COCKTAIL EVENT TO BENEFIT ONE VOICE SCHOLARSHIP

Each year, the Economic Development Council of the Bloomington-Normal Area gives one local college student the opportunity of a lifetime – a chance to travel to Washington, D.C. to network with local leaders and discuss current issues in federal government with the decision-makers themselves. The Richard Eikenberg One Voice Scholarship, created in 2008 and named after the EDC’s board chair at the time, is awarded to a college student from an EDC-investor school (Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Heartland Community College and Lincoln College-Normal). The scholarship covers all expenses of the trip, from flight and hotel to all meals and events.
On Wednesday, Feb. 10, the EDC will be hosting a cocktail reception to raise money for the Richard Eikenberg One Voice Scholarship Fund. The event will run from 5:00-7:30 p.m. at the Bank of Illinois in Uptown Normal (200 W. College Ave.).

Ticket Information:
Tickets are $50/person, $75/couple or $200/group of five. To purchase tickets or to make a donation, call the EDC at (309) 452-8437.

About One Voice:
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 form the One Voice task force.  Each year, the One Voice task force chooses local projects to support in their quests for federal funding.  Each spring, the 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.  The goal of the campaign is to make McLean County a stronger economic force and a better place to live. This year’s trip will take place Mar. 9-11.

The Economic Development Council of the Bloomington-Normal Area is a private, not-for-profit organization. Its mission is to help businesses in McLean County grow and to attract new businesses to the community. The EDC is a leadership organization, investing the community’s assets to grow and improve its prosperity and quality of life.

For more information about the EDC or its One Voice program, visit www.bnbiz.org.

Many may have read about a company the EDC is helping to stay in the area.  The company makes printed circuit boards. This company was started in Bloomington-Normal about 11 years ago and has prospered.  How has the EDC helped? One way we helped was through the execution of the Enterprise Zone process. Extending the Enterprise Zone to our client’s company is helping them reduce the cost of their expansion. The company will probably double the size of their employee base over the next several years; beyond that, it is hard to tell. The opportunity for entrepreneurial companies like our client’s company knows no bounds.

Notice that we didn’t “attract” this company to the area. We worked with a local company. This is the future of economic development. Helping local companies expand and grow. If we aren’t doing this (and doing it well), attracting a company from the outside is a hollow victory. Who knows how many people are out there with an idea? Our largest employer was started with one idea by one person, and is now the largest employer in the community, if not the state.

We need to know what your business is going through and what your issues are so we can see if there is a way we can match up your issue with any number of solutions already out there.  If there isn’t an obvious solution, then, perhaps, we can work with others to help you create one. And, if there are enough of you with a similar issue, then we can help you by collecting your issues and presenting them to the proper legislative body - be it local, state or federal.

Above all, we want to hear your opinion about the local economy, quality of life and the needs of your company in a larger sense. It is our opportunity to assist you with that process.  Call us at (309) 452-8437, and let us visit with you. Ask for Marty, and I will set up a retention visit with you.

2009 finished on a negative note in terms of home foreclosures in McLean County.  While the first half of  2009 showed home foreclosure rates drop, the last two quarters reversed this trend and showed a marked increase.  Overall, McLean County had 556 home foreclosures in 2009, compared to 503 in 2008.  This amounts to an increase of 10.54 percent.  The rise of McLean County foreclosures in 2009 is very likely tied to the unemployment situation in Central Illinois.

In prior years, it was thought that the spike in foreclosures first witnessed in 2006 was due to the effects of the subprime lending phenomenon.  Many predicted that subprime foreclosures would slowly taper off as these borrowers either refinanced out of their adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) to more stable loans or entered into the foreclosure process.  Since most ARMs reset a few years after the loan originated, borrowers were going to face the default/refinance situation fairly early into the life of their loan.  It was also assumed that new subprime lending decreased significantly after the flaws in the system became apparent – roughly in mid-2007.  By that logic, those borrowers who were going to default based on the resetting of their ARM would likely do so sometime before the end of 2008.

The week-by-week foreclosure reports in McLean County illustrate this trend.  After April 2008, the high weekly averages of foreclosures began to decrease slightly.  This easing continued into July of 2009 when the rates began to increase once again.  This new increase, however, was very likely an effect of job losses taking place around Central Illinois.

