Base strengthens ties with business community

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Erik Hofmeyer
  • 482nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
HOMESTEAD AIR RESERVE BASE, Fla. --  Homestead Air Reserve Base hosted the Greater Homestead/Florida City Chamber of Commerce Annual Planning Conference in the Heritage Hall Training and Conference Center for the first time Thursday.

Sixty Chamber members attended the day-long event to listen to guest speakers, prepare courses of action for current and potential community problems or opportunities, and plan for future economic development in Homestead and Florida City.

Andy Masters, President of Masters Performance Improvement, LLC, opened the conference with a motivational lecture on personal and professional development. The session was followed by small group discussions on economic development and minority business and financial development in South Miami-Dade County. Also, William Jefferson, Jr., Florida Power & Light Company's Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant vice president, served as the luncheon's keynote speaker.

"It's a beautiful facility," said Clara Waterman-Powell of CWP Project Management, regarding Heritage Hall. "It's comfortable; it has great acoustics, and the break-out rooms are adjacent to the conference room."

Heritage Hall is the focal point of all Homestead Air Reserve Base civilian and military services functions. The facility provides conference support for the 482nd Fighter Wing, base tenant units and outside military groups. The center stage of Heritage Hall is the 150-seat main conference area, which is suitable for briefings up to top secret and containing state-of-the-art electronic presentation media.

The decision to meet in Heritage Hall is symbolic of how closely intertwined military installations are with their surrounding business communities, with reservists and their families living nearby, frequenting local businesses and managing their own civilian careers. This closeness is also demonstrated by Col. Randy Falcon, 482nd FW commander, serving on the Homestead/Florida City Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors by virtue of office.

The base is so important to the Homestead and Florida City communities, and has a huge economic impact on the area, said Mary Finlan, Greater Homestead/Florida City Chamber of Commerce executive director. 

The 482nd FW and multiple tenant units operating out of Homestead Air Reserve Base have an annual economic impact of over $200 million on the South Miami-Dade community, resulting from local contracts and base employee spending, and the base is the largest single-site employer in South Miami-Dade County.