Has the RSBA Become the Hardin County Chamber’s Little Sister?  

By TW Shortt, Co-founder of RSBA

In my last commentary, “How the Radcliff Small Business Alliance Fell Victim to Mission Creep,” I explained how the organization’s original purpose has gradually diluted. Some feedback suggested that the RSBA’s broader countywide activities are consistent with its mission. 

I strongly disagree. 

To understand the problem, we must remember why the Radcliff Small Business Alliance was created. 

Before the RSBA was formed, the Radcliff Chamber of Commerce merged with the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce. The Radcliff Chamber had suffered declining membership, financial support, and influence, and the merger may have been its only practical option. 

But the merger came at a cost. Radcliff lost an independent organization devoted specifically to its businesses. 

The Hardin County Chamber had a countywide mission. It served Elizabethtown, Radcliff, Vine Grove, West Point, and the surrounding communities. Radcliff was no longer the primary focus. It became one community among many competing for attention and resources. 

That vacuum helped create the need for the Radcliff Small Business Alliance. 

A group of local business owners and community leaders, working with Mayor J.J. Duvall, believed that Radcliff needed an organization focused on Radcliff businesses, development, and its commercial future. 

That is why the RSBA was formed. 

At the time, Radcliff faced a fundamental problem with vacant storefronts. Mayor Duvall launched an initiative called Radcliff First to encourage local development and strengthen the city’s small business community. The RSBA later assumed many of the duties associated with that vision. 

The name itself should settle the issue. 

It was not called the Hardin County Small Business Alliance. It was not created to become a second county chamber. It was called the Radcliff Small Business Alliance because its mission was Radcliff. 

Yet over the past several years, much of the organization’s attention appears to have shifted toward nonprofit support, broad community programs, seminars, workshops, and countywide activities. Some of those projects may be worthwhile, but worthwhile activity is not always mission-centered activity. 

A polished seminar can still be irrelevant to the organization’s core duty. A countywide event can attract praise and photographs while doing little for a struggling merchant operating behind a half-empty storefront in Radcliff. 

Mission creep often arrives dressed as progress. 

The RSBA was not created to chase prestige or prove that it could operate on a countywide stage. It was created to serve the business owners already here. 

They are the barbers, restaurant owners, shopkeepers, brokers, contractors, service providers, and entrepreneurs along Dixie Boulevard, Knox Boulevard, Lincoln Trail Boulevard, and throughout Radcliff. They are dealing with rising costs, declining traffic, vacant properties, and the daily struggle to survive. 

They should not have to compete with countywide ambitions for the attention of an organization created in their name. 

The Radcliff Chamber has already merged itself out of existence. The RSBA should be careful not to repeat that history by slowly merging its own mission into a broader countywide agenda. 

An organization cannot be everything to everyone without becoming little to the people who need it most. 

The RSBA does not need to save the world. 

It needs to remember Radcliff.