News and Media

Jacksonville has an Enterprise Zone Dedicated to Boosting Economic Growth in the Area

Monday, July 06, 2020

Jacksonville, IL, has an enterprise zone dedicated to boosting economic growth in the area. State and local incentives are available for businesses that are located in Jacksonville. State incentives include several tax exemptions. This includes an exemption on the state utility tax on electricity and natural gas. Local incentives also include tax exemptions as well as other resources for businesses. Jacksonville is perfect for businesses that are looking for a location to build or expand. The Jacksonville Region’s enterprise zone is an opportunity for businesses to succeed and help boost the economy. Click here to learn more about our enterprise zon...

Jacksonville Region Has Exceptional Transportation Options

Monday, June 29, 2020

The Jacksonville Region, located in western Illinois, has exceptional roadway access making it easier for businesses to succeed. Located on I-72, Jacksonville is located near some of the United States' biggest manufacturing cities, including Chicago, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and St. Louis. Jacksonville is just miles away from other major Interstates. Being located by so many major interstates and highways can help businesses who frequently need supplies delivered. It can also help businesses who are shipping out products a lot. Jacksonville also has railway access and a municipal airport. If your business could benefit from these transportation options, click here and lear...

Jacksonville Businesses are at the Heart of Midwest Industry

Monday, June 22, 2020

Jacksonville businesses are at the heart of the American Midwest industry. Jacksonville, IL, is located in the perfect place for businesses who are looking for a convenient location. Jacksonville has the benefit of being located where there is easy roadway access to other major cities. The Jacksonville Region is within one day’s drive of major manufacturing cities Chicago, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and St. Louis. I-72 runs right through Jacksonville and it is in close proximity to several other major Interstates. Jacksonville’s location also makes it easier for customers to find your business. Click here to learn more about Jacksonville’s location an...

Community Profiles of Jacksonville and Its Surrounding Counties

Monday, June 15, 2020

Community profiles of Jacksonville, IL, and its surrounding counties are now available on our website. Jacksonville’s Regional Economic Development Corporation (JREDC) offers site selectors and business owners looking for a new location in-depth demographic information. This is meant to help site selectors get to know the area better and find the right place for their business to be located. Our city and county profiles provide detailed demographic information. This includes up to date demographics on the population, housing & income, the workforce, target industries, educational statistics, and commute information. Click here to view the profiles for Jacksonville and its surrounding counties.

Search Through Available Sites in Jacksonville

Monday, June 08, 2020

Search through available sites in Jacksonville, IL, using our free online LocationOne Real Estate tools. Our LocationOne database allows site selectors and business owners to search through our list of available sites in the area. The online database gives site selectors detailed information on every available site making it easier for them to find the right site for their business needs. This system gives in-depth information on every available site including the address, acreage information, and lease or sale price. Users can also utilize the advanced search options and view a map of available sites. Click here to search available site...

COVID-19 Will Remake How We Work and Live

Monday, June 01, 2020

Generally speaking, everyone resists change. Especially sudden change. But Covid-19 changed all that. Friday rolled around and we were told to grab-your-stuff and go home and no one knew when we would be back. You hear people say, “When things go back to normal…” Well, will things really go back to normal? We’ve learned new techniques, new ways to do things differently when working together digitally. Perhaps we will not return to the old ways. Read full article.

Find Available Buildings in Jacksonville, IL

Monday, June 01, 2020

Find available buildings in Jacksonville, IL, using the LocationOne Real Estate System and find the best property for your business needs! Our LocationOne system offers in-depth information on every available building in Jacksonville. This includes the address, what type of building it is, whether it is for sale or lease, and sale price. The advanced search tool makes it very simple for site selectors to narrow their search to find the right building. This online system makes it easy for site selectors and business owners to make an informed decision on which available building would best fit their business needs. Clic...

Potential Shifts in the Workforce Due to COVID-19

Monday, June 01, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is already causing shifts in the economy and workforce. Other than the obvious loss of employment, some of which will hopefully be temporary, another significant shift in the workforce involves employees in the professional services sector and others forced to work remotely from home. Although companies allowing employees to work remotely was already a growing trend in the United States, the question will be whether this trend continues after COVID-19 is under control. And, if the trend does continue, which is likely, consideration for incentives for home-based or remote employees will also have to be considered fro...

