Southern Illinois University Carbondale Office of Economic and Regional Development

Special Projects is a program of the SIUC Office of Economic and Regional Development (OERD) administered by Raymond C. Lenzi, Associate Vice Chancellor for Economic Development. This program develops and implements projects that are outside the ordinary scope of other OERD programs or centers.

A current emphasis is tourism that includes the Southern Illinois Heritage Initiative and development of Fort Defiance Park at Cairo. The OERD Special Projects program has created and now administers a revolving loan fund that loans to technology-based small businesses and that is under the aegis of the Southern Illinois Investment Corporation. This program also provides grant-writing and technical assistance that is customized to meet the needs of communities and organizations in southern Illinois. Current and past projects are described below.

Heritage Initiative. The Southern Illinois Heritage Initiative is intended to obtain a Congressional designation of seventeen southern Illinois counties as a National Heritage Area. OERD has completed a feasibility study and proposal. The findings of the feasibility study are a basis for enacting the legislation needed to obtain federal designation, which will provide up to $10 million in federal matching funds to plan and develop historical sites and assets with tourist-attracting potential over fifteen years.

Cairo Park Development. OERD is developing Cairo's Fort Defiance Park: Confluence of Freedom at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The first construction work is expected to begin in early 2007 as a result of funds provided by the United States Department of Agriculture, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Tourism Bureau, Southernmost Illinois Delta Empowerment Zone, the former Illinois Workforce Advantage program, Southern Illinois Community Foundation, and local foundations.

With the help of an advisory committee, OERD completed a park development plan for the City of Cairo in September 2004; it identifies projects that can transform the park into a national tourist destination site over a ten-year period. Major projects include: upgrading the existing Toll House as a reception center with museum, constructing statues that include General Grant, re-constructing Fort Defiance as it existed during the Civil War, constructing a full-size replica of the U.S.S. Cairo gunboat, and constructing and furbishing a museum building.

The plan proposes that the park, currently owned and operated by the City of Cairo, be designated eventually as a national park operated by the U.S. National Park Service. The plan results from meetings over a three-year period with an area-wide advisory committee and funds provided by the City of Cairo through a Rural Business Opportunity Grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Revolving Loan Fund. Through grant funds provided by the USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant program, OERD established a technology-based small business revolving loan fund that loans money to businesses in Franklin, Jackson, Randolph, Perry, and Williamson Counties. The loan fund is administered by the Southern Illinois Investment Corporation, a private nonprofit corporation controlled by five board directors not employed by OERD.

Special Projects staff provide loan outreach and processing assistance to the corporation. Low interest, subordinated loans are available in the range of $25,000 to $50,000.

Data Centers. OERD operates two data service centers--the Census Center designated and supplied by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Business and Industry Data Center designated by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The Census Center consists of decennial and other data provided by the U.S. Bureau. A library consolidates the data of both centers and includes reports originating in southern Illinois as well as state and national sources.

Consumers of data can call Special Projects. Most socio-economic data can be obtained through the Internet. To find and access the webpage addresses of data sources on the Internet, click on: Internet Data Sources.

Community Assistance Program. OERD offers an array of services to further the development of communities and organizations in southern Illinois. Special Projects staff often team with other OERD staff to provide services that are free or affordable to communities and organizations. Currently, Special Projects staff provide assistance to the Coal Belt Champion Community, north Carbondale Community Outreach Partnership Center, and the Southern Illinois Service Corps of Retired Executives.

Community services are determined by staff meeting with the local sponsoring organization, identifying needs and opportunities, and usually writing a Projects Assessment Report. The Community Assistance Program addresses such areas as community studies, fund-raising, group training, and special studies. To find out how the program can assist your community or organization, call Jim Hanson or Bruce Davis.

Illinois Five Year Strategic Development Program. OERD completed the final year of the Illinois Five Year Strategic Development Program on June 30, 2004. As one of five "university partners" that covered the state, OERD held planning sessions and led implementation efforts in a forty-county area that included the current State of Illinois-designated regions of Southern, Southeastern, and Southwestern. Planning involved "summit" and "key leader" meetings to identify and prioritize economic development projects. In the final year of the program, OERD and its program stakeholders completed implementation projects that included a marketing plan for the Southwestern Region and a marketing guidebook, a list of historic sites with tourism potential and a tourism development guidebook, and a plan for the creation of venture capital fund in southern Illinois and a venture capital fund development handbook.

The newly formed Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity suspended regular program funds for the fifth year ending June 30, 2004, but three research projects were completed. The Data Center project compiled 68 data sources on the Internet that are useful for economic and community development; the sources are catalogued by type of data, the local geo-political unit of the data, and the website address. The Business Retention and Expansion Best Practices project report stated the rationale and uses for business retention/expansion programs; described the program prototype developed by OERD; presented typical purposes, goals and procedures; identified the relationship to industrial cluster programs; and included an exemplary questionnaire and report. The Illinois Website Support project listed state and federal programs that assist economic development; the list included an identification of the organization, brief description of the program, and website addresses (URLs) that link to program websites.

Illinois Workforce Advantage. Starting March 2002 and ending June 2004, OERD administered the Illinois Workforce Advantage program for the counties of Alexander, Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope, Pulaski, and Union. Activities included the awarding of mini-grants totaling $154,000 to 25 recipients, conducting 29 workshops, and providing technical assistance to community-based organizations.