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Quaker Oats Stays, Expands in Danville

In central Illinois, Gov. Ryan's personal lobbying effort and the state's revamped investment environment recently helped convince a longtime Danville corporate citizen that was considering leaving to not only stay in Illinois, but expand its operations. Quaker Oats has manufactured ready-to-eat cereals and snacks in Danville since 1969.

"Quaker's decision to stay and grow in Illinois demonstrates once again that our state is a great place to do business," Ryan says. "Quaker could have closed the Danville facility as part of its reorganization, but the company recognized how important Illinois' highly skilled work force, healthy business climate and central location are to its bottom line."

Training assistance to upgrade worker skills was a key factor in the company's decision to stay. "I want to commend the work of Gov. Ryan and the Illinois Dept. of Commerce and Community Affairs in providing employee training incentives to keep the plant competitive in today's marketplace," says Steve Brunner, Quaker Oats Danville plant leader.

Smart Move for a New Millennium: The Illinois Century Network Educational collaboration across cyberspace just got a lot easier for students in Illinois. Legislation passed last year calls for the establishment of a vast network where information can be exchanged and created. Universities, colleges, schools, libraries, government agencies, museums and businesses will be able to tap into the high-tech, interactive system. "Our state's new budget includes $17 million to build the Illinois Century Network (ICN)," Gov. Ryan announced. "This network will make sharing ideas, educating our children and delivering services easier than it has ever been before." Consider this hypothetical example of how the ICN will work. Suppose two community college architecture classes (one in Quincy and one in Marion) were working with a Chicago architecture firm to plan a building. With the ICN, the two classes and the architecture firm could meet and interact together by dialing into an Internet-based system where their building exists virtually. Information could be exchanged freely and quickly. Students would learn and receive immediate advice from fellow classmates and the architecture firm as design changes are made with the click of a mouse over shared workspace. The ICN will be based on a network backbone designed for 4,000 public elementary and secondary schools, 48 community colleges and 12 public university campuses. Additional capacity will be provided for 3,000 private colleges and universities, private schools, government agencies, museums and libraries.