The President's Letter

Lake County Partners and the College of Lake County are pleased to announce that we will be hosting our 2nd Annual Picnic/Networking Event on June 11th, 4 to 8 pm, at Independence Grove, in Libertyville: Gather in the Grove! For those of you who attended our first annual picnic, this one is decidedly different. This is a welcome reception for two new players in the field of economic development: Warren Ribley, who was just appointed as Director of the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (IL DCEO), and Dr. Jerry Weber, who just assumed the presidency at the College of Lake County.

It’s still a picnic and it’s still in the beautiful natural surroundings of Independence Grove, but this is a great opportunity to come out and meet our newest partners. It’s also a great opportunity to come out and reconnect with your fellow investors, business leaders and elected officials.

This event is complimentary for LCP investors and invited guests; feel free to bring your spouse or significant others! RSVP by June 1st to Rita Lumadue at rlumadue@lakecountypartners.com  or via phone at (847) 247-0137.

I hope to see you all there!

Lake County Partners and the Illinois Small Business Development Center hosted the Lake County Lenders Forum on May 6th, at the the College of Lake County’s Southlake Campus in Vernon Hills, IL. The forum is an annual event designed for commercial lenders in Lake County to learn more about government financing programs that are available to them.

Speakers at the forum included Jan Bauer, Illinois Small Business Development Center Director; Steve Konkle, Lender Relations for the SBA, Frank Brisbois, Interim President/Vice President of Commercial Lending for Lake County Partners; John Nevel, representing The SBA United States Export Assistance Center; and Stan Luboff of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

This year’s forum was attended by twenty-seven bankers representing seventeen separate Lake County financial institutions. This is an increase over last year’s attendance with increased intereste due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The new legislation has resulted in a number of changes and updates that have made SBA’s loan products more effective incentives. This includes a reduction in fees for applicants and higher SBA guaranty rates that are meant to thaw the credit markets and stimulate lending to small and medium size businesses. To review the changes to the SBA loan program, click here and visit our website for more information.

Thanks to the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the SBA’s decision to forgo application fees, Lake County Partners is seeing an increase in SBA 504 Debenture Program Activity already this year. The SBA 504 Program has made significant fee reductions, making the program more affordable and attractive to small businesses and Lake County companies are taking advantage!

So far this year, SBA loans that have funded with LCP assistance amount to a total of over $2 million in total project costs with another $11 million expected to fund this summer. The LCP/SBA portion of these loans is almost $3.3 million with partner banks providing the bulk of the financing. These projects alone will create or retain almost 60 Lake County jobs.

Another loan for $1.5 million has been approved and there are three more applications pending approval for another $3.4 million in projects. When completed, these four projects will result in another 67 jobs in Lake County.

SBA 504 loan financing is more affordable than ever for small and medium size businesses and we encourage you to contact us to find out more. To discuss your project, please contact Frank Brisbois at (847) 247-0137 or email him at fbrisbois@lakecountypartners.com.  

Lake County Partners is making progress on a couple of initiatives identified as strategic goals by the Board of Governors. The first is the Lake County Healthcare Initiative and Task Force which is examining healthcare worker shortages in Lake County and how we can tackle this issue, collaboratively. To do this, we’ve surveyed local healthcare providers regarding their workforce needs and surveyed local educational institutions (College level and K-12) about their training and student recruiting capacities.

The ultimate goal of this task force is to develop a pipeline of students trained locally for health-related careers and eventually employed at Lake County healthcare providers.

While this is a nationwide concern, the impact of the healthcare industry on Lake County’s economy and quality of life is too great to ignore. We know that we must take action now rather than wait for a national initiative.

A working session for healthcare providers is scheduled for this Thursday and another session for academic institutions is scheduled for the following day on Friday. These sessions will assist each sector in defining immediate and long term needs and capacities to manage local shortages. Anne Edmunds, Regional Director for Manpower and State Senator Susan Garrett are Co-Chairs of this task force and are doing a great job in managing the process.

The other initiative is one focused on undertaking a feasibility study for an “Advanced Science Technology Cluster” marketing approach. Lake County is the center of a corridor of an incredible number of life sciences, advanced manufacturing, financial and professional services companies that thrive on three things: continuous innovation, entrepreneurialism, and a talented workforce. After benchmarking ourselves against a number of areas across the nation, we learned quickly that a more regional approach to collaboration and marketing is needed. So far, the feedback that we have been receiving from potential stakeholders on this concept has been extremely positive. Co-Chairs of this initiative are State Senator Michael Bond and Dr. Michael Welch, President & CEO of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science who are doing a wonderful job of moving this initiative from concept to fruition.

To learn more about these initiatives and how to become involved, contact Beth Dybala, LCP Economic Development Manager, at bdybala@lakecountypartners.com or via phone at (847) 247-0137, ext. 226.

