Our Community Matters

by Kevin Holsapple, Executive Director, LACDC & Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce

Our community matters. Much more so than the average small, remote community we have played a very important role in the world. Despite all of the uncertainties that have weighed upon us over the past couple of years and that we continue to face in the coming months, I believe that our community possesses abilities and potential to continue to play an important and positive role in solving problems that the world needs addressed. I think that, as a community, we owe it to the world to do our best.

Being part of a community matters to all of us from the most self-reliant among us to those who need help. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote, “We don't accomplish anything in this world alone ... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.” I think that is right … without community, no individual person can survive much less thrive.

The Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce has undertaken an initiative that we call “CommunityMatters” as a community building and support activity. Our aim is to rally effort and energy behind the notion that our community matters and is here to stay. Many of our members are actively participating in the projects that are forming the initiative so far. Some activities, like the community dialogue that has formed to address preparedness for helping people deal with effects of LANL uncertainties are addressing near-term community concerns. At the same time, other activities such as cooperative promotion of businesses through the Essence of Los Alamos & White Rock tabloid and the Locals Care loyalty card program aim to build and improve community relationships for the long-term.

Some voices in the community seem to focus on the short-term and have nothing of substance to say about the long-term. We think it is important to think about both the short-term and the long-term needs of the community. The short-term presents obvious challenges and we must do our best to address and meet them. The long-term is where we have the chance to achieve our potential as a community though, and only through constant, consistent effort will we be able to bring about the future that is possible. We must reject calls to abandon our long-term potential because of near-term fears and general fear of change.

Do you believe that community matters? If so, we invite you to learn more about the Chamber’s CommunityMatters initiative, and get involved at http://www.ourcommunitymatters.info/