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ECIDC would like to welcome its two newest members: Crawford County Development Association Shelby County Economic Development Corporation Arthur Area Economic Development Corporation
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East Central Illinois News Christian County Update Pana, IL On Wednesday, March 25th, Pana City Council approved the low bid of Cloyd Builders, New Berlin, Illinois of $366,961.68 for the rebuilding of the Kitchell Park Chautauqua Pavilion Stage and Back Stage. The Illinois Department of Transportation Enhancement program made this possible by adding an additional $127,638.67 in the Grant. The 20% portion will be covered from a public fund gathered by Tom Philips, Pana News in the amount of $31,909.67. With the balance of $207,413.34 in the original enhancement grant this will give the Pana Community enough funds to complete the project. The Pavilion will be the only one of its kind in the Nation to be completely rebuilt in its original condition. Construction could be completed as early as the 4th of July-2009. During the height of the Chautauqua era there were thought to be near 300 Chautauqua Pavilions and auditoriums in the Country and now less than a dozen remain. Central Illinois has three....Pana, Shelbyville, and Taylorville. To be born soon.....the Central Illinois Chautauqua Event Series.
ECIDC FEATURED MEMBER Through 2009 ECIDC will feature one of its members in each newsletter... Agri-Fab This is the story of Agri-Fab, Inc., a thriving company located in Sullivan, Illinois. A company that exists today solely because a few people had the faith to believe a miracle could happen.
Building a Better Lawn SweeperThe success of the manufacturing business launched in 1975 exceeded the founders’ wildest expectations. The story began with the idea of developing a new and improved lawn sweeper. Soon, Agri-Fab went on to redesign and manufacture a product that outperformed any lawn sweeper on the market. The result attracted the attention of a major retailer and, ultimately, catapulted Agri-Fab into the position of an industry leader of lawn and garden attachments. ExpansionAgri-Fab expanded its manufacturing facilities to meet its customers’ potential needs, with the addition of a 12,500-square-foot building. The building was finished early in 1987, just in time for the lawn and garden season. That year orders for the new lawn sweeper poured in, and overall company sales doubled. The success story was followed by others. The objective was to serve all of Agri-Fab’s customers’ needs in the lawn and garden attachment market. Agri-Fab’s business model included the development of a complete product line, ranging from lawn carts, lawn sweepers, aerators, fertilizer sprayers and spreaders to snowblades.
The company’s key to success lay in its talented and loyal people, superior products, sound operating principles and a leap of faith. Building a better product may have been an old-fashioned notion, but Agri-Fab always took the approach that its products would not only endure, but also would bring value to the customer.
Agri-Fab TodayAlthough Agri-Fab does not resemble the original business founded in the 1930s, its management and employees still adhere to the founders’ philosophy of giving back to the community. At peak season, the company employs nearly 400 employees in a town of 4,700 and the surrounding 40-mile area, while Hydro-Gear, a division of AF Holding, employs nearly 700.
East Central Open Regional Forum on Effective Partnerships/Collaborations The East Central Open group would like to invite all those interested in being part of a discussion on Effective Partnerships/Collaborations to join us on May 15th at 9:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers at Effingham City Hall for the 2nd regional open forum. This session is open to anyone who is interested in learning about some strategies that are working in other regions, sharing success stories from within this region/organization/community, or sharing your ideas on how we can have more effective/collaborations in this region. This session will be showcase Michael Mortell, who will be speaking at the ECIDC Annual Banquet the night before. The first open forum we hosted in January was on investing in your communities. See below what action has come from hosting this session and hearing your voices. To view notes from the session or to join in on that discussion and all of the others currently taking place, visit East Central Open Online and click the Join button. Please RSVP before May 8th if you plan on participating in this event by contacting contact Trisha Mason at (217) 540-3517.
Bringing Money to Ideas
Summer Workers at No Cost to the Employer The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has added money to the Children and Family Services Summer Work Experience Program to pay for approximately 300 summer jobs in our region specifically to employ low-income youth. The government will pay their wages, all you have to do is provide them with a beneficial work experience in your business or nonprofit organization. For more information, call Andrea Applegate at Crossroads Workforce Investment Board at 217-235-2942 Ext. 8224 or email her at aapplegate@cwib.net for the application forms.
GIS for Community Leaders Workshop Over the past weeks, ECIDC along with the Jasper County Economic Development Cooperative, U of I Extension, Lake Land College, Sullivan Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development, and the GeoTech Center hosted two workshops on how GIS(Geographic Information Systems) is being utilized in all sectors and the costs involved, as well as the regional resources that you have available to you in helping to understand and utilize this technology. Over seventy people participated collectively in the two events and the presentations can be viewed on the ECIDC website or by clicking here. This workshop is designed to help our community leaders make educated decisions when looking in investing into a GIS and the many ways of utilizing these systems. The following professionals would find benefit in attending this workshop: utilities, business owners, elected officials, public safety officials, economic developers, city administrators, and anyone interested in exploring solutions for the data management/ mapping needs or looking for feasibility assessments when it comes to making more educated decisions in regards to business/economic development/community development decisions. If you are interested in hosting this workshop in your community contact Trisha Mason at (217) 540-3517.
