IMA and Consul Visits: A big thank you to Ameren Illinois for inviting GPEDC to sit at their table at last week’s Illinois Manufacturers Association annual meeting. IMA is one of the best advocacy groups in Illinois and a tremendous ally of economic development organizations. It was great to celebrate with a packed house in downtown Chicago.
Since I hate driving three hours each way for a two hour lunch, I took the opportunity of being in Chicago to schedule some other important meetings. I started my day meeting with the German American Chamber of Commerce, of which GPEDC is a member. The German Chamber recently brought a delegation of “smart city” startups to Distillery Labs and my visit was partly follow-up and partly planning for future opportunities, including a possible delegation visit from the Emden region. (Did you know we had our own Emden in Logan County? Named as such because of German immigrants from the original Emden.) I followed that meeting by reconnecting with my friends at the Brazilian consulate. I had a chance to share with them my recap of my Brazil trip and to do some early planning on a possible delegation visit in mid-2025. I finished my day with my first ever meeting with the Indian consulate. Given the amazing Indian community in Greater Peoria there is a great opportunity to make more formal connections between Peoria and India. A day in Chicago makes me realize how great it is to live in Peoria, but also how nice it is to be so close to a city that has so many resources we can leverage.
Giving Back: Jeffrey, Melissa, Sara, and Courtney (plus the rest of the Inman family, Ashlie and Gavin) spent Tuesday evening cooking dinner for the families at the Ronald McDonald House in Peoria. Opportunities like this not only give back to a community that gives so much to us, but also serve as a great team-building exercise—certainly, a nice way to kick off the holiday season.
Technical Working Group: We always combine our November and December Technical Working Group meetings into one early-ish December meeting. This Tuesday our group gathered to hear about the new Women Business Development Center. Gayle Ballard, the WBDC Executive Director, shared their model of working with entrepreneurs. You can learn more about them here. Gayle and the WBDC program is a great addition to the Greater Peoria team and our startup ecosystem.
gBETA: Speaking of the startup ecosystem, the next cohort of gBETA startups is starting to form. This is a free, seven-week accelerator for entrepreneurs with scalable business ideas who are looking to refine their concept and prepare for pitching to investors. Please spread the word to your friends, family, colleagues and others who might have that great idea and wants to take the next step forward. Registration can be found here.
Have a great weekend.
Chris