Resiliency of Supply Chains & Post-Pandemic Opportunities for FDI

Monday, June 01, 2020

Disruption of supply chains and the prospects of reshoring to the U.S. are not unique to the spread of the coronavirus and related pandemic. As is well-documented, the development of global supply chains over time has provided cost-competitiveness to many companies. However, as we have witnessed rising offshore wages and operating costs, increased lead times, a lack of consistency in product quality, and a move toward more protectionist trade policies, many of our clients have for some time been assessing these mounting global supply chain risks vis-à-vis any cost-competitiveness that they once produced. The COVID-19 disruption will accelerate these analyse...

Search Employment Opportunities in Jacksonville!

Monday, May 25, 2020

Search employment opportunities in Jacksonville, IL, and find a job that’s right for you! Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation’s (JREDC) website features a list of the current job openings in the region. Sift through our current job openings by publishing date, title, company name, or category. We also offer a featured list of job openings in the area. Every job listed tells you if the job is full-time or part-time, what type of pay and compensation the job offers, level of education needed, and where the job is located. Click here to learn more about the employment opportunities in Jacksonville!

Your Online Source for Jacksonville Economic Development News is Here!

Monday, May 18, 2020

Jacksonville’s new website is your online source for economic development news! Whether you are a local business owner, resident, or someone looking to move your business to the area it is always important to stay up to date. This is why the Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation (JREDC) has designated a special page on our website dedicated to the Jacksonville Region’s economic development news. The JREDC is dedicated to helping the Jacksonville region thrive. Part of helping this community succeed is by keeping people informed on what is going on in the community. This is especially true for local businesses wh...

3 Fundamentals for Building a Resilient Supply Chain

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

The global health crisis has exposed widespread vulnerabilities in supply chains. Although toilet paper shortages have become the most talked-about issue, long-term demand and supply shock ripples caused by this crisis will likely be felt for much longer as production delays at impacted sites, material shortages and scarcity of logistics come to light. It’s no surprise that many companies have relied on old habits to navigate out of the crisis. But solely relying on comfortable tools like spreadsheets, emails and conference calls can add undue delay to a team’s ability to resolve issues at a time when speed is critically important. Organizations have to accept that "crisis mode" is going t...

5 Ways Restaurant Owners Can Prepare for Reopening

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

In early May, many states began loosening restrictions on business operations. In California, for example, Governor Newsom announced that bookstores, music stores, toy stores, florists and some other retailers could reopen for pickup service. While restaurants were not a part of this first wave of reopenings, if all goes well, we could see them open their doors for seating in the next few weeks. Many eateries are operating on pickup or delivery service at the moment, but in order to truly reopen, restaurant managers will need to figure out how to handle a crowd of customers in a time of continued caution and social distancing. It’s no easy task, but in anticipatio...

Heroes Unmasked: For Jacksonville grocery manager Mulquin, safety is the key

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Chris Mulquin has been employed at County Market in Jacksonville for almost 22 years as part of a career spent, in some form, in a grocery-store setting. Still, nothing that came before was ever quite the challenge that the COVID-19 pandemic has been, he said. “We’re trying to keep everyone safe,” Mulquin said. A typical day for the County Market manager runs eight, nine, even 10 hours, he said. Read full article.

Hope of renewed life emerges for shuttered Meredosia power plant

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

A shuttered coal-fired power plant with a turbulent history in Morgan County is in the early phases of seeing potential new life. Environmental Liability Transfer acquired Meredosia Power Plant in November from Ameren Energy. The firm’s affiliate, St. Louis-based real estate acquisition and development company Commercial Development Co., is working on re-mediating and re-purposing the plant. Commercial Development Co. is expecting a two-year time frame for the site. Read full article.

Follow Jacksonville News by Following Our Social Media!

Monday, May 11, 2020

Follow us on social media and stay up to date on Jacksonville news. Jacksonville is a thriving town in the heart of Illinois which is a great place to live and work. Here at the Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation (JREDC) like to keep people informed about what is going on in the community. This can be news about local businesses, events going on around town, and other local news. These social media platforms are also a great way to connect and stay connected with other people in the Jacksonville community. Click here to go to the JREDC website and follo...

Become an Investor for the Jacksonville Region and Help Local Businesses Succeed

Monday, May 04, 2020

Become an investor for the Jacksonville Region and help local businesses succeed. The Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation (JREDC) is focused on job creation in the Jacksonville area. The JREDC is looking for investors to help local businesses and boost the economy. You can view a list of our current investors here. Why invest in Jacksonville? We all know that more businesses and more jobs allow everyone in the community to succeed. When you invest in Jacksonville you are increasing your revenue and customer base. When you invest in Jacksonville everyone wins! Click here to learn more about how you ca...

