By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
New Riverbank Chamber Chair Perez Eager To Assist Businesses
Perez chamber
Recently Monica Perez represented the Riverbank Chamber at Kiwi’s Custom Guns groundbreaking ceremony held in January. She has taken over chairmanship of the Chamber board and is eager to see its membership grow. Virginia Still/The News

The Riverbank Chamber of Commerce has been through many changes through the years but has still remained a resource for businesses in Riverbank. There is new leadership that took effect Jan. 1, with Monica Perez taking the role as the new Chair.

Although the Chamber has seen membership decline over the past few years, Perez along with Directors Darlene Barber-Martinez, Corinne Santos, and Bill Robinson would like to change that. The membership at one time had about 100 businesses and currently it is at about 33 members.

“I am taking the responsibility of growing and being the face of the Chamber to sustain the members that we have currently and assisting our ambassadors and the current board,” said Perez. “One of the major goals I have is to increase the value of the chamber to our memberships and to our local businesses.”

The Riverbank Chamber formed in 1954 and is a non-profit volunteer organization that supports local businesses large or small and individuals with a variety of resources. In order to grow and have success once again as a Chamber, Perez added that they need help from the community and businesses in Riverbank.

Perez has been a Riverbank resident over 13 years and began as a Chamber Board Member in 2020. She opened Farmers Insurance Agency on Patterson Road in 2019.

“I wanted to help my business grow of course and also help the community. I have seen a lot of involvement with other chambers so I thought it was a good fit for me to be involved with the Riverbank Chamber since I have a local business,” noted Perez.

The Riverbank Chamber will host a Business Expo on Thursday, Feb. 24 at the Riverbank Community Center, 3600 Santa Fe, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Opportunity Stanislaus will give a presentation and City officials will be on hand to share information on local business.

Another goal that Perez shared was that she would like to host mixers at local businesses to showcase the business and anything special they may have like a business anniversary or special promotions. Her goal is to host ribbon cuttings throughout the year and preferably one each month.

With the small team of four, they are looking for more board members and more businesses to join the Chamber.

“We are a very small group and we need some help,” remarked Perez. “We are hoping to grow. We really want to support the local businesses to shop local and support local. My goal is to increase the value of the chamber.”

They have a new location for their operations located at the Riverbank Industrial Complex and once they have it completely set up they plan to have an open house. They will also have a new website and are on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

“There have been a lot of changes and unfortunately we had to start over the past couple of years but we are here,” expressed Perez. “We really want to grow. We want to increase the value of the current membership that we have and we want to urge everyone to support the businesses. If you have joined in the past we really want to see if you will rejoin and encourage other companies and other businesses to join.”

For more information, to join or for available sponsorship opportunities for the Expo, contact Perez at 209-534-2758.