Changes in Store for 2012  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 to watch Jim's interview or click here for the text version. |
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Scoring the Region 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 to watch Ryan’s interview or click here for the text version. |
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Economic Development Summit
 The Economic Development Council for Central Illinois invites you to the 2012 Regional Economic Development Summit. A panel of speakers will discuss site requirements for attracting businesses, financial tools to help businesses expand and grow jobs and examples of the latest business attraction and expansion success. Join the EDC Tuesday, January 31st from 11am - 1pm at the Gateway Building in downtown Peoria. The event is free but registration is required. Lunch and event materials will be provided.
Click here to register. |
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"OPEN!" - Creating Jobs & Growing Regions
 “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 community leaders throughout the Central Illinois Region who wish to prepare their communities for economic recovery. Unlike some economic development books, “OPEN!” uses easy to understand language and case studies to show community individuals and volunteers how they can help their economy grow. But this isn’t just a book - it is a program that will engage local residents in moving their communities and regions forward. It will be utilized as part of a comprehensive effort to increase their interest and effort in economic development.
Contact the EDC for more details. |
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State of the City Jan 25
 The Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce invites you to the 2012 State of the City Address on Wednesday, January 25, at 11:30am at the Peoria Civic Center as Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis recaps 2011, and shares his visions for 2012. Mayor Ardis says 2012 will bring significant change to City of Peoria operations. Learn more on January 25th. The event is hosted by the Peoria Area chamber of Commerce, and sponsored by PSA Dewberry.
For more information watch Mayor Ardis’ video by clicking here or visit the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce website by clicking here. |
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Congratulations Excel Foundry Excel Foundry announced plans to invest $15 million in plant expansions and create 100 new manufacturing and engineering jobs in the region. The company manufactures and supplies components and systems for a wide range of heavy equipment used in global mining. The expansion will also mean over $2 million in road improvements near the facility. The EDC played a major a role in the facilitating a number of the infrastructure grants that went into the project. Visit www.excelfoundry.com for more information. Click here to watch EDC's Denny Kief's thoughts on the announcement. |
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Pack the Place Comes to an End  Project Pack the Place has officially come to a close. On behalf of the entire Heartland Partnership team (our sponsor Methodist College of Nursing and partners in the program AdCo and the Peoria Convention and Visitors Bureau) we thank you for supporting the project. Thousands of people joined us for Third Thursday Lunch and the various activities we hosted throughout the region which helped boost our regional economy. Visit our website to see photos and videos from the 2011 events.
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Mood-O-Meter Results  The January Mood-O-Meter asked people to rate our region. Most people rated the Greater Peoria Region a 7 or 8 (on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest). People believed our biggest competitors were Bloomington, Springfield, Chicago and St. Louis. When asked what cities they believed Greater Peoria should aspire to be like, there was a mixed bag of answers...responses ranged from St. Louis to Indianapolis to Houston.
Click here to participate in the monthly Mood-O-Meter and tell us what you think. |
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Learning to Access Capital Many small businesses are struggling to secure lines of credit to keep their operations at full capacity. Join Rep. Jehan Gordon, state agency personnel and representatives from local lenders and economic development organizations to learn more about opportunities to secure capital. ‘How to Access Capital for Your Business’ will be held Friday, February 10 from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Rep. Gordon’s office at 681-1992 or e-mail repjgordon@gmail.com. |
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Quest Charter Academy Plans to Rehab Schools
The Peoria County Board approved of a line of credit for Peoria Charter School Initiative (PSCI) of $500,000 to assist in rehabbing both the former Loucks and Columbia Schools, conditional upon both schools being sold to PCSI by the District 150 Board. The repairs are mandated by law to provide the students with a safe environment in which to learn. PCSI operates Quest Charter Academy currently serving 300 students in grades 5-8 in the former Loucks School building and next year will begin high school by adding a 9th grade class. The Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce provided significant assistance to PCSI during the start up phase of the school. |
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PNC Air Show Moves Downtown
PNC and the Prairie Air Show announced plans to relocate the annual air show to the Peoria/East Peoria Riverfront June 8 & 9, 2012. Click here for announcement details. Jim McConoughey spoke at the press conference about the econoimic impact of the show: Average time spent at the Air Show is 5.6 hours
Each group (3.77 people per group) spends avg of $98
35% travel more than 40 miles to attend
Last year 30,000 people attendeed with a regional economic impact of over $750,000
Expect a 50% increase in 2012 because of new location and no admission fee.
2012 economic impacted expected to be $1.2 Million
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