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ECIDC would like to welcome its two newest members: The Greater Effingham Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Michael Mortell 2009 ECIDC Annual Banquet Speaker |
February 2009 Edition Edgar County Update The primary focus of the City of Paris and the Paris Development Corp. (PEDCO) this spring will be the development of EdPlex, a multi-generational education and training complex to be developed at the north edge of the city. It is expected to be one of the most imaginative, yet practical and efficient, educational facilities, which ultimately could encompass opportunities from pre-school through adult continuing education and vocational retraining. Yas Architects of Chicago have completed both a future master plan and an immediate “phase one” development, based initially on using renovated buildings at the former Paris Work Camp. That facility was closed by the Illinois Department of Corrections five years ago, and through legislative initiatives of Rep. Roger Eddy and Sen. Dale Righter was transferred to the City of Paris in 2008 to be used for public purposes. Planning started last fall when the architects met with a number of community focus groups, including local industry and high school students, to determine future educational needs and interests. The initial phase will renovate three existing buildings into classrooms, a cafeteria-food service training center, and administrative support. Educational institutions including the U of I, Eastern Illinois University, Lake Land College, Danville Community College, St. Mary of The Woods College and Indiana State University have expressed interest in locating program opportunities in EdPlex. Local industries also are interested in the complex for production training and conferencing. The city plans to have “phase one” completed sufficiently to offer initial classes in September. The ultimate goal is to expand to a comprehensive campus that includes a regional high school adjacent to the adult education facilities. The master plan provides opportunities for infant care, pre-school programming, a cultural arts center, community-wide high school with athletic fields, agricultural and vocational higher education, college-level student credit, distance learning, adult education and vocational retraining on a 60-acre site. In other news, the CVS pharmacy chain expects to start construction of a new pharmacy location on US 150 at the south side of Paris. A 50-unit housing project is on hold pending financing. Industrial layoffs due to the current economic have been experienced but to a lesser extent than in many other areas. The city’s $15 million water improvement project is well along toward an early summer completion. ECIDC FEATURED MEMBER Through 2009 ECIDC will feature one of its members in each newsletter... Agracel, Inc. Agracel, Inc., an industrial development firm in Effingham, IL, provides development services to owners, managers and investors of industrial and commercial facilities. Currently, Agracel has projects in 14 states totaling over 7 million square feet. So what makes Agracel so unique from other developers? The difference is where they choose to develop. The small town market is one that many developers ignore. Not Agracel. As an Industrial Development company that focuses on developing projects and creating jobs in small rural towns, Agracel has created a unique model in the industry. The team at Agracel, Inc. has over fifty years of experience in development and investment consulting. A group of highly trained and experienced professionals can take a project from site-selection to move-in day and beyond. With expertise in economic development, leasing, engineering, construction management, marketing, financing and facility management, the Agracel Team stands ready to help a company or community prosper. Agracel’s passion for rural development was further solidified by the creation of The Boomtown Institute. The Institute, developed in 2004, was developed to provoke innovative thinking, encourage leadership and foster investment in communities across the United States. Jack Schultz, Agracel’s CEO, has traveled the country speaking to over 400 communities on how to make communities prosper. Agracel also has two additional affiliate companies, Total Quality Warehouse and Effingham Railroad Company. Both are located in Agracel’s hometown of Effingham and were established to provide high quality warehousing and logistics for manufacturers and other commercial businesses. Agracel is an active supporter of ECIDC and has been for many years. Jack Schultz served a long term on ECIDC's Board of Directors, as well as being a past President, and is now serving as one of our Director Emeritus. Sarah Horner, Marketing Manager for Agracel, came aboard in 2008 to serve as a Director filling Jack Schultz' seat. We thank Agracel for its years of dedication and support for regional economic development efforts in East Central Illinois! Access to High Speed Internet Information from Internetforeveryone.org...Millions of Americans use the Internet on a regular basis for work or school, to stay in touch with friends, and to shop or find information. But approximately 40 percent of all U.S. homes are not connected to the Internet or have slow “dial-up” technology.As Americans become more familiar with high-speed Internet’s capabilities (to do things like watch video, listen to music or share photographs), the technology we use needs to keep up. Broadband has already replaced dial-up Internet access as the “essential” technology. But this new technological demand has not closed the digital divide; it has only transformed it into a more challenging problem. Unequal AccessBroadband in America today is not equally accessible. Broadband subscribers are largely middle- or upper-class and living in urban or suburban areas. Poorer communities and communities of color as well as communities in rural settings have been largely left off the grid. One of the main problems faced by those on the wrong side of the digital divide is the difficulty of participating in civic affairs. Where political discussions and decisions increasingly occur via the Web, there is significant risk that groups without adequate access will be underrepresented in our democracy. Quality broadband access is directly connected to a region's ability to be successful in community and economic development. For more information...on more reasons on why we should invest and options for better broadband access visit the Internet for Everyone website at http://www.internetforeveryone.org/16 counties in Southeastern Illinois are collaborating on a broadband improvement. SIBER or Southeastern Illinois Broadband Expanding Rurally is currently collecting data and finding broadband champions in Bond, Clark, Clay, Coles, Clinton, Crawford, Cumberland, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Lawrence, Marion, Moultrie, Richland, and Washington counties.
If you are interested in this regional effort please contact SIBER facilitators at (618) 392-7777 ext. 231 and or (217) 826-5422 for more information.
