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Kane County is now accepting nominations for distinguished manufacturing businesses
Kane County Economic Development Partners,
All of us in Kane County have the opportunity to again celebrate our manufacturing businesses by nominating a Kane County awardee for the 2016 Kane County Manufacturer of the Year. This year's winner will be celebrated at the Kane County Board Jobs Committee meeting on Friday, October 14th.
The Kane County winner will also be celebrated at the Making Manufacturing Matter 2016 event on October 6th in Chicago, hosted by the Alliance for Illinois Manufacturing (AIM). The Kane County winner will be responsible for any costs related to the AIM event. More information about the AIM Event can be found at http://www.illinoismanufacturing.org/event/making-manufacturing-matter-2016/
Do you know a manufacturer from your community or organization with:
- A reputation for leadership and involvement in the industry and its supply chain?
- A keen focus on technology and innovations?
- A demonstrated commitment to "pay it forward" to the local community and smaller companies in the manufacturing supply chain?
If yes, please help us by nominating that company! Just include a brief description responsive to the questions above and explain why you are nominating this company.
Nominations for Kane County's 2016 Manufacturing Champion Award should be sent to Chris Toth at tothchris@co.kane.il.us by no later than Tuesday, September 6th, 2016.
Thank you for making Kane County great!
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Join the KCPC to develop a tree canopy cover goal
The urban forest is comprised of all the trees on public and private land across all land uses in Kane County where people live, work and recreate including street trees, forested natural areas and even the trees in residents' backyards. Unfortunately the state of our urban forest needs our help because of intense infestations from invasive insects and plants; low species and age diversity; below average canopy cover; inadequate funding to support their care; and inadequate number of trees in lower income communities.
Why should we care? Because these beautiful creatures of nature provide us with the following benefits:
- Clean pollutants from the air that can cause illnesses like asthma and cancer;
- Clean water in lakes, rivers and groundwater;
- Sequester and store carbon from greenhouse gas emissions;
- Support the economy by increasing property values; reducing energy bills, stormwater flood damage and crime rates;
- Exposure to nature improves immune systems, lowers blood pressure and psychological health;
- Habitat for native birds, mammals and pollinators; and
- Significant aesthetic value, improve property values and contribute to livable communities.
What do we need to do? First we need to increase awareness of our urban forest with elected officials and the general public in order to increase resources.
The Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI), a collaboration of organizations working together to preserve, protect and enhance the urban forest to preserve, protect and enhance our quality of life is developing a tree canopy goal for the Chicago region by county. The Kane County Planning Cooperative is working with the CRTI to develop a tree canopy cover goal for Kane County.
What can you do? Join the KCPC and the CRTI at a workshop to learn about the importance of improving our urban forest by developing a tree canopy cover goal:
Monday, September 19, 2016
9:00 AM to Noon
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Planning publication features Growing for Kane
The American Planning Association recently released a publication acknowledging the growing prominence of the Health Impact Assessment as a planning practitioners tool. The State of Health Impact Assessment in Planning looked at several HIA's across the country, including a case study examining Kane County's Health Impact Assessment completed in 2013. The featured studies were chosen on the basis of their unique attributes including planning topic, decision level, and geographic location.
According to the National Research Council, a Health Impact Assessment is "a systematic process that uses an array of data sources and analytic methods and considers input from stakeholders to determine the potential effects of a proposed policy, plan, program, or project on the health of a population and the distribution of those effects within the population."
The APA's Planning and Community Health Center surveyed 134 HIA's completed across the country and grouped them into one of fourteen subcategories. The Growing for Kane HIA was one of seven completed reports grouped within the Alcohol and Food subcategory.
APA's report recognized three areas where the Growing for Kane HIA demonstrates value added to planning practice: - Strengthened existing collaborative networks
- Revealed strategies to engage decision makers in supporting a new policy/program
- Sparked innovation to advance healthier public policies.
The State of Health Impact Assessment in Planningis available for download through APA's Planning and Community Health Center website. Kane County's Health Impact Assessment is available here.
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Free workshop on sustainable practices for brownfield cleanup
The Cook County Department of Environmental Control and the Kansas State University Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) Program will be hosting a free brownfields workshop on September 18th. This workshop is designed to help communities gain a better understanding of how to use sustainable or "green" practices in the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfield sites, which include abandoned buildings, old gas stations and other potentially contaminated properties that are impeding your communities' future growth.
Who should attend? Local and regional government officials, not-for-profit economic and community development organizations, planners, community members, real-estate professionals, property owners and anyone interested in learning about implementing sustainable practices for brownfield sites.
Details: The workshop will be held Brookfield Zoo on September 15th from 8 AM to 1 PM in the Savannah Room of the Discovery Center (8400 31st St., Brookfield, IL).
Registration: Cost is free (entry to the Zoo is included), parking is free in the south lot, and lunch will be provided, but registration is requested by September 1st at www.ksutab.org/education/workshops.
For more information contact Laura Oakleaf, Cook County CCDEC
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Explore Community Commons
A digital toolkit for collaborating and visualizing data
What if there was a place to collaborate with policy advocates or practitioners working on challenges similar to those faced by your community? What if there was a platform to easily build reports and maps illustrating the vulnerabilities and assets within your community? Well, there is! Community Commons offers a suite of digital tools (including map and report generators) as well as an assortment of policy networks to learn from the successes of community initiatives around the country.
The map generator allows users create custom maps using data sets ranging from the state level all the way down to street level locations. It's as easy as entering a key word or browsing by topic or source. Once you've made a map, you can save it privately to your profile or save and share it with your collaborators and other Commons users.
Researchers have identified that educational attainment and poverty are two factors that can have significant influence when it comes to health. When organizations focus their work on improving these two disparities, health outcomes can improve for everyone. The Vulnerable Populations Footprint tool (VPF) helps identify areas of a community with specific levels of educational attainment and poverty.
To learn more about how Community Commons might aid your community work, visit the website or watch this video to get a quick overview of its capabilities.
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