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DCCA: Job Training,
Business Assistance

Part of DCCA's strength, says director Pam McDonough, is the fact that "we always try to get local involvement in projects -- it's much more effective." McDonough also stresses a regional approach to development. "It's often hard to compete as one city; everyone wins when a region does well," she says.

The agency's budget this year increases funds for job training and small business assistance, as well as an additional $25 million in bond funds for the Prime Sites program, which provides assistance to develop sites that businesses are considering for development.

DCCA's training programs have proven to be a valuable resource for helping businesses train and develop employees. The Industrial Training Program (ITP), for example, is a flexible development program that awards training grants to individual companies, as well as to intermediary organizations that have identified common employee training needs for multiple companies in an area.

ITP funds can reimburse up to 50 percent of the eligible costs of training, retraining or upgrading the skills of new or existing employees. (Intermediaries can include groups such as business and industry associations, community colleges and universities, labor organizations, strategic business partnerships and federal Job Training Partnership Act administrative entities or grant recipients.) ITP funding was increased by $7 million to more than $24 million in the 2000 budget; $24.2 million is planned for next year. This year's increase allows some 450 additional companies in the state to train nearly 12,000 more workers.

ITP funds played a crucial role in retaining and expanding a Quaker Oats manufacturing plant in downstate Danville. The company had considered closing the plant, but a combination of training funds, business development grants and property tax abatements allowed the plant to not only stay open, but also build a 50,000-sq.-ft. (4,645-sq.-m.) expansion and hire 100 new employees. Forty-five new employees and 315 current workers will be trained with $202,500 of ITP funds. DCCA also gave the Whiting Corp., a metals equipment manufacturer, a $250,000 training grant for a new manufacturing facility that's being built in south suburban Monee. The new plant will retain 250 local jobs.

Technology, Research
Boosted Through VentureTech

But the centerpiece proposal for this year's budget is the Illinois VentureTech initiative, a five-year, $1.8 billion project that will invest state money in advanced research and development, information technology, biotechnology and health sciences. The initiative is aimed at strengthening partnerships with government and the private sector and will include increased funding for information technology and biotechnology incubators in the state; a marketing program to attract private technology investment in the state; and money for improved technology in grade and high schools.

VentureTech also will help emerging technology companies by increasing the availability of venture capital for these companies through investment partnerships with the state's pension funds.

The state's technology industry will also receive a boost from the proposed Bureau of Technology and Industrial Competitiveness, a DCCA bureau intended to enhance the state's technology industry and prepare workers for high-tech jobs. DCCA will provide assistance to companies and to research institutions to analyze, develop and market technology products or processes that allow businesses to become more competitive. Workplace training is also slated for improvements by the bureau. Some $4.5 million will be used to build a technical training center, and the bureau will administer specialized training programs.

High-visibility high-tech ventures in the state span a variety of areas. The Lakeside Technology Center -- the former R.R. Donnelly printing plant on Chicago's near South Side -- is planned to be the largest Internet/telecommunications "server hotel" in North America. Whittman-Hart, an e-business and technology consulting firm, is locating its headquarters and international training facility in Chicago as well; more than 2,000 technology workers will be employed in the complex.

Downstate, a new research and technology park is being built on the south end of the University of Illinois campus; VentureTech will fund portions of the development. A $9 million Motorola research and development center will anchor the park; planners hope the park will attract other tenants specializing in information technology, biotechnology and engineering. The park will also contain an $8 million technology incubator to be funded through VentureTech.

High Tech
Goes to Work

But the emphasis on technology will have far-reaching effects on Illinois businesses, well beyond those simply in the high-tech sector. "We jumped on technology right away, but it's a different animal," says Paul O'Connor, executive director of the Chicago Partnership for Economic Development, a new public-private economic development venture. "We're not Silicon Anything. We're not in the business of making the chips, but in putting technology to work."

Chicago, O'Connor explains, has one of the most robust manufacturing bases in North America, particularly in terms of breadth and diversity of products. Add to that the city's location and its position as a communications hub ("More data moves through Chicago than any other city in the country," he says), and you have an environment rich for business-to-business e-commerce. Manufacturing companies, already using technology for more efficient production, will be able to speed up their ability to take orders and deliver the goods, thanks to advances in Internet technology.

And the Internet could also play a major role in selling Chicago itself to prospective businesses, says O'Connor. The Partnership, which was formed last September, is charged with leading and coordinating the economic development of the city. "One of the things we want to bring is the concept of good customer service" to economic development, he says. Partnership staff will focus on research, marketing and project coordination on strategic projects. "We want to take advantage of current communications technology," he says, and build on Internet-based methods of site selection. An interactive Web site, for example, can help determine what potential firms' priorities are. Once a company has input what it's looking for, it can check out a database of potential properties, look at maps of the sites and gather other valuable information in a user-friendly fashion. "The only way to market a city is to give good information," says O'Connor. "Not every city is right to everyone -- and we want to make sure it's a good fit for all. This way, prospective companies are in a good position to know that this is the place to be."

And both private and public sectors are working hard to make sure Chicago is the place to be. "Younger people building the new economy want to live in cities," says O'Connor. To support this influx, though, he adds, cities must be affordable, must have good schools, must be good places to live. "Billions of city dollars have gone into improving the city infrastructure over the last ten years," O'Connor says, "Not just downtown, but in every community in the city. We're working to make it an extraordinarily attractive place to live."

There's been a solid effort to retain jobs that are already in the city as well. Last year, the state assembled job training funds, financial assistance and tax credits to retain Uniforms To You, a manufacturer of work uniforms and a division of Cincinnati-based Cintas. The package aimed to preserve more than 900 jobs at Uniforms to You's facility in Bedford Park -- just outside of Chicago -- and create an additional 200 to 300 jobs over the next three years. Cintas, in return, agreed to invest $6 million to $12 million to expand the facility.