Over the last year or so, you’ve seen a good amount of reporting in this newsletter about the development of a new Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for our region. The Big Table gathering happened almost exactly a year ago. There were follow-on Rural Big Table conversations in late 2025 and early 2026. The final step in that process is complete, and I’m proud to share the Greater Peoria Big Table CEDS for 2026-2030. The Greater Peoria EDC Board of Directors officially adopted the CEDS, which will guide our region’s efforts to strengthen the economy over the next five years, in early October.
While you will see GPEDC’s logo throughout the document, this plan was written by nearly 500 people across Greater Peoria. These people represented businesses, social service agencies, educational institutions, local governments, and sometimes just their own individual interests and perspectives. Broad and intentional public input is at the core of this CEDS: It reflects the collective voice of all of us and translates that voice into a concise, relevant, and actionable plan.
Our goal was to develop a CEDS that would inspire a variety of efforts, big and small, that we can and will take over the next five years to improve our economy. This is not an easy goal. An effective and relevant CEDS must be rooted in today’s problems and opportunities, while also anticipating what might come next. The region’s last CEDS was written in the shadow of the COVID pandemic, amid considerable economic uncertainty. We now present a CEDS in a time of robust manufacturing growth and a rapidly growing healthcare industry, but also a time of geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
But the questions that this CEDS asks are resilient to changing conditions. What infrastructure makes growth possible? Who gets to participate in the economy? What kind of place do we want to be? In difficult times, we can use these questions to frame actions that pull our region up. In good times, these questions can prompt us to do even better and prepare for future challenges.
To be clear, creating, completing, and adopting the CEDS is the easy part. Plans mean nothing without action. As we look ahead, we invite you to consider how you or your organization can take ownership of specific objectives. Our ultimate goal is for every regional decision in the coming years to be tested against one simple question: “Is this aligned with the CEDS?”
My sincere thanks to everyone who helped create this plan. As I mentioned, the outcome you see here reflects input from nearly 500 people. Those voices were processed by a robust CEDS Committee that reflects a broad cross-section of our region. The amazing Greater Peoria EDC staff then refined this information into an easy-to-read document that’s relevant to stakeholders and challenges us all to move forward. And of course, we can only do this work with the guidance of our Board and the financial support of Greater Peoria EDC’s investors. For the CEDS work in particular, a special thanks goes to the US Economic Development Administration, which provides us the authority, framework, and resources to do this work.
The work of implementing the Big Table CEDS 2026 – 2030 starts today. Let us know if you want to help.