February 2010 No.1
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Articles:
Vision 2020 Update: Economic Planning for
Southwestern Illinois
Clearing up Misunderstandings about Discouraged Workers
Vision 2020 Update:
Economic Development Planning for Southwestern Illinois Underway
Business, government and community leaders are strategizing a new economic landscape for southwestern Illinois, thanks to a $250,000 Regional Innovation Grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor last December.
The purpose of the grant is to focus the collective energy and resources of partnering organizations on key developmental areas that will spur future job creation and investments. The Vision 2020 collaboration team will define, identify and create an action plan to enable the region to confront challenges while shaping a positive economic future.
Partnering organizations include all the counties in the region, the two Workforce Investment Boards (Madison-Bond and Mid America), the Illinois workNet Center and the Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois.
Vision 2020 was offi cially initiated in May. Its steering group has crafted research objectives, conducted focus groups with members of the River Bend Growth Association and the Southwestern Illinois Chamber of Commerce and held training sessions for the collaboration team.
As for future activity, more economic development planning meetings are in the works. Vision 2020 facilitators, T.R. Carr, PhD. and John C. Navin, PhD., of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, will continue their research assessing the region.
In addition, a Green Summit will be held Monday, Feb. 1, at the Gateway Center in Collinsville. The current economic status of the region, its assets and attraction of green businesses and infrastructure improvement will be the emphasis of the conference. Summit highlights include sessions on sustainable
agriculture, green building, sustainable communities and renewable agriculture. In conjunction, a green jobs survey will be conducted by Madison County Employment and Training.
Development of the implementation plan will begin in April. The final Vision 2020 action plan is scheduled to be presented on June 30.
For more information about Vision2020, log on to www.siue.edu/vision2020.
Vicki Niederhofer is an IDES labor market economist and represent IDES as a partner agency on the Vision 2020 team.
Southwestern Region’s Strengths Key to Economic Development
by David Stoecklin
special guest to the Illinois Labor Market Review
Vision 2020 is moving towards the “halfway” mark. The team at Southern lllinois University Edwardsville has nearly completed its leadership interviews and is getting ready to launch the next stage of online surveys. In addition, the secondary data collection and comparison on similar regions in then Midwest is almost completed, with contacts being made to determine local workforce and economic development strategies.
The Regional Innovation Grant that has funded this portion of the Vision 2020 process is moving towards the identifi cation of opportunities for the southwestern region of Illinois. One of the strengths of our region is the transportation/logistics assets that criss-cross our area. We are rich in the rails,
highways, river, airports and pipelines that transport our nation’s goods to market. This obvious advantage is one of the resources we will be looking to exploit in our regional plan for economic and workforce development.
Other infrastructure assets are also noted, such as our access to water for the manufacturing processes that demand it. Our primary metals and other existing manufacturing businesses are other resources that will be taken into account as the project moves forward.
Vision 2020 is a long-term process that hopes to align our resources to strengthen our economic and workforce development planning. It is not
intended to be the only plan, but to help guide future growth throughout the region. Locally there are still many individual efforts alongn these lines, and they are welcomed companions to the Vision 2020 process. As this portion of the process funded through the Regional Innovation Grant is completed, please look for further updates on the project. For more information please call David Stoecklin (618-296-4445) at the Madison County Employment
and Training Department, or e-mail him at DStoecklin@MCETD.org.
Editor’s note: David Stoecklin is executive director of the Madison Bond Workforce Investment Board.