An entrepreneur’s guide to long-term marketing strategies amid COVID-19

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

While lowering the cost to human life remains of utmost importance during the COVID-19 outbreak, the virus is also fiercely impacting businesses across the globe. In the United States 17 million people, 10% of the workforce, filed for unemployment in a three-week period, and the OECD projects world GDP growth will fall to 2.4% in 2020. Lacking the deep pockets and credit lines that more established corporations can fall back on during times of economic disruption, the startup community will surely be jarred by the rocky economic road ahead. Read full article.

5 Tips To Write An Email Customers Will Actually Open During A Crisis

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Customer communication during COVID-19 is critical. Important information about changes to the customer experience, policy changes, and safety tips are often best communicated to customers in email. Today people are home, and they are connected on their desktop computers, tablets and mobile devices more than ever. More than half of Americans check their personal email more than 10 times a day. Email marketing has also been linked to a high ROI, increased sales and improved customer retention. But at the same time, email across all industries has just a 17.8% open rate - and that is even high in some industries. By 2021 nearly 32...

Ten Things We Need To Know About Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities (CARES) Act, a $2.3 trillion relief package designed to help individuals and businesses weather the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The headliner of the CARES Act was the creation of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a new loan package designed to put $350 billion into the hands of small businesses for use in paying employee wages and other critical expenses over the coming weeks and months. As of the morning of April 15th, nearly $250 billion in cash had made its way t...

Redesign required: Principles for reimagining federal rural policy in the COVID-19 era

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The COVID-19 crisis is testing America’s resilience. The rapidly accelerating economic fallout makes concrete the risks for a national economy built on the success of just a few key economic centers. When the nation turns to the work of recovery, our goal must be to expand the number and breadth of healthy communities, jump-starting a more equitable and diverse landscape of resilient local and regional economies. The relief funds already allocated and being contemplated by Congress must be designed to enable every community to thrive. This includes rural and tribal places—and will require a reimagining of the federal policies intended to support them. Early analyses indicate that COVID-1...

Could a Massive Rebuild be the Road to Economic Expansion?

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Infrastructure being a key component of economic development, Illinois has launched a $45 billion, multi-year program to upgrade its roads, bridges, railways, schools and other state-owned facilities. “Rebuild Illinois” is a pet project of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who says the program also will put some 540,000 people to work, making it what he calls “a job creation plan the likes of which our state has never seen.” The sprawling initiative was approved with unusual bi-partisan support by the notoriously combative Illinois legislature. It’s the state’s first capital spending plan in a decade. Read full article.

Banding together for the common good of our community

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Our community, our state, our nation and our world have been forever changed in a short time due to COVID-19. As I write this article, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced a stay-at-home order for the 13 million residents of the State of Illinois. Locally, this last week has been difficult for most of us as we struggle to understand how to handle new and uncomfortable restraints associated with educating our children, socializing with our family and friends, eating our meals, completing our work and so much more. For some, it may be hard to reconcile the loss of local business due t...

Front Line: New DOT Focus on Rural Development

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Last October U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced a new initiative focusing on transportation and related development challenges in rural areas. The new effort was called ROUTES — Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success. ROUTES will build on two successful DOT discretionary grant programs, now called BUILD and INFRA (previously known as TIGER and FASTLANE, respectively). BUILD supports varied projects. INFRA has a freight focus. Many rural communities, of course, have successfully competed for these grants. It’s DOT’s concern, however, that these individual successes don’t provide the far-reaching leverage necessary to deliver benefits across vast rural areas...

In Focus: Taking Steps to Fill Your Company’s Talent Pipeline

Thursday, March 19, 2020

It’s no secret the manufacturing and construction industries are facing a shortage of workers at every level. To build a talent pipeline, manufacturing and construction companies need to embrace the challenge, dedicate resources, and invest in programs to change the future. Building a solid talent pipeline requires a multifaceted approach that addresses internal and external factors of your organization. One set of strategies is applicable to positions in management or other high-skill careers. Companies should establish programs to engage at the university and technical college levels by presenting to classes, sponsoring student competitions and organizations, developing internship programs, and recruiting o...

Light industrial is all the rage for e-commerce.

Thursday, March 19, 2020

As an industrial real estate broker in one of the country’s hottest submarkets, Patrick Turner sensed opportunity when he heard a news report announcing the closure of a national-brand bakery complex near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. “A light went off in my head,” says Turner, a vice president in the Rosemont, Illinois, office of Colliers International. “When you’re talking about urban infill, you can’t just go out and find 10 acres [4 hectares] anywhere around the airport. It just doesn’t happen.” Click here to read full article.

