Since launching its economic development fund-raising drive in September, the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce has come up with a goal ” 5,300 new jobs in the next four years.

Chamber officials announced in late August that they would begin seeking donations from area businesses and community leaders to raise $1.2 million to $1.5 million in the next four years for the chamber’s economic development program.

Kelvin Heck, chamber chairman, said Wednesday that the group also had set a goal of creating more than 5,000 new jobs with the funding.

“We’ve decided it is really time for us to address this bedroom community issue pretty head on,” Heck said. “We need to do the things a community needs to do to get new jobs, and we need additional funding to do that.”

The campaign recently gained an official name, Excellence by Design, and two co-chairmen. Heck confirmed that Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway and the longtime co-owner of the Lawrence McDonald’s franchise, Marilyn Dobski, had agreed to guide the fund-raising effort.

Dobski said the goal of creating more jobs was a major reason she accepted the position.

“We have so many people who feel like they live in a divided house because one person works in Kansas City and one works in Topeka,” Dobski said. “We hope to change some of that.”

The chamber also has hired a full-time fund-raiser to make contacts with potential donors, which are expected primarily to be businesses and business owners. Glen Easter, an employee of National Community Development Services, is working out of the chamber’s offices, contacting 15 to 20 potential donors a week.

Easter and other chamber officials are telling potential donors that $1.2 million to $1.5 million will give the organization the money it needs to attract and create new jobs.

Specifically, chamber officials believe the campaign will help create 2,000 new “primary” jobs, which could be industrial or high-tech in nature. Those new jobs are expected to indirectly create 3,300 other jobs in the service, retail and other nonindustrial sectors.

According to economic formulas used by Easter, the new jobs are expected to create economic benefits for the community, including:

• $103 million in new annual payroll for the county.
• $57 million a year in new disposable income.
• $10 million a year in new long-term bank deposits.
• $9 million a year in additional housing purchases.
• $5 million a year in new car purchases.

Plans are still being developed for what the money specifically will be spent for, Heck said. But he said some possibilities included a new chamber staff member to lead a work force development program, an increased budget for marketing the county’s economic development program, funding for the planning of new industrial parks, and purchasing options to secure land for future business parks.

Heck declined to disclose how many pledges the chamber had received thus far but said an announcement would be made during a kick-off luncheon tentatively scheduled for Jan. 9. Easter said he expected to receive pledges from 120 to 160 businesses or business owners.