The young entrepreneur group launched by the Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce is making progress, according to group representative Kristi Martin who shared its progress with board members during a regularly scheduled board meeting May 7.

Martin announced the group’s new official name is Young Entrepreneurs Association of Syracuse-Wawasee or YEA’s. The group has also adopted a slogan: young entrepreneurs that network and work together to create a unified vision for the community.

The group plans to start a website and Facebook page, in addition to eventually holding events with speakers and having booths present at other local events. “We want to be a part of the chamber and help where we are needed,” Martin said.

YEA’s is currently ironing out details including how it wants to become involved and what criteria individuals should meet to join the group. Currently, the group is open to business owners from 25 to 40 years of age, but there has been talk about opening the group to other business professionals who meet the age criteria.

Martin said they will be looking at other groups to use as models. YEA’s is also generating ideas to draw people in their age group to Syracuse with ideas ranging from events targeted toward them like band performances to bike and kayak rentals and addressing housing concerns.

Several board members complimented the group with Chip Erwin stating it would make a great feeder system to bring some of YEA’s members onto the board as current board members’ terms come up. Chamber President Richard Owen also stated he is impressed with the group’s progress, especially with how new it is.

Executive Director Tammy Cotton is looking for volunteers to help during cruise-in Friday, May 16, particularly for set up at around 3:30 p.m.

Event task force chair Chad Jonsson stated they hope to park as many cars on Main Street as possible for cruise-in, adding the area between SR 13 and Dolan Drive will be closed. Additionally, the area between SR 13 and the community center will have road closures.

In other chamber news:

• Taste of Syracuse is slated for Sept. 27 at the Syracuse Community Center. The chamber hopes to have between eight and 11 restaurants participate.

• The chamber is sponsoring a customer service workshop from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. May 28 at Oakwood. The workshop is free to chamber businesses and $10 per person for non-chamber businesses. The workshop is geared toward training employees proper customer service etiquette. Business owners can also attend and then pass information to their employees.

• A strategic planning meeting will be held for chamber board members May 13.

• Membership directories are finished and will be distributed by the chamber to area businesses.

• The chamber completed its trash bash along SR 13 and is asking businesses to keep the ditches cleared and mowed from time to time.

• Board members heard a presentation about the chamber launching a travel website where individuals could book vacations and trips. With each booking, the chamber would receive a commission. More discussion on the topic will occur in the future.

• Two new members were approved by the board: Wawasee High School and Eastlake Athletic Club. Both are located in Syracuse.

Next meeting will be at noon June 4 in the chamber office.