Posts by Doug Hessong

GRCC Government Affairs Committee Supports TIF District on Rockford’s South side Solving our most significant social issues together By Pam Clark Reidenbach, Northern Illinois Center for Nonprofit Excellence Talk without action is a waste of time and resources. Isolated activities or interventions result in more and more programs and more and more money needed to…

GRCC Government Affairs Committee Supports TIF District on Rockford’s South side Build your own app to upgrade processes By Sam Kirker, SJK Enterprises Sales run through Stacey’s spreadsheet, customer service runs through Carl’s Post-it Notes, and the warehouse runs through Willie’s brain. Every small business has a version of this duct-taped system that keeps the…

GRCC Government Affairs Committee Supports TIF District on Rockford’s South side The time is right for renewed regional investment in economic development By Terrance Hall, Eight Fifteen Impact In March 2024, the Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce (GRCC) engaged Eight Fifteen Impact to develop a new strategy and tactical plan for the organization’s newly chartered…

GRCC Government Affairs Committee Supports TIF District on Rockford’s South side Our rights, duties, and privileges as citizens By Angela Kay Larson, Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce On my desk, you’ll find a small textbook, “First Lessons in Civics,” published in 1898. The book is a relic, yet I find many of its lessons enlightening,…

GRCC Government Affairs Committee Supports TIF District on Rockford’s South side The story of resurgence in the Village of Durand By Village of Durand Mayor Sheila Hoffman As elected officials in local government, we step up to tackle the challenge to leave things a little better than we found them. That’s exactly what the Village…

GRCC Government Affairs Committee Supports TIF District on Rockford’s South side Earlier this year, the GRCC Board of Directors assembled a task force comprised of members from the Government Affairs and Talent Committees with the objective of capturing the voice of business in relation to the RPS205 Board of Education’s efforts to recruit a new…

GRCC Government Affairs Committee Supports TIF District on Rockford’s South side Illinois needs to reclaim the nuclear energy leadership it held decades ago By Michael Dunn Jr., Region 1 Planning Council Our local elected leaders have spent the past two years working closely with ComEd and state and federal officials to develop a strategy for…

GRCC Government Affairs Committee Supports TIF District on Rockford’s South side Tips on how businesses can work effectively with local government By Christine Hand, managing editor At the annual Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce (GRCC) Pow(H)er conference on Nov. 13, a panel of local elected officials—Dawn Granath, 9th Ward alderwoman, Rockford City Council; Christina Valdez,…

GRCC Government Affairs Committee Supports TIF District on Rockford’s South side What Rockford can learn from other mid-sized cities By TC Bell, EIGERlab When people talk about innovation, the spotlight often shines on places like Silicon Valley, Austin, or Boston. But in recent years, mid-sized regional cities have quietly transformed themselves into thriving innovation hubs.…

GRCC Government Affairs Committee Supports TIF District on Rockford’s South side Not your grandfather’s machine shop By Kika Young, Forest City Gear The Rock River Valley has always been a place where hard work and craftsmanship thrive. Industry was already booming when my grandparents, Stetler & Evelyn, founded Forest City Gear in 1955. Since then,…