In the next five years, the Sebago Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce plans to better represent towns beyond Windham, become more politically active, and acquire a substantial marketing budget, according to goals set out in a new strategic plan.

According to Aimee Senatore, who became executive director of the chamber in November 2012, the plan will move the organization in “a new direction.”

“I was a brand new executive director at the time that we started this process,” Senatore said. “I brought kind of a bold vision with me. That really has gotten incorporated into the strategic plan.”

The new plan, which was spearheaded by the chamber’s immediate past president, Dan Hancock, and adopted in December, calls for the creation of a new blog, a mobile app for smartphone users, and a monthly advocacy newsletter.

It also details strategies for the chamber to become the “unified voice” of the Lakes Region business community, such as issuing “what we stand for” position papers and initiating efforts to “identify, recruit, and educate pro-business elected officials.” On April 3, the chamber board will discuss the process of determining its stances on particular issues. Senatore said the whole board or a subcommittee made up of governmental affairs experts from the 10 communities are among the potential models.

The chamber has not traditionally established formal political positions on local legislative issues. Julie Arsenault, the president of the chamber’s board, said the board would advocate for policies that increase economic activity.

“We want to advocate for commerce, period,” Arsenault said. “We want to drive people into our area, whether to shop, to live, to work. That’s what we want to do.”

Senatore said the chamber would likely articulate a formal position on the proposed Route 302 roadway impact fee in Windham in the coming months. But the chamber is also hoping to make an impact on town government policy outside of Windham, as well.

“Now, towns like Raymond and Casco and Standish, they’re all really gearing up their economic development discussions,” Senatore said. “I’m placing a high priority on being a part of the economic development discussions in all of our towns and acting as a resource in any way I can.”

Senatore said she hopes to “start changing the perception that we are only a Windham chamber that only Windham businesses benefit from.”

Windham Director of Economic Development Tom Bartell, who also sits on the chamber’s board, said the new strategy emerged, in part, from membership surveys.

“I think we got away from really asking the membership of the chamber what they wanted to see, and I think this allowed us to refocus our attention on that,” Bartell said. “What we heard from membership during the surveys is that they wanted to see a more active chamber when it came to representing business interests in the communities.”

The chamber receives a few thousand dollars in annual funding from the Windham Economic Development Corporation. Senatore said she hopes that the chamber can acquire funding from other towns in coming years.