The Economic Development Council for Central Illinois released its new economic development handbook. “OPEN!” is a step-by-step economic development guidebook created by professionals with a proven track record for creating jobs. It will be made available to leaders throughout the region who wish to prepare their communities for economic recovery.

Governor Pat Quinn recently delivered his “State of the State Address”.  He focused on the need for jobs and economic growth but touched on numerous other topics. Jim McConoughey recaps the Governor’s State of the State Address.

The 2012 Regional Economic Development Summit hosted by the Economic Development Council for Central Illinois was a big success. Nearly 200 regional leaders joined together to discuss regional successes and challenges in economic development. They shared case studies of successes and lessons learned.
  

Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis addressed the community regarding the state of the city of Peoria. Mayor Ardis shared some of his visions for 2012 saying there is a need for serious discussions with business and community leaders regarding the challenges that remain in front of us.  We caught up with a few of the attendees after the event to find out what they thought of the 2012 State of the City Address. Overall they felt the city of Peoria is on the right path and the Mayor's speech addressed the proper issues.

In order for the Greater Peoria area to remain a leader in the Midwest, we need a baseline set of measurements so we can better understand how we perform year to year, both against ourself and against all of the regions we compete with. That’s why we’ve developed the scorecard project. We sat down with Heartland Foundation Managing Director, Ryan Spain, to find out what categories are we scoring, who are we scoring ourselves against, how can we use this information and when will it be available.  Click here for text from the interview.

There are lots of changes in store for 2012. Jim McConoughey takes a look at some of the changes in store including the use of 1099 employees, how we access our medical records, consumer attitudes and the new mindset for doing business.  Click here for text from this interview.

Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis gives a sneak peak at what he'll be talking about when the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce hosts the annual State of the City event on January 25th at the Peoria Civic Center.  Find out what's in store for Peoria in 2012. Visit peoriachamber.org for details and tickets.

Peoria area Arby's hosted final Third Thursday lunch in December as part of Project Pack the Place. To learn more about Pack the Place and Third Thursday Lunch, visit www.PackthePlace.org.

We celebrated the November Pack the Place Third Thursday Lunch at Rizzi's on State.  Thanks to everyone who came out.