NEWSLETTER - NEWS

Entrepreneurship Center Awards Announced

Five area business ventures will receive grants to assist them in achieving significant milestones for their new ventures from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's (DCEO) Entrepreneurship Center program.

Incubator Funding Received

Governor Rod Blagojevich visited Peoria on June 10, 2005 to deliver $1.2 million for the PeoriaNext Innovation Center, a 38,000 square foot incubator for technology businesses. The incubator will be located in the 800 block of West Main Street on the site of the former AAMCO building which was demolished in February. "By supporting Peoria NEXT, we're bringing some of the region's most promising talent together under one roof and backing it with the resources and services needed to develop innovative, young businesses into market successes, fueling more vigorous economic growth throughout the area," Gov. Blagojevich said. The State of Illinois has promised a total of $4.5 million for the incubator project.

TCE Quarterly Highlights

For the quarter ending 6/30/2005, the Illinois Entrepreneurship Network in the North Central Region, which includes the Turner Center for Entrepreneurship, served 372 clients resulting in 23 new ventures, over $33 million in new sales (domestic, foreign, and government contracts), with 431 new jobs created and 3,440 jobs retained. The North Central Region includes DeWitt, Fulton, Livingston, Marshall, Mason, McLean, Peoria, Stark, Tazewell and Woodford counties.