The Evolution of Facility Design

Thursday, March 19, 2020

When looking to build a new facility or renovate an existing one, manufacturing leaders need to consider several factors for the best return on investment. In the past, operational efficiency was often the most prominent, if not the only consideration. But today, the physical characteristics of a manufacturing facility must now deliver beyond operational excellence. The building or campus’ presence must now also serve as a recruiting tool, a reinforcement of brand, a testament to the company’s mission and values — not to mention, contributing to the overall aesthetic of the community to ensure government and neighborhood support. Click here t...

What Should High-Growth Companies Look for in a Community?

Thursday, March 19, 2020

I’ll start off by stating the obvious…you’re reading this article because you understand the importance of selecting the optimal business location. I believe this to be true across the board, regardless of industry sector, company size, facility type (i.e. headquarters, distribution center, etc.) or other factors. But perhaps it is most important to entrepreneurs and high-growth startup companies (herein referred to collectively as entrepreneurial companies). While companies listed on the Fortune 500 list may initially come to mind when thinking about corporate site selection projects, entrepreneurial companies have increasingly begun to recognize the value of utilizing a systematic evaluation proces...

JREDC: Building on last year's success with increased opportunities

Monday, March 02, 2020

The Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corp. recently hosted our annual meeting with investors and allies as our invited guests. The event allowed our organization the opportunity to recognize two Jacksonville businesses that are actively increasing the economic strength of our region: Reynolds Consumer Products and Cedarhurst Senior Living of Jacksonville. It is forward-thinking businesses like these that provide good-paying jobs for our region and increase the tax base to maintain and improve infrastructure at the local and county levels. Our efforts were guided by JREDC’s five-year regional plan, adopted by the board of directors in 2018. In addition, the executive board outline...

JREDC and Partners Submit Video to HGTV's "Hometown Takeover"

Tuesday, February 04, 2020

In collaboration with the Jacksonville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce and Jacksonville Main Street, the Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation recently submitted a video to HGTV's "Hometown Takeover" renovation contest. Ben and Erin Napier of the hit series "Home Town" will hit the road to help a community under 40,000 revitalize their aspects of their town. The four local organizations banded together to submit Jacksonville as a worthy community that would greatly benefit from the renovation of historic homes and businesses.

Morgan County Prepares For Federal Census

Monday, January 13, 2020

In Mid-March, homes across the country will begin receiving invitations to complete the 2020 Census. Local leaders in the City of Jacksonville and Morgan County have already begun preparations to capture as much of the population of the county as possible to ensure that the county receives the maximum amount of federal grant money driven by population numbers and to try to stymie the loss of a U.S. Congressional seat. Kristen Jamison of the Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation says that people should not worry about their information being stolen or compromised during the federal census because it is protected unde...

Resolve to be counted in the 2020 Census

Sunday, January 12, 2020

As we were busy celebrating the end of 2019 and making resolutions for the new year, the U.S. Census Bureau released its estimation that Illinois has lost more than 51,000 people in the past year — or 0.4% of its population — because of declining birth rates and out-migration. This is the sixth straight year the bureau has reported a population loss in the Land of Lincoln. As the state’s population decreases, its political and economic power erodes, as well. Click here for the complete article.

Where you spend your money matters

Thursday, January 09, 2020

The holiday shopping season is officially upon us, and this is the perfect time to remind readers that shopping locally greatly impacts our community. While the convenience and price comparison options of online shopping are enticing, let’s consider how we can strengthen our local economy when choosing gifts for our family and friends this year. Click here for the complete article.

Identifying available, skilled workers crucial to community’s future

Thursday, December 12, 2019

The mission of the Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corp. (JREDC) has remained the same since its inception as the Jacksonville Area Industrial Corp. in 1964: to create, expand, recruit and retain job opportunities for Morgan County. Today, the JREDC Board of Directors and staff are dedicated to continuing this mission through business attraction and business creation initiatives, retention and expansion of current industry and development of our workforce in both Morgan and Scott counties. To achieve this work critical to the health of our regional economy, JREDC’s Board of Directors adopted a five-year Regional Economic Development Plan in 2018, identifying seven goal...

Your Online Source for Jacksonville Economic Development News is Here!

Monday, May 18, 2020

News and Media

Jacksonville Fast Facts