Community Development

Aging water infrastructure, extreme weather, and pressure from residents for green space and community resilience are bringing about changes to the way cities around the country are thinking about stormwater management. In times past, preferred practices funneled water into pipes underground,...

Streator is a forward thinking city. During the spring of 2019 the city contracted with Illinois Business Consulting, the University of Illinois EDA University Center and the University of Illinois Extension to...

Our partnerships with U of I College of Medicine - Peoria are cross-disciplinary and mutