Action Plan

1.  Promote stakeholder networking, relationship building, and knowledge transfer

• Convene roundtables of local officials to promote interagency cooperation, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and the exchange of ideas

• Host workshops and summits that highlight topics impacting the region's public, not-for-profit, and private sectors

• Facilitate civic leadership training programs

2. Maintain relationships with Northwest Illinois' nearby neighbors, elected officials, regulatory agencies, and national associations

• Identify issues beyond the capability of one region to address

• Create working groups to address tri-state issues (e.g., improving federal highways, creating interstate trails, enriching watersheds)

• Develop relationships and meet with state/federal agencies to discuss issues under their jurisdiction that impact the region, such as:

  • • Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Illinois Housing Development Authority, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Illinois Department of Transportation, US Economic Development Administration, US Bureau of Prisons, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, other key state and federal agencies

• Educate key stakeholders about Northwest Illinois issues that require external or coalition support (e.g., Class I railroads access, US 20 improvements, passenger rail investments, state parks/federal lands improvements, Grand Illinois Trail development, trail owner liability protections, water recreation access limitations, immigration reform)

• Engage private utilities (such as ComEd, Nicor Gas, and Jo-Carroll Energy) and key industries (Class I railroads, major employers, etc.) in local and regional planning processes

3. Track regional planning progress

• Create and maintain an online dashboard describing CEDS implementation

• Update CEDS websites describing the region (ceds.blackhawkhills.com and maps.blackhawkhills.com) on a biannual basis

1.  Improve infrastructure resiliency through community-based planning

• Develop and maintain county and municipal capital improvement plans developed with robust public engagement

• Support the creation of strategic plans for key corridors and areas that engages impacted communities

• Assist local governments in meeting state/federal procurement standards (e.g., ensuring pre-qualification in Illinois' GATA system, pre-preparing risk assessment questionnaires, helping communities adopt policies that comply with state and federal regulations)

• Encourage the hardening of infrastructure against extreme weather/climate change

2.  Strengthen goods-moving transportation systems

• Update regional freight studies to better understand freight's impact on transportation systems

• Identify projects that facilitate the movement of goods and people, reduce crashes, and enhance user safety, especially for non-motorized users

• Advocate for safety and usability upgrades to major freight-moving networks (e.g., US 20, Class I railroads, and Mississippi River ports/terminals and locks/dams

3. Invest in industrial sites

• Prioritize investment in sites capable of meeting Intersect Illinois Vetted Sites criteria

• Update LOIS listings on a regular schedule; include infrastructure and utility capacities 

• Identify primary contacts for sites in support of site selectors and developers 

• Encourage the targeted development of new industrial sites for counties that lack shovel-ready options

1. Support business diversification, resiliency, and reinvestment ahead of economic downturns and natural disasters

• Increase awareness of business diversification and resiliency strategies (e.g., employee-ownership models, business succession planning, business continuity planning, business impact analysis)

• Help businesses adapt to technological change (e.g., online ordering, artificial intelligence, automation, cybersecurity, electrification, remote work)

• Link goods-producing businesses to import/export/foreign trade assistance (e.g., Foreign Trade Zones)

• Connect potential users to place-based incentive programs (e.g., Tax Increment Financing Districts, Enterprise Zones, HUBZones, Opportunity Zones)

• Connect businesses to energy efficiency improvement funding (e.g., C-PACE, RAISE, utility-sponsored programs)

• Build the presence/capacity of development organizations (e.g., chambers of commerce, destination organizations, economic development organizations, regional planning organizations, Small Business Development Centers, APEX Accelerators, University of Illinois Extension)

2. Provide growth opportunities for workers

• Assess existing workforce training programs (e.g., inventory current offerings, compare features with peer regions, identify disconnects between education and industry)

• Study regional employee compensation and labor recruitment/retention/advancement best practices

• Develop strategies for helping workers that are highly susceptible to financial pressures (e.g., the underemployed, seasonal workers, low-wage industry employees)

• Maintain worker development and recruitment initiatives (e.g., Rapid Talent Pipeline Initiative, apprenticeship/incumbent worker/essential skills training)

• Invest in innovative tools and equipment that support workforce development (e.g., mobile workforce training vehicles)

3. Support entrepreneurs, startups, and second-stage businesses

• Expand incubator, co-working, and makerspace capacity

• Connect startups and second-stage businesses to loan, grant, and technical assistance opportunities

• Improve access to gap financing through revolving loan funds

• Launch a combination agricultural aggregator/farmer accelerator/local foods support network for new and innovative operators (to facilitate access to markets, land, tools and equipment, capital, etc.)

1. Facilitate sustainable, equitable, and resilient development

• Support comprehensive land use planning that facilitates connections between people and places

• Advise communities on land use and zoning best practices (e.g., form-based codes, illustrated regulations, digitized code books, enforcement approaches)

• Develop best management practices and model ordinances in support of regional water supply and quality

• Identify hazard mitigation/extreme weather/climate change vulnerabilities in regional planning documents

• Create strategic plans that address the growth/decline of major employers and institutions (e.g., legacy industries, Quad Cities/Byron nuclear generating stations, Lorado Taft Field Campus)

• Build community foundation and not-for-profit presence/capacity

• Continue to identify critical corridors and areas for enhanced conservation efforts

• Invest in native ecosystems (e.g., Tree City USA applications, Illinois native plantings, habitat restoration, streambank stabilization, bioretention infrastructure, dark sky lighting)

• Promote the adoption of building and energy codes that make people and places more resilient

• Support public energy efficiency improvements and energy transition planning

• Advise communities on best practices in development incentives

• Encourage the use of economic and fiscal impact analysis when significant projects are proposed

2. Support housing development

• Continue to study housing scarcity (e.g., assess current conditions, conduct housing affordability gap analysis, report on vulnerable groups like seasonal workers and the homeless, etc.)

• Establish a regional land bank

• Establish programs that improve the environmental health (e.g., radon mitigation) and accessibility (e.g., modifications for seniors) of housing

• Invest in mixed-use development

3. Enhance childcare, education, healthcare, public health/safety, and transportation systems

• Invest in employer and community-based childcare services, including supporting childcare workers

• Build well-rounded K-12/higher education systems that expose students to civic, creative, and technical fields