WOODLAND HILLS : 1 Chamber Grows Despite the Slump

The Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce announced this week that, despite sluggish economic times, it is now the largest chamber in the San Fernando Valley.

The organization’s membership--which officials say has grown steadily over the last eight months--has expanded to 860 businesses. By aggressively recruiting new members and keeping old ones, the chamber has attracted about 125 more businesses than a year ago, said chamber President Mark Rubins.

“We used to have problems with retaining our members: they’d join for a year or two, and then just quit,” Rubins said. “Now we are doing a better job of communicating to our members what it is we do for them.”