premium tax. Other cities around the state you can do restaurant tax, sales tax, but we can’t here because of size.
“We contend, and our partners around the state contend, that it makes no sense. The chamber is in a coalition with several other chambers, local government leaders, and business people around the state. We just want to be able to have a fair shot. We feel like it’s important for our local community to decide how they’re going to be taxed. It’s not good business for the state to decide how local government taxes itself.”
Greater Owensboro Chamber Day in Frankfort is Feb. 15, which includes meetings with legislators and constitutional officers and the opportunity to attend sessions.
Brake said it’s important for Owensboro to be seen.
“We so often feel like we’re invisible at times in Frankfort,” she said. “Our (legislative) delegation does a fantastic job representing us, but we have to help them to do their job. So anytime we can be in Frankfort, at sessions being seen, it helps be relevant. To be relevant, we have to be seen.
“If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. It’s really important for our community to make sure that we’re at the table. As a chamber, that’s one of the most important things we can do for our membership.”
Brake credits the success of Chamber initiatives such as Shop Owensboro and Shop Local to the community’s commitment to doing things for others.
“Whenever you look around and see us at our best, it’s when we’re doing things for the community as a whole,” she said. “That’s what Shop Owensboro is, that’s what Shop Local is. It’s about doing things for your community. It’s about making choices, based on your neighbor and the future and not just on yourself. It’s doing business with the people you ask for donations, who participate in civic events. They are the first ones asked, so they need to be our first stop, too.”
By Scott Hagerman Messenger Inquirer