Once it opens, the new headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut is meant to serve as a testament to the Chamber’s belief that doing business in downtown New London is itself good business.

The Chamber has ventured beyond its suburban comfort zone of the past few decades with its upcoming move to 92 Eugene O’Neill Drive from the Hartford Road in Waterford and before that on Route 12 in Gales Ferry. Indeed, it took months of evaluating potential investment sites before the Chamber board acted to purchase the former Merrill Lynch building for $1 million in May. Sharing the space will be an Innovation Center to offer office and meeting space and encourage start-up entrepreneurs.

The move is underwritten by a $1.386 million state grant requiring a partial match from funds to be raised by the Chamber. The New London City Council also approved a $100,000 grant from federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The Day, as a downtown business itself, looks forward to welcoming the Chamber to the neighborhood and to an enhanced presence as this diverse city readies for the additions of a wind power hub, a National Coast Guard Museum, and hosts of new residents in center city apartments and college housing.

Having made its own commitment to the people who live and work here, The Day Publishing Co. is aware of the outreach it takes for an organization to broaden its vision and partnerships. If the Chamber of Commerce is to follow through on its aim of spreading the benefits of New London’s economic growth to all in the community, it will want to use every possible means in support of the center’s stated mission: “To provide an innovative environment where professionals, entrepreneurs, emerging and established businesses can convene and work, and community members can receive career enhancing training.”

The public money that has gone into the Chamber’s investment shows the expectations of state and city government for a good-faith effort to reach the diverse communities that constitute a majority of New London’s population and potential workforce.

From The Day’s ongoing experience, we can testify that the second, and continuing, task is to seek the wisdom and experience of representative organizations such as the Hispanic Alliance and and ad hoc advisory groups comprised of leaders from diverse communities.

The first task, however, is to be there. This the Chamber has begun, by refocusing its work within the urban center and thereby making it easier to reach by public transit. Chamber members from other towns should find it simpler to connect with new and would-be business owners. The Innovation Center is designed for rental of meeting and part-time office space; interaction should come naturally with the opportunity for to rub elbows in a building that is open to the public.

Chamber members have put their organization in a position to influence relocation of businesses to downtown, make commuting by train and bus feasible, and re-create the market for restaurants and services that left town when commerce moved its center of gravity to suburban malls and shopping centers.

The chamber’s president, Tony Sheridan, told The Day Editorial Board that if fund-raising efforts bring in more than is required for the matching grant, the center may offer scholarships that would bring classes within reach of more beginning business owners. A good use would be to support training for those whose first language is not English, and to make materials available in Spanish and other languages. There will be no shortage of strategies for an updated vision of a business community that includes people with skills, ambition and innovative ideas but who might not otherwise know where to begin.