With the Great Recession in full swing, McLean County’s jobless rate climbed from 5.1 percent in September of 2008 to 7.7 percent in September 2009.  The largest two-month jump in the unemployment rate occurred between May and July, when unemployment rose from 6 percent to 7.2 percent.  Foreclosure rates began their rapid climb in early July 2009 and continued their climb throughout the remainder of the year.  If we can assume a lag time between one’s loss of employment and the prospects of foreclosure, these two curves fit together fairly well.

If my hypothesis is correct, we should once again see home foreclosures taper off in 2010 as more people return to steady work.  Assuming no new financial crises (which is a big assumption these days), I predict a decreased number of foreclosures overall in 2010, probably starting in Q3.

Sources:  McLean County Recorder’s Office, Bureau of Labor Statistics

The EDC would like to thank the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation for mentioning us in their “IPCF Top 10 of 2009″ list. The EDC has collaborated with IPCF and Illinois State University’s Mennonite College of Nursing on the Partners in Nursing grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Northwest Healthcare Foundation.

The grant was given a one-year extension due to the success of the new intiatives that have been developed under our collaboration. These initiatives include the implementation of Central Illinois Placements, an online clinical scheduling system, and the creation of the Central Illinois Regional Collaborative Effort, a workforce development consortium which will focus initially on healthcare workforce issues.

For more information on Central Illinois Placements or the Central Illinois Regional Collaborative Effort, contact Kelli Hill at the EDC: kelli@bnbiz.org or
(309) 452-8437.

For more information on the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation, contact Myra Gordon at mgordon@ilprairiecf.org or (309) 662-4477.

In 2008, the EDC created the Richard Eikenberg One Voice Scholarship Award, in which we invite one student from an EDC-investor school (Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Heartland Community College and Lincoln College-Normal) to participate in the One Voice Washington, D.C. trip. (Click here to learn more about One Voice.)

Washington, D.C. Trip Details:
The 2010 One Voice trip will take place March 9-11. The scholarship covers all expenses of the trip, from flight and hotel to all meals and events. Specific trip details will be presented at our pre-trip briefing luncheon for all participants – Thursday, March 4. The scholarship recipient MUST attend the pre-trip briefing – NO EXCEPTIONS.

Nearly 40 local community, business and labor leaders attend the trip. During the trip, we meet with our U.S. senators and representatives, along with leaders of other government agencies.

This trip is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet and network with local leaders and discuss current issues in federal government with the primary decision-makers. Participants also attend receptions and meetings with speakers from various economic development-related institutions. There is also limited time for sight-seeing opportunities. Videos from past trips can be viewed at www.bnbiz.org/datacenter/government_advocacy.php.

To Apply:

To apply, download the scholarship application. Please also download and read the scholarship guidelines to ensure that you understand all the details and requirements associated with the program.

For more information, contact Brooke Weishaupt (brooke@bnbiz.org) or Cathy Milligan (cathy@bnbiz.org) at (309) 452-8437.

The Green Institute at Heartland Community College provides education and information to businesses and residents about energy efficiency, renewable energy, recycling, retro-commissioning and other related environmental technologies.

To learn more about the programs they will be offering this semester, please click here.

Heartland Community College will be offering up to 50 percent reimbursements to participants who successfully complete building industry workforce training programs. For details about these rebates and for more information on The Green Institute, please contact Julie Elzanati at (309) 268-8166 or visit www.heartland.edu/greeninstitute.

Central Illinois SCORE and the Central Illinois Chapter of the Institute of Management Accounting (CICIMA) are presenting a course in Mastering QuickBooks. This series of three classes will be conducted by CICIMA. CPAs, using QuickBooks, will guide participants through all aspects of accouting transactions necessary to start and to keep a business running. By the end of the workshop, participants will be familiar with how an accounting software package can save time and help organize business finances. Time will be allowed to work on individual needs.

Where: Farm Bureau Building, 402 N. Hershey Rd., Bloomington

When: 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. on Jan. 13, Jan. 27 and Feb. 10 (special follow-up/make-up class on Feb. 24)

Cost: $30 payable in advance covers all three sessions. Class limited to 30 attendees.

To register: Contact Dorothy Kennett at (309) 826-6771 or dkenne2@ilstu.edu

Note: Bringing a laptop with fully-charged battery and your copy of QuickBooks software is optional but will allow opportunity for personalized coaching.