News & Events

Grant Park Village President Marty Roth and Village Trustees have commissioned a team
of planning, market economics and branding experts led by Hitchcock Design Group to
prepare a Regional Positioning Plan for the Village of Grant Park. Upon completion of the
3-phase, 8-month project, consultants expect to deliver a well-defined, multi-dimensional
strategy to help the community leverage its unique resources and market characteristics
to effectively compete for new residents, business and visitors.

Congratulations to Manteno-based Urban Farmer and its founding partner Warren Ouwenga.
The company is being honored by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Economic
Development Association for the role it played in 2018 in developing jobs and bringing prosperity
to Illinois communities.

Nucor Steel Kankakee, Inc. is upgrading its Chicago region steel bar mill by investing $40 million
for a new state-of-the-art continuous casting machine and other improvements. The company
is also currently completing its $180 million merchant bar quality mill expansion at the site, which
is expected to begin operation later this year.

Since the launch in July 2018, people have taken more than 2,800 trips on the 50 “Bike 609 – Powered by Zagster” bikes between the 11 docking stations in the metro core communities of Kankakee, Bradley, Bourbonnais and Manteno.

When local Kankakee County residents Siron and Tim needed new employment options, they turned to River Valley Metro. Now they are both enjoying successful and sustainable career paths.

As the largest public transit agency in Kankakee County, River Valley Metro has been a study in quiet
reliability — so much so that it’s almost incognito for those who don’t take its roughly 900,000 rides each year.

The Economic Alliance of Kankakee County proudly supports Selling Happiness and The Lively One, twin PBS-slated documentaries by acclaimed filmmakers Tom Desch and Pat Wisniewski with Lakeshore Public Media that recount the thrilling story of how Kankakee’s Romy Hammes and his descendants developed new promotional, service and financing models that brought the automobile to the masses in its earliest days of production.

The Opportunity Zone Basics session attracted over 100 attendees where panel of finance, legal, real estate and economic development professionals shared at OZ Basics how the new federal tax incentive can provide gap equity financing support for projects within the boundaries of the Kankakee Riverfront Opportunity Zone.

A tremendous rise in U.S. co-working spaces reflects the increasing amount of remote workers in the workplace. This increase can be attributed to a variety of factors including the high cost of living in most cities.

As more advanced technology enters the workplace, many United States employees are seeking positions that allow them to work remotely. Companies and employers are starting to shift their recruitment methods in order to accommodate this new trend in the workplace.