AgTech Connect: Tuesday’s AgTech Connect event provided an exceptional line up connecting our agricultural technology startup community with financial and technical resource support. Dennis Beard, who began his career in Peoria, shared his exceptional work with Serra Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early stage growth companies in the agriculture/food space. We also heard from representatives from the Children’s Discovery Museum in Normal about their new Agriculture Learning Center. The Venture Capital program managers for Illinois DCEO, the Illinois Soy Innovation Fund and the Technology Transfer Coordinator of the Peoria Ag Lab were also on hand to network with our startup community. The event also featured “science fair” style booths to showcase some of our local innovators: The Farm Sitter, DigiFarmz, Cedar Bluff Technologies (no website yet!), Planatopia, Midwest Bioprocessing Center, CommonGround and TurkeyTrac.
Workforce Solutions Expo: The Workforce Solutions Team is helping the Regional Workforce Alliance put together the first annual Workforce Solutions Expo on December 5. Employers from all industries and of all sizes are invited to stop in ICC North’s Student Center in Peoria from 3 – 5 p.m. to meet all of the great organizations across Greater Peoria who provide workforce development solutions, career coaching, and support to their clients to help ensure employment success. These organizations can provide customized training and meet each employer’s unique hiring challenges. Each organization will have a booth set up and will be ready to talk about their services! To learn more and to RSVP, click here.If you have any questions, reach out to the team at workforce@greaterpeoriaedc.org. Please join us for great information for your needs, great networking, and a great time to connect with folks from across Greater Peoria!
IT Workforce Planning: The IT Workforce Accelerator and HR Fit are hosting an exclusive IT Workforce Planning Workshop. The workshop is designed to help companies prepare for the Illinois Pay Transparency Law, scheduled for roll-out on January 1, 2025. In today’s competitive IT landscape, building an effective compensation strategy is essential for attracting, motivating, and retaining skilled professionals. This workshop is designed to help IT companies develop compensation plans that align with industry standards and ensure long-term success. You’ll gain actionable insights on how to create a compensation philosophy, learn how to research and set market-based pay strategies, and discover how to develop salary bands. Provided at no cost to business and industry partners. The workshop will be hosted online on December 3 from 9:30 – 11:30 am. Register to secure your spot by Tuesday, November 26 by clicking here.
Clean Ports: Congrats to the Illinois Waterway Port Commission, which includes the six counties in the Heart of Illinois Regional Port District, for being awarded $3 million through US EPA’s Clean Ports Program to conduct planning activities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The study will include an emissions inventory, setting emissions reductions goals for thousands of vehicles in operation, developing strategies for resiliency and community development, and creating guidance on workforce development opportunities grant to conduct planning. More information here.
Happy Thanksgiving! The GPEDC offices will be closed next Thursday and Friday, so no Weekend Update next week from me (I’d just get 328 “out-of-office” emails anyway). But this week was the Peoria Chamber’s annual Thanksgiving Luncheon, and the event was excellent as always. It’s nice to see much of the region’s leadership all in one place, and Dr. Jamel Santa Cruze Wright of Eureka College (and the GPEDC board) gave an amazing and inspirational speech. She not only reflected on the things for which we should be grateful, but outlined a “Path to Prosperity” for making our community better through her six “Ps”: Purposeful action, partnerships, preparation, promotion, probity, and people. Thanks for a great message!
Have a great weekend and a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
Chris