Local economic group among 10 Illinois applicants for Build Back Better Regional Challenge

The Economic Development Corporation of North Central Illinois is one of 10 applicants for the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, a competition funded by President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

Administrative Manager Gina Czubachowski said the EDCNCI applied because money from the grant would aid its goal of selling North Central Illinois as a place where industry can grow.

The EDCNCI is made up of city officials and business administrators from throughout La Salle, Putnam and Bureau counties and intends to attract industry to the region.

Czubachowski listed four things the EDCNCI Board of Directors would like to have done to attract agribusiness and food processing industries as well as advanced manufacturers to the area that fits its goals.

“The first one is having our sites reviewed from when we’ve talked to Intersect Illinois and (the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity) so we can show they’re shovel-ready to any brokers or prospective business, and that we do have competitive sites that are ready for them to build at any time,” Czubachowski said. “The second thing we noticed in the last five years is the requests for building and unfortunately in our region, we’re at a shortage.”

Czubachowski said La Salle County has space but not many buildings with the qualifications and the size and space required for these kinds of manufacturers.

“We’ve researched the Virtual Building Program concept and we would like to pursue that with our region partners to see if that would build value for our communities and our building sites,” Czubachowski said.

A Virtual Building Program is a marketing tool that can be used to provide a visual for what a building will look like before it’s built that can be adapted to suit a manufacturer’s needs.

Czubachowski said with these resources the region will be able to be more attractive thanks to training programs that already exist and programs coming in the future at Illinois Valley Community College.

“They’ve invested a lot in the last two years, especially with agribusiness, so for them, we have a great training resource in our backyard,” Czubachowski said. “It lies with the direction that the college is taking in offering additional business classes and increasing their educational offering that allows us to pursue these industries.”

Whether EDCNCI’s grant application wins or not will not be known until fall or summer of 2022.

The Build Back Better Regional Challenge received 529 applicants from across the country, and it aims to invest $1 billion in up to 30 regions.

“The challenge provides a historic investment, funded by President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, to support bottom-up, middle-out economic development focused on advancing and accelerating an equitable economic recovery, creating good-paying jobs, and building resilient regions,” reads an Oct. 29 news release from the Department of Commerce. “This investment in locally designed projects is one of the ways the Biden Administration will enhance U.S. competitiveness on the global stage.”