Lake County Partners is pleased to welcome the following new members who’ve joined over the past quarter:

• Deerfield, Bannockburn, Riverwoods Chamber of Commerce - Community Level Investor
• John Buck and Company – Silver Level Sponsor ($10,000+ annual investment)
• Jones Lang LaSalle – Copper Level Sponsor ($1,000+ annual investment)
• Village of Deerfield – Community Level Investor

Thanks to our new members who’ve made commitments to Lake County Partners and to economic development in Lake County.

Attention entrepreneurs! Small Business Success in Lake County is a program that you cannot afford to miss:

• When:  Thursday, June 4, 2009 7:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
• Where:  College of Lake County – Grayslake Campus 19351 West Washington Street Grayslake, Illinois 60030
• Cost: $25: breakfast, speakers, and information sessions (business panel discussion and lunch additional $10)

This all day event brings you brings you the best of business assistance in Lake County including programs through the College of Lake County’s Small Business Development Center, through Lake County Government and, of course, through Lake County Partners. Other speakers will detail workforce development, marketing, municipal and chamber resources available throughout Lake County. Join the Lake County experts and determine which resources you can take advantage of in your journey to success!

To register for this event or for more information, click here:

The Lake County Municipal League and LCP are co-hosting a workshop for newly elected officials from throughout Lake County on Saturday, June 6th, 8:30 am to Noon at the Mundelein Police Department at 221 N. Lake St. in Mundelein.

The goal of the workshop is to educate new officials about the resources that are available to them as they navigate their first few months on the job. The law firm, Ancel Glink, will present information regarding how to handle the Open Meetings Act, internet communications and the Freedom of Information Act. Other topics include working with other elected officials, managing staff, transportation issues and updates on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

All elected officials in Lake County, new and existing, are invited to attend. Costs are $20 for Lake County Municipal League members and $25 for non-members. To RSVP, by May 28th for this event, contact Chris Gentes, Lake County Municipal League’s Director at (847) 270-3126 or via email at lcml@sbcglobal.net.

The British government announced deals last week to purchase 90 million dosages of a vaccine as a precaution against the swine flu from Baxter International and GlaxoSmithKline Plc. The agreements would provide enough vaccines to protect the most vulnerable portions of the British population before a pandemic could arrive.

Baxter and other vaccine makers across the globe are working with the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of a pandemic vaccine supply group to address the need for vaccines in the face of the swine flu.

The Lake Barrington Village Board approved a zoning variation that would allow for a mixed use manufacturing and retail development to be constructed at 22044 N. Pepper Rd. KVM Development LLC has plans to construct a 14,650 sq. ft. building with six commercial store fronts and a 45,952 sq. ft. manufacturing warehouse behind the retail building.

The warehouse is expected to house light manufacturer and industry leader in precision machining, Swiss Automation, which is expanding from its current location at 1020 Northwest Highway.

The Vernon Hills Town Center welcomed its first building, a 5,200 sq. ft. retail building that is housing the first two tenants of that development: Roti Mediterranean Grill and Starbucks.

The mixed use retail and residential development that is being developed by Taxman Corporation and Opus North Corp. is projected to include 60,000 sq. ft. of retail and 263 residential units including townhomes, condominiums and luxury apartments at build out.

The Town Center development is located at is located at the Northwest Corner of US Route 45 and Milwaukee Avenue in Vernon Hills.

• When: June 4, 2009, 10:00 AM; Registraton: 9:30 AM to 10:00 AM
• Where: Baxter Healthcare, One Baxter Parkway, Deerfield, IL 60015

Illinois State Capital Program- What’s Next.  An update and discussion on impacts for highway and transit programs.

Guest speakers:

• Chris Reed, Director, IDOT, Division of Highways
• Steve Schlikman, Executive Director, RTA

Please RSVP to Lynn Stailey at  lynn_stailey@baxter.com  by Monday, June 1, 2009.  For more information regarding this event, please call Lynn at the TMA of Lake Cook office, (847) 948-4024.

Do your or you employees need an educational tune-up?  The College of Lake County’s Workforce and Professional Development Institute (WPDI) is offering an array of new courses and seminars for Summer 2009 that might help. To visit the Workforce and Professional Development Institute’s website, click here.

To see how the Continuing Professional Development Division can help your business or employees, click here. To get more information about the courses and seminars that the WPDI is offering this summer, click here.

It’s hard to believe summer is fast approaching and the year is almost half over already. Time flies when you’re having fun! Don’t forget to get your RSVP in for the Gather in the Grove! Picnic and Networking Event on June 11th.

In the meantime, feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns. I can be reached at fbrisbois@lakecountypartners.com or by phone at (847) 247-0137, ext. 225.

Warm regards,

Frank Brisbois, Interim President