The entrepreneur is an unsung hero in the American economy. Did you know that in McLean County alone, there are over 8,000 businesses with between one and nine employees? And, there are less than half a dozen private employers with more than 500. Yet, the balance of power in Washington sometimes weighs against the small business owner. What can the small business owner do about it?

The Kauffman Foundation is the pre-eminent foundation when it comes to entrepreneurship and small business issues. They have taken a stand and want entrepreneurs and those who support them to take join them in support of issues important to the small business. Check out their video:

I love listening to entrepreneurs. They are what economic development is all about. If you want to be part of the movement check, out the Build a Stronger America Web site.

Cash is the lifeblood of business.  Without open access to capital, most of the businesses you patronize and depend upon daily would cease to operate.  Local economic development organizations play a pivotal role in ensuring that community businesses can draw this needed capital.  The process of assisting businesses in obtaining needed funds is called “economic development financing.”

Banks (the traditional source of business financing) and local ED organizations ultimately have different end goals.  Banks seek to generate profits through well-managed risk, while ED organizations seek to create jobs and capital investment in their community.  Having different end goals does not preclude cooperation between these two entities, however.  In fact, good economic development financing actually helps banks better manage risk and get more deals done.  The secret is something called “gap financing.”

Financing gaps occur when a project seeking funds cannot meet the necessary underwriting criteria for a conventional lender.  The project may have a shortfall in collateral, or it may be requesting more funds than the bank is comfortable lending for a number of reasons.  When this happens, economic developers can step in and fill the financing gaps using a variety of different loan programs.  The ED organization issues a loan just like the bank does, only it takes a subordinated position on the same collateral offered to the bank for the project.  In the rare case of a default, the bank gets first call on the collateral and the ED organization gets whatever is left.  This arrangement gives banks the risk cushion they need to lend the bulk of a project’s funds, and the project itself obtains the total amount of financing requested.  The ED organization achieves its goal of creating new jobs and capital investment in the community.

When used properly and prudently, economic development finance is an important tool for local businesses and a key method for helping to create jobs and opportunities for residents.

The first meeting for Central Illinois Placements (CIP) is Monday, November 16.  CIP is a grant-funded program utilizing an online system to schedule nursing students at healthcare sites for clinical experiences.  Given a need to expand capacity at schools of nursing and the requirement of numerous clinical hours in groups of only 10 students, there is a national trend at looking at making clinical scheduling as efficient as possible. Representatives from over a dozen Central Illinois schools of nursing and clinical sites will learn about the online system and begin a collaborative pilot.  An online system could replace traditional scheduling done via meetings, emails or paper.  Potential benefits include making the process more efficient through less time, standardizing the processes and realizing unused sites or times.

The understated benefit of this process is the coming together of very diverse organizations, some of which have never worked together, all of which are offering individuals giving of their time to try something new.  All are working with nursing students in a very productive and integral manner, but beyond that, these are people who are proactive, willing to learn and who see the larger picture of their profession.  Each of these organizations is experiencing a different degree of need when it comes to considering alternative scheduling options, but each is looking at this issue also through their partners’ eyes.

The EDC is excited to sponsor this first regional meeting of professionals, including partners from Bloomington-Normal, Springfield, Decatur, Pontiac and Jacksonville.  We wish these professionals the best as they experiment with this new system and evaluate its effectiveness.  More importantly, we thank them for serving as models of regional collaboration – an example that could advance many efforts as we look toward a bright future for Central Illinois.  Is there an initiative in your profession or scope of activities that could benefit from diverse partnerships, added support or an increase in geographic range?

Congratulations to the Pantagraph’s 20 Under 40 honorees, recently featured in the Pantagraph’s B2B monthly magazine. According to the article, the 20 Under 40 program “spotlights the area’s most talented individuals under 40 who are making positive impact on our community and achieving significant career accomplishments.”

A special congratulations to EDC “friends” Enid Cardinal, Mercy Davison, Rebecca Rossi and John Zozzaro. Cardinal, sustainability coordinator at Illinois State University, joined us on our recent Springfield One Voice trip, where we met with several members of our state delegation to advocate for funding for local projects. Davison, Normal town planner, and Rossi, green building consultant/instructor in the department of technology at ISU, are both members of our New Leadership Board, an advisory group of people ages 17-39 who have laid out a set of recommendations for the EDC in the areas of the workplace, technology and quality of life. Zozzaro, owner of Zozzaro Chiropractic and Rehab, is a graduate of our Circles of Seven business mentoring program.