Regional Forum on Community Investment Nearly 30 people filled the room at the Mattoon Country Club on a very snowy January 28th for the first regional open forum hosted by East Central Open. During the forum, Dr. Chuck Chadyadi, EIU School of Business, spoke about the stages of business financing and was followed by the following speakers: Jason Wrone with Open Prairie Ventures spoke on Venture Capital, Bob Schultz with Schultz Investment Company spoke on Angel Investors, Tim Hoerr with Serra Ventures spoke firsthand about his own experience with soliciting and obtaining venture capital funds, and Paul McKillip with Working for Coles, LLC spoke about their local group who is now looking for propects to fund. After the panel spoke briefly on their experience and expertise, the floor was opened for questions and discussion. Many great questions where asked, answered, and led to discussion. This discussion has continued since leaving the session on East Central Open. 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. For more information, please contact Trisha Mason at (217) 540-3517.
Business Solutions Center Trainings Top 10 Ways of Reducing Costs Wed. Feb 11th, 8:30-noon @ Charleston Carnegie Library, 712 6th St., Charleston, Illinois Find out the quickest and most effective cost cutting measures that you can implement today. We’ve got five panelists who will also help you brainstorm individualized solutions for your organization. Enhancing Sales Without Increasing Your Marketing Budget Wed. Feb 25th, 8:30-noon @ Crossroads Workforce Training Center, 305 Richmond Ave., Mattoon, Illinois Sales can be challenging in this downturn, but now is the time to focus more attention on your customers and give them reason to be loyal to your products or services. Learn winning low cost or no cost strategies to see your sales skyrocket. Recognizing and Exploring New Opportunities Wed, March 11th, 8:30-noon@ Midland States Bank Lincolnland Bldg. 1901 S. 4th St., Effingham, Illinois How do you recognize and evaluate new opportunities for your organization? Are there opportunities using the Worldwide web for my business? What is this Web 2.0 all about? These three questions will be answered by business owners in the know. “We have developed this series from the feedback received from a well distributed small business survey asking what businesses need in this economic downturn,” said Jeanne Dau, Director of the Business Solutions Center partnership. “Our goal is to create a place to share the knowledge and best practices of our experienced business owners and nonprofit executives with others, thereby strengthening the resilience of the entire community.” Thanks for the BSC partnership sponsors, the training is affordable, only $25 per session or $60 for the series. For more information and to register, please contact Jennifer Zuniga at 217-581-2913 or jezuniga@eiu.edu. On-line registration is available at www.eiu.edu/~cei
BESI Nominations Now Being Accepted It is time once again to nominate our local businesses and leaders for the Business Ethics & Social Involvement Awards. ECIDC, Lake Land College, and Eastern Illinois University's College of Business and Applied Sciences sponsor these awards each year to recognize business firms and business leaders for their ethical business practices and their exemplary contributions to meeting the social needs of their communities. To learn more about this prestigious award or to submit a nomination online visit the ECIDC website. Lake Land Energy Conference Lake Land will be hosting the 2nd Annual Energy Innovation Conference on Wednesday, Feb. 25th through Friday, Feb. 27th, 2009. Some highlights of the conference are: Keynote Address: Wednesday Night Keynote: Doug Rye Visit the website to view full conference agenda and registration information.
ECIDC Update So far 2009 has been a very busy year for ECIDC! We have been working hard to construct a Strategic Action Plan for 2009, provide GIS mapping and reporting services to our membership, planning an exciting 25th Anniversary Annual Banquet and BESI Awards Celebration, and planning other educational opportunities that will occur later this year! The ECIDC Board of Directors will come together again this month and review and edit the current proposed Strategic Action Plan for 2009. Emphasis lies on this plan being a living document that will be revisited and revised on a quarterly basis. Of course, you can not begin planning for the future if you have not yet reflected on what has been done in the past. ECIDC's 2008 accomplishments have been documented and will be published in this year's annual report, as well as being available to view on the website. Since ECIDC obtained GIS mapping and reporting software, we have worked with both the City of Marshall and the City of Newton to generate some reports to aid in the attraction of new businesses. You can view these case studies here. A set fee structure will be assigned to this service at the February Board of Directors meeting but until then, services can still be rendered with delayed billing. If you are interested in requesting maps and reports or would just like more information, please contact Trisha Mason. We are currently working on generating and uploading many more case studies online so that you may get a sense for how powerful GIS is in economic development and business and industry-related applications. A request form will also be uploaded soon so that you may request these services online, anytime. Please keep checking the website for updated information. 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. We will be taking reservations for the banquet beginning next month. 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. Prior to this role, Mortell served as operations manager of four workforce development centers in the region. Mortell has also worked nationwide as a consultant evaluating business operations and restructuring workflow for improved financial outcomes and patient satisfaction in healthcare systems. Mortell is a member of the Public Policy Forum and Wisconsin Economic Development Association. He is a senior member of the American Society for Quality and has served as an examiner for the Wisconsin Forward Award, a Malcolm Baldrige-based process promoting performance excellence. Mortell earned a masters of Science degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology and has served as an adjunct faculty member at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee and Carroll College in Waukesha. Stay tuned for more information on an exciting educational opportunity that we are planning for later this year! 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... February 19 11 a.m. ECIDC Board Meeting March 6 Last day to submit BESI nominations May 14 6 p.m. 25th Anniversary ECIDC Annual Banquet and BESI Awards Presentation held at the Hilton Garden Inn, Effingham Stay in the Loop... If you have received this e-newsletter from a friend and wish to subscribe, visit our website and enter your email address for it to be delivered straight to your inbox!
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. |
