Investing in the community
BYLINE: By Scott Miller;smiller@pantagraph.com
ByScott Miller
BLOOMINGTON - McLean County businesses and governments invested more than $3.2 million in a plan to stimulate the local economy in 2006.
Now that the Economic Development Council of the Bloomington-Normal Area has the money, it's ready to make due on its promises of job growth, said Marty Vanags, executive director of the EDC.
In 2007, he said, the community will see the opening of a business incubator for startup companies, a business mentoring program and a community development program to offer low-interest loans and other financial assistance to upstart businesses, among other programs.
In addition, a bloc of community leaders traveled to Washington D.C. this month to lobby for federal funding for a number of local development projects: the McLean County Business Incubator, the Heartland Community College Workforce Development Center, the Multi-Modal Transportation Center in uptown Normal and Bloomington Cultural District.
Here's how it got started.
The drive
The EDC launched a fund-raising effort last year to generate enough capital to fund its budget for five years. About 100 large and small private Twin City businesses have invested in the campaign, as have the city of Bloomington, town of Normal, Central Illinois Regional Airport, Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Heartland Community College and McLean County.
In turn, Vanags said he could generate 1,000 new jobs paying at least $51,000 a year, more than 900 indirect jobs in the service sector and a total economic impact of around $258 million in the community.
The $3.2 million will be used for marketing efforts, business loans, job-retention programs, capital investment, industry analysis and other programs under the organization's Navigating a New Direction Campaign.
Vanags also hopes to generate enough contributions in coming years to maintain a $650,000-a-year budget after the $3.2 million dries up in five years.
The overall goal is to improve McLean County quality of life to attract new employers and supplement the growth of current businesses.
"A rising tide raises all ships," Vanags has said.
The money has already helped Vanags double his work force in 2006.
He hired Christina Rogers from the McLean County Chamber of Commerce in November to handle government and community relations for the EDC. He also hired a real estate specialist to identify development opportunities and a business-retention professional to assist the growth of existing McLean County employers. In the future, Vanags may hire a full-time fund raiser.
The employees join Vanags and executive assistant Brooke Weishaupt on the full-time EDC staff.
One Voice
Soon, the EDC will launch its "One Voice" campaign, an effort to bring community leaders and business owners together to lobby federal and state governments for money to assist four local projects: a business incubator for startup companies, the Heartland Community College Workforce Development Center, the Bloomington Cultural District and the multi-modal transportation center in Normal.
Vanags and a group of business and community leaders went to Washington, D.C., in March to lobby together as "one voice" for the betterment of McLean County.
"What we need is quality of life growth in our community. Most of our jobs, we're going to have to grow locally," said Dick Eikenberg, president of Flatlander/Business Builders in downtown Bloomington and chair of the Economic Development Council of the Bloomington-Normal Area.
The One Voice project, which included this month's D.C. lobbying trip, a similar trip to the state Capitol in Springfield and other community improvement efforts, will use about $450,000 of the money generated through the Navigating a New Direction Campaign.
"We're trying to support requests for dollars," Vanags previously said of the One Voice lobbying effort. "We're not supporting public policy issues or anything like that."
A committee of community leaders, government officials, business owners and professionals comprised a One Voice Task Force that chose the four projects to seek funding for.
Products
Here's how Vanags plans to use the $3.2 million over the next five years:
? $1 million for business retention and expansion services: This will provide a pool for capital investment while creating myriad services designed to connect Twin City businesses together so they can learn how to use each other's services. The services could include a business guide, a mentoring network and an economic development almanac. Vanags also plans to attend local and regional trade shows and develop a technology plan for future infrastructure upgrades.
? $1.25 million for business recruitment efforts: Used to market the community to targeted industries identified through research and analysis. Vanags plans to attract regional, national and foreign investment by marketing the community. He also plans to set up an intelligence network of people who once lived or worked in Bloomington-Normal. Once identified, those people could serve as Twin City liaisons in other communities, he said.
? $450,000 for community improvement: Will include annual lobbying trips to Washington, D.C.
? $300,000 for program oversight and investor relations: This will allow ongoing fund-raising efforts and communication about the status of the campaign; includes expanding the EDC staff from two, including Vanags, to five or six people.
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PUB: The Pantagraph
PUB DATE: 20070317
Section: Special
EDITION: Main
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PAGE SLUG: BUS
XMLFILE: 21026403.txt
DOC NAME: AR Biz II EDC CVR
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