For more information on the 20 Under 40 program and honorees, visit www.pantagraph.com/20under40.

We just finished our Community Leaders Breakfast, and I have to say that we are very pleased with the results. The EDC had over 620 of our closest friends at the meeting, and, of course, many were there to see Alma Powell of America’s Promise Alliance. She provided an inspirational message, and I liked how she tied her ideas about helping our youth with economic development. She nailed the message dead-on, and I hope most people walked away understanding the importance of helping our youth and, more importantly, how multi-faceted economic development is. Powell’s message of our youth being the reason for talking about economic development is so true and clear.

Bloomington-Normal is so lucky to be a truly outstanding community. It has so many assets. In many ways we are a model for other communities. Most people don’t realize how often all of us come together to work on common issues, how often the two communities support each other and the ongoing cooperative discussions the two communities have about common problems. Sure, there are times they don’t agree, and certainly, the cultures are different, but both are high-quality communities. As I said in my remarks at the meeting, we are a community that many people envy.

We need to continue to work together when issues arise. Right now everyone is being hit by tough budget cuts. Unfortunately, as the recession is working its way through the economy, the local units of government are being pinched. Loss of income and loss of sales tax revenue are just now trickling their way down into local government. This will also impact our budget and what we can do, as 30 percent of our budget comes from local government.

Regardless of these issues, the message from the EDC is this: We will continue to help local business grow and expand through our retention program. This puts businesses in touch with a wide variety of programs and services available to them at little or no cost. This strategy is the best for a recession. It prepares companies for when we climb out of our economic morass and puts them strategically in the right place for growth.

If you want a business retention visit, give us a call. We will be happy to come and meet with you. We will develop a personalized plan for growth and expansion for your business, or we can simply listen to your opinion about various issues, because that is important too.

One Voice, under the leadership of the EDC, is a pro-community campaign that has brought together leaders from the City of Bloomington, the Town of Normal, McLean County, labor, local educational institutions and local private businesses. These groups have formed the One Voice Task Force. The goal of the campaign is to make McLean County a stronger economic force and a better place to live.

Each year, the One Voice Task Force chooses local projects to support in their quests for federal funding. Each spring, the One Voice Task Force travels to Washington, D.C. to meet with our congressional delegation and show them our community stands united in support of the projects. Click here to learn about the 2010 Priority Projects.

The 2010 One Voice Washington, D.C. Fly-in will take place:

Tuesday, March 9th – Thursday, March 11th

Cost per person is $1450. This includes hotel, receptions, some cab fares and most meals. (Note: Airfare is not included and must be booked on your own.)

To Register:

Registration is now closed.

The New Leadership Board (NLB) is an advisory group of people ages 17-39 who work with the EDC leadership to establish an additional set of priorities for the economic future of the Bloomington-Normal area. The goal is to create a generational dialogue and provide ongoing input to our business, economic and political leadership regarding these emerging generations’ concerns, bringing a voice to this untapped resource.

The NLB recently finished the development of a final whitepaper based on four topics of discussion over the past year: The Future of the Workplace, Who’s the Boss?, Quality of Life and the Value of Technology. The whitepaper includes several recommendations for local municipalities, employers and the EDC to consider when planning for the future.

If you’re interested in having the NLB present its findings to your organization, please contact Brooke Weishaupt at (309) 452-8437 or brooke@bnbiz.org.

Read the final whitepaper. Watch the video.

The Community Development Corporation of Bloomington-Normal (CDC) is a sister organization to the EDC that houses all of the EDC’s financing programs for businesses. Businesses of any size in need of financing options for growth can participate in one of the CDC’s four main financing programs.

The CDC has three financing programs:

• Microloans that range from $1,000 to $8,000
• Revolving Loan Fund I, which ranges from $50,000 to $250,000
• Angel Capital, which can reach upwards of $3 million

Participation in any of these loan programs is contingent upon each project’s potential for success. CDC financing is not a replacement for traditional borrowing. The EDC recommends that in every circumstance, businesses looking for financing should approach their local banker first before contacting the EDC. Also, please note that some CDC programs require application prior to starting the project, so it is important to involve the CDC as early as possible in the process.

To set up an appointment to discuss financing options, please contact Ken Springer at (309) 452-8437 or ken@bnbiz.org.