Page 6 - Winter2023

CE0'S MESSAGE

Don’t leave it up to

chance, support the

creativity of our youth

It’s 2023 and the City of Where would we be without their
commitment to creativity and passion for
Cambridge is a mere 50 a brighter future?

years old. "The Chamber will create
Some could say your Chamber of This creativity is the wheelhouse the necessary momentum
Commerce is also the same age since of the Chamber of Commerce. We
our name is synonymous with the don’t just look ahead a year or two, to nurture and champion
community we serve. However, our roots we have been around for a long
as an organization date back 99 years – time and will be around forever, success by bringing together
a less than subtle hint that we will be because we will never be done the elements – on all sides
celebrating our centennial next year. inspiring creativity and innovation.
However, Chambers of Commerce of an issue – to successfully
themselves have been around since 1599 cultivate all that is good,
and for the last 424 years have been
working to sculpt their communities to So, we look down the road a generation or and can be good, in our
meet the challenges that lay ahead. two because those are our community’s community."
future leaders. They are the job creators
Little more than 100 years for the rest of the 21st century and we
after the discovery of the want to make sure this experiment of a
‘New World’ (North America), creative community lives on. In many ways BlackBerry changed the
world. As well, IMAX was co-founded
Chambers of Commerce popped That is why the Cambridge Chamber of by Graeme Ferguson, a graduate of Galt
up everywhere to inspire Commerce and the Greater Kitchener Collegiate Institute (GCI) and Robert Kerr,
Waterloo Chamber of Commerce have
opportunities, and push for teamed up with the Region of Waterloo the former owner of Kerr Progress Printing
important projects that allow for and the Business Education Partnership (Cambridge), as well as the former Mayor
of Galt and Mayor of Cambridge, elected
the creative development of the of Waterloo Region to launch a very in 1975.
modern economy we see today. exciting new and yes, innovative program, They have shown that creativity,
called ‘The Youth Creativity Fund’.
This has included transportation corridors, innovation, and the pursuit of success
both road and rail, trade agreements and HIP Developments President Scott Higgins have always been part of our secret
assisting governments in developing fair coined our region as ‘The Creative Capital formula, so yes, this is the Creative Capital
of Canada’ and quite frankly, someone
and equitable policies for opportunities of Canada.
to emerge and development to happen. needs to officially embed that into our The Youth Creativity Fund will
brand because it is true.
I often think of those early settlers coming
to the ‘New World’, lacking infrastructure The innovation that has come out of ensure that we are offering
the Waterloo Region has truly changed
and tools, and faced with vast lands opportunities early on to the
where people moved slowly across the the world. For the sake of a recent and next generation of great thinkers.
understandable example, the BlackBerry
continent to build their dreams. was invented right here in our region and Through this program, students in grades
They were the innovators of the past, became the first handheld computer in 5 to 12 can apply for seed funding to
the folks who were so creative that their the world. create a solution to a problem that faces
very ideas, efforts, and ingenuity, created However, while that device is no longer them, their family and friends, or the
opportunities for a brighter future. the global standard, there is no denying whole world.
Their children learned how to survive in the idea, its basic technology and spirit of Imagine, our kids solving the world's
this new land by harnessing their talents the device, is now not only desired but in problems without ever having to leave
and grooming those innovative ideas. most economies, has become essential. home?

6 Winter 2023 www.cambridgechamber.com