New Mansfield Business Alliance launches

By Amanda Rogers

Mansfield Record

Mansfield businesses are banding together to launch a new group with one focus – Mansfield business.

The Mansfield Business Alliance – A Chamber of Commerce launches today with a ribbon cutting at 4 p.m. at The Grand View, 2201 Heritage Parkway, Suite 107. The event is open to the public.

Twenty-five members have signed on as founding affiliates, but organizers expect a lot more and soon.

“We will launch with 25 existing businesses, but within a year’s time we will be well over 100,” said Joe Jenkins, a Farmers Insurance agent and Mansfield Business Alliance organizer. “Everyone we have talked to about it has been very excited. They agree there is a need for this.”

So what exactly will this alliance do?

“Our focus is to promote and help the growth of the business community in Mansfield,” Jenkins said. “We want to show new businesses that they are welcome and help promote the businesses that are already here.”

To do that, the alliance will hold an annual meeting and monthly events, including coffees, lectures, ribbon cuttings and business after hours events.

“We want to get people face to face,” said Jenkins, a Mansfield native and Mansfield High graduate. “We will have regular coffees with members of the city council, city manager, parks, MEDC and Dr. Kimberly Cantu (Mansfield ISD superintendent) talking about what is coming to Mansfield.”

Jenkins has seen the need for a business alliance for awhile, but an encounter with a city official told him it was time to act.

“I ran into a city official as he was going to a ribbon cutting,” Jenkins said. “I asked ‘Why are you doing a ribbon cutting?’ He said ‘Nobody else is and we need to welcome these businesses to Mansfield.’”

Jenkins said the Mansfield Business Alliance will work closely with the Mansfield ISD school district and the City of Mansfield, which will loan the new group space for meetings.

There’s one thing the new alliance will not be doing – politics.

“We will not get into the realm of candidate forums,” Jenkins said. “I don’t see a need for another candidate forum. Politics will not be on our plate.”

The alliance has filed to be a 501c6 nonprofit chamber of commerce with the state.

Membership is limited to businesses within the Mansfield ISD borders, he said, and will come on two levels – businesses and individuals. Dues for businesses will be $250 annually, while individuals can join for $100 annually.

“As a business owner, I realize that if Mansfield has a thriving business community that’s good for my business,” Jenkins said. “I believe in this town.”

For more information, go to www.mansfieldbusinessalliance.org.