|
McHenry County EDC
The Insider Newsletter
|
*****The search is on! Do you know a Business Champion? Do you work for a company who is Business Champion? Is one of your vendors or associates a Business Champion? Nominations will be accepted in three categories - Large (Over 100 employees) - Medium (25 to 100 employees) and Small (24 or less employees).
V isit our website www.mchenrycountyedc.com and click on Nominate a Business Champion on the left side of the home page on Quick Links. Members of the Business Champion Task Force will contact your nominee for an interview. Finalists and their nominators will be invited to attend a private reception prior to our annual dinner and winners will be featured in a short video. Details are available on our website as well as photos of the 2009 Business Champions. Help us recognize those businesses who have made an impact on the economy of McHenry County.
*****EDC hosted successful roundtable on economic gardening on May 21st. The villages of Algonquin, Fox River Grove, Huntley and Lakewood and the cities of Crystal Lake, Marengo, and McHenry participated in the event. The goal was to provide municipalities with tactics and resources to help grow their base. Richard Kaye, State of IL labor market economist, provided information on how to access state data and Brian Radenmacher of Chicago Metropolitan Agency on Planning shared data and how CMAP can be a resource for municipalities.
'Economic Gardening' is an economic development model that focuses on providing resource tools to entrepreneurs and small businesses. It is widely recognized that almost 80% of business growth comes from small businesses, so it makes sense for all of our economic partners to work together to support and help grow this sector of our economy. Most large companies have easy access to competitive intelligence on markets, customers and competitors, as well as statistics and demographics, however, this data is not readily available to small businesses. McHenry County EDC and our local municipal partners have resources available to fill this gap. and are working together to provide resource assistance.
A few recent 'economic gardening' assists include providing county wide demographics on population, aged population, net worth and medium income for a group considering developing senior housing. Another involved the owner of a small strip mall who needed data to entice a company into her space. The prospective business wanted to know the number of primary jobs in a 2 mile radius around the proposed location since those employees would be their target market. And another involved an entreprenuer considering starting a pet store, who needed data on retail sales for pet products as well as site selection assistance.
It's spring, businesses have planted seeds, EDC and our municipal partners are ready to help our business community grow.
- MORE RESOURCES -
Small Business Federal Resources Seminar hosted by Congresswoman Melissa Bean - Monday, June 7, 2010, 7:30 - 11 AM - McHenry County College - MCC Conference Center, Building B, 8900 US 14, Crystal Lake. Space is limited, please RSVP to IL08.outreach@mail.house.gov or call Donna Riley at 847.517.2927.
RSS FEEDS AVAILABLE For EDC News! An RSS feed is an easy way to have EDC News update automatically sent to you. Click on the orange icon on our home page "Click to Subscribe to RSS Updates  EDC News".
|
