Big Table – Rural Matters invites public to sort out economic needs and interests in Logan County

 

[January 22, 2020] 

The community is invited to attend a round table discussion hosted by the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council (GPEDC) and assisted by Lincoln Economic Advancement and Development (LEAD). The gathering takes place on January 30th starting at 4 p.m. at the Lincoln College Johnston Center for Performing Arts.

According to Rural Development Coordinator for the GPEDC Tory Dahlhoff the “Big Table – Rural Matters” is an opportunity for all facets of the county to come together and have a voice in the future of economic development in our region.

“All are welcome and encouraged to attend,” said Dahlhoff. “The general focus is community and economic development for the Logan County area of the Economic Development District. Our primary goal at GPEDC is that we are compiling all of the input and discussions for these meetings to help inform the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and action plan portions of the 2020 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) that we turn into the US Economic Development Administration, but also use as the roadmap in the region to help all stakeholders share in a more collaborative and coordinated strategy.

“Another goal is to simply create a space for open communication and an opportunity to network with others. There is great value is building relationships through dialogue and its power to help realize strategies and plans, so that they do not simply "sit on the shelf."”

Dahlhoff said that the meeting style is going to be casual and flexible. There will be opportunities for the group to break out into smaller roundtable discussions that will be led by the participants at the tables. Guests to the Big Table will be permitted to choose which smaller session they attend. After an allotted time the groups will come back together as one and will talk about their specific topics and the outcomes of their discussions.
 

Click button to view flyer

There is currently a flyer circulating regarding the event. It shows that the meeting will begin at 4 p.m. with a light snack and an opening presentation at 4:15 p.m.

Introductions will be made and then the topic selection for the smaller roundtables will begin. By 4:45 p.m. everyone should be at a smaller roundtable with just a little over one hour to discuss the topics of the table.

At 6 p.m. the tables will all come back together and the last hour of the evening will be devoted to discussing the breakout topics with the entire group.

According to the flyer, full participation is encouraged, but not required. If guests can only make it to a portion of the event, that is okay. All are encouraged to come as their personal schedule permits.

The Big Table is open to all and the flyer states that interested parties can include residents, business owners, service and resource agencies, school representatives, government representatives and in general anyone who is interested in hearing and understanding the topics at hand.

There is a website for pre-registration though it is not required in order to attend. Guests may pre-register at www.bigtable.com/register or they can register in person the night of the event.

The GPEDC is conducting Big Tables in all five of the counties it serves and advertises that all meetings are open to the public and are an excellent opportunity to “discuss issues such as town revitalization, small business development, industry, jobs, housing, natural resources and broadband, and to propose projects and programs that support community and economic development in your area.”

The local organization LEAD will also be a part of the event in Lincoln. LEAD is in its early stages but consists of a group of local CEO’s and entrepreneurs who are volunteering their time and pooling personal resources to create a new economic development component within the community.

The LEAD goal is to hire an Economic Development director who can lead the way to economic growth in our community.

In October, 2019, Dr. David Gerhalch of Lincoln College and local business owner Chris Graue presented the LEAD project to the Lincoln City Council.

The local CEO’s involved with the project include Dolan Dalpoas of Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital, Patrick Doolin of Integrity Data, Lynn Paulus of Hotel Ventures Management of Illinois, Steve Aughenbaugh of State Bank of Lincoln; Eric Olson, plant manager of Eaton Corp.; Eric Burwell of Burwell Management Company, Blinn Bates owner of Woods & Bates Attorneys at Law, Graue of Graue Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC; and Dr. Gerlach. One of the founding L.E.A.D. CEO’s, Clyde Reynolds, has since passed away and is missed on many local boards.

Dr. Gerlach said that the group had exhibited a sense of alarm about the condition of the community from an economic standpoint. They had also sought input from others about what was needed, including from Lincoln City Administrator Beth Kavelman and Mayor Seth Goodman.

The end result, a new organization was formed and is officially named Lincoln Economic Advancement and Development, Inc. (L.E.A.D.).

To kick start the project, each of the CEO’s had pledged funding for the new organization. The group planned application for a 501c3 non-profit status and to hire a consultant to interact with community leaders, evaluate the economic conditions of the community and offer leadership on how to take the first steps toward economic growth.

The CEO’s made three-year commitments for annual investments into the organization and the group plans to hire one employee – a CEO or director who will do the lion’s share of the work toward economic growth in Lincoln.

[Nila Smith]