Every member of the Frederick County Chamber joins for different reasons. Intensive B2B networking, the big scissors at a grand opening, professional development lectures, the broad reach of our social media, Leadership Frederick, Generation Connect, or spending face time with our local political leaders. All of these things make up our value proposition, but an event that occurred in our office on Monday, August 19 gives some insight into one of the most critical functions that this Chamber serves in our community.
The Federal Reserve System was created by an Act of the United States Congress in 1913. The Federal Reserve (commonly called the Fed) is essentially the central bank for the United States. The U.S. Congress established three key objectives for monetary policy in the Federal Reserve Act: maximizing employment, stabilizing prices, and moderating long-term interest rates. The first two objectives are sometimes referred to as the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate. Its duties have expanded over the years, and currently also include supervising and regulating banks, maintaining the stability of the financial system, and providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions. The Fed conducts extensive research into the economy and provides numerous publications, such as the Beige Book and the FRED database.
The United States is broken up into twelve geographic regions under the Federal Reserve System. The Richmond Federal Reserve Bank covers Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, the District of Columbia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
At this point, it’s likely some readers are wondering why, other than my love for politics and civics, I’m writing about the federal banking system.
Trust me, it matters.
Last Monday, the current President of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, Thomas Barkin, held a listening session in our boardroom with local business and civic leaders. President Barkin came to Frederick specifically to hear from local CEO’s about the Frederick County economy. The Fed’s research tools suggested that good things were happening here, and Mr. Barkin wanted to learn more.
There are two sides to this particular coin. The obvious benefit is that our regional central bank chief executive wanted to hear about how the engine of economic opportunity in Frederick County is firing on all cylinders. Our members talked about government and private sector collaborations in the life sciences, in K-12 education, higher education and financial services. The stories he heard, about professional internships, the LYNX program at Frederick High, the importance of community banks, the rapid growth of our life sciences industry, the importance of Fort Detrick and National Cancer Lab and the ROOT strategic partnership between Economic Development, FITCI and the Chamber helped give context to many of the related successes.
The secondary benefit is that roomful of small, medium and large business members got to spend a few hours over a great lunch (shout out to South Market Sandwich Company) speaking personally to one of the people who is directly involved in setting national banking regulatory policy, as well as a primary influencer of our national economic policy. How else, outside of membership in the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce, would THAT happen?
You see, this isn’t the first time a major influencer or policy-maker has wandered the halls of our Chamber. Just within the last year, we’ve welcomed Senator Ben Cardin, Rep. David Trone, Governor Larry Hogan, members of the Frederick County General Assembly delegation, and Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot to speak with our members. We’re fortunate to regularly welcome Frederick Mayor Michael O’Connor and County Executive Jan Gardner, as they attend frequent meetings on a wide array of topics that directly impact our local business and nonprofit community.
Your Chamber is more than a great networking organization, although we think we do that pretty well, too! We are a trusted, credible source of critical information and a thoughtful, well-reasoned influencer of public opinion.
In the coming months, we’ll be learning more about how to solve regional transportation issues, including I-270 and Route 15. We’ll be working to bridge the STEM employment gap through a creative collaboration between higher education and the high-tech employers, and we’ll focus our resources to enhance our overall quality of life.
Our rebrand effort, carefully executed over this past year, aligns all of our work around the needs and desires of our membership. Our vision, mission and core values reflect our obligation to serve our members and this community with integrity, credibility and a focus on expanding opportunities for all.
We’d love to talk to you about joining us on this exciting journey. If you’re already a Chamber member, I’d love to talk to you about our new committee structure and how you can help. If you’re not a member, please email Dawn Jubach (djubach@frederickchamber.org) about joining today!
Rick Weldon
President & CEO
Frederick Chamber Insights is a news outlet of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about membership, programs and initiatives, please visit our website.