Back by Popular Demand - Discovering Web 2.0 On January 29th, the Lumpkin Family Foundation and the BSC sponsored a Discovering Web 2.0 Workshop at the Crossroads Workforce Investment Computer Lab in Mattoon. EIU's Antoine Thomas defined what Web 2.0 is and let the group learn about blogs, nings, flickr and Facebook and conducted hands-on exercises to help participants decide what tools might be most helpful to incorporate into their marketing and business efforts. Both businesses and nonprofits attended this event. Many people that couldn't attend that day requested we offer the class again. So listed below are dates and times that we will train in the region. We are partnering with Millikin University's Tabor Center of Entrepreneurship for the May event. April 30, 2009 Crossroads Workforce Investment Computer Lab, 305 Richmond Ave. Mattoon $35 May 21, 2009 9 am - 2 pm Millikin University Decatur $35 Call (217) 424-6298 to register
Camp e3 The Business Solutions Center is pleased to offer two Camp e3- energizing emerging entrepreneurs events this year - a day camp in Effingham and an overnight camp in Charleston. Please help spread the word and consider sponsoring a few youths from your community to plant the seeds of entrepreneurship in your own backyard.
What is Social Marketing?
Social marketing is the use of social media in communicating with your customers in the digital village evolving around us. Social Marketing has expanded from the town square to the digital village. The “buzz” about your business is now online, measurable, searchable, and permanent!
On May 20th, Consolidated Communications, Agracel, Inc., the First National Bank of Dieterich, and the Center for Business and Industry will be hosting a workshop by Social Marketing expert Lori Martinek (http://www.pplusonline.com/) at the college theatre.
After Lori’s presentation, break out sessions will be offered with subject matter experts on blogging, online forums and social media sites (like Facebook, and LinkedIn) to learn more about strategically planning your organization’s approach to social media.
This is a great opportunity for businesses and entrepreneurs to learn more about how communication and networking is changing in our worldwide, digital village.
Please follow this link for more information.
www.lakelandsocialmarketing.org
ECIDC Market Analysis Services ECIDC launched its GIS powered Market Analysis Services a couple of months ago and since then has been utilized by communities and organizations to aid in their data-driven needs. Through utilizing these services ECIDC can help you gain access to detailed analysis of your market and market potential. We have access to the many tools that consultants currently use to perform these same functions and am able to do so at a cost that is significantly less! If you are trying to make a decision in relation to economic development or business please contact us to see if we can help. Trisha Mason continues to be trained in utilizing ESRI products and software to be able to expand on the previous service offerings. To view a few case studies or to see our online brochure please visit the Market Analysis Services page on our website.
ECIDC Update So far 2009 has been a very busy year for ECIDC! We have constructed a Strategic Action Plan for 2009, are providing Market Analysis Services to our membership, planning an exciting 25th Anniversary Annual Banquet and BESI Awards Celebration, and other educational opportunities that will occur from now thru this summer! This year ECIDC is celebrating its 25th year of fostering regional economic development in East Central Illinois! Please come and celebrate this anniversary with us on May 14th at the Hilton Garden Inn in Effingham starting at 6:00 p.m. We are currently taking reservations for the banquet and you can reserve your seat online. The event is open to the public. Michael Mortell will be keynoting. Michael Mortell, currently coordinating southeastern Wisconsin’s Regional Workforce Alliance and the Milwaukee 7 Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development initiative, is coming to East Central Illinois to share his region’s experience in implementing the Open Source Economic Development model. He will speak of the challenges and opportunities of bringing economic development, workforce development, education, and business and industry partners together to work toward common initiatives throughout the region. Also taking place during the Annual Banquet will be our first-ever silent auction, showcasing the great services and products that come from within the region. Bidding will take place that evening from 6:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. with the highest bidders being announced that evening. All proceeds of the auction will be used to sustain the organization and help expand its offerings to be utilized by the 11 county region and beyond. Three great businesses/individuals will be receiving BESI Awards that evening: Ken Vogt, Effingham, Gerald Forsythe, Wheeling, and the Kitchen Seed Company, Arthur. Come out to support them! Some of the great auction items include: Lake Land College services and logo merchandise, Small Town USA basket donated by Green Mill Village, Theatre tickets to The Little Theatre On the Square and The Rosebud Theatre, dinner at Richard's Farm and firefly grill, lawn care equipment from Agri-Fab, wines from Willow Ridge Winery, EIU merchandise, golf packages to Oak Terrace Resort & Spa, Ironhorse Golf Club, and Quail Creek Country Club and much more. Stay tuned for more information on the exciting educational opportunity that we are planning for later this year! One of these educational opportunities will take place in July. ECIDC is bringing many regional, state, and federal agencies together to demonstrate to community leaders what programs or offerings they have to aid in the development of their communities or businesses. Details will follow over the next couple of months... If you have any questions regarding ECIDC, the upcoming events or joining the organization please contact Trisha Mason at (217) 238-8233 or by email.
ECIDC Upcoming Events... May 14th 6 p.m. 25th Anniversary ECIDC Annual Banquet, Silent Auction, and BESI Awards Presentation held at the Hilton Garden Inn, Effingham May 15th 9:00 a.m. Effective Partnerships/Collaboration Open Regional Forum, Council Chambers at Effingham City Hall July 9th 6:00 p.m. Financing Community Projects Forum, MattoonAugust 20th 3:00 p.m. ECIDC Board Meeting, Shelbyville 5:00 p.m. Tentatively: ECIDC Annual Boat Outing on Lake Shelbyville
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East Central Illinois Development Corporation (ECIDC) was established in 1984 to assist economic development in an eleven county region consisting of Christian, Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Jasper, Moultrie and Shelby counties. ECIDC was one of the first regional economic development organizations in the state and has continued to assist in meeting the economic development needs of east central Illinois. |
