Bold Issue Groups

The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce is in the business of tackling BIG challenges. High crime rates, low academic proficiency, and a downtown in need of revitalization pose serious threats to the long-term prospects for prosperity in our region.

So we created our Bold Issue Groups (BIGs) to address three primary objectives:

We support investors by removing barriers.

The Chamber understands that high crime and struggling schools are impediments to economic growth in our community, along with a downtown area in need of revitalization. So, the Board has approved aggressive, multi-year strategic plans in each of these areas to help overcome these challenges. After all, the Chamber knows that a safe community, with a thriving downtown and a talented well-educated workforce, is a place where jobs are created and business growth is robust and long-lasting.

We work to build a better Albuquerque.

We are in these fights for the long haul. Improving public safety, educational outcomes, and our downtown area will take time and require great intention and focus. That’s why these issues are now the centerpieces of the Chamber’s advocacy work. And we’re already seeing progress, as crime rates have begun to fall, new high-quality charter schools are opening and expanding, and a new plan is in the works to address homelessness and reinvigorate the Rail Yards in the Downtown area.

The Chamber is at the table, working with government and community partners, to make our city and state even greater.

For each area – public safety, education reform, and downtown transformation – the Chamber has a policy committee, comprised of Board members, that brings the business community to the table to help craft solutions to the serious problems we face. This work has included helping the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office in launching a cutting-edge “Crime Strategies Unit” that uses data and new technology to identify and prosecute crime networks in Albuquerque. It has also involved assembling a delegation of local leaders – including Mayor Keller – to travel to San Antonio and bring back an innovative approach to addressing downtown homelessness to Albuquerque, which became the foundation of the Gateway Center. Our Education BIG was also instrumental in defeating proposals in the Legislature that would have stopped the growth of charter schools and in helping pass the opening of a new cabinet department for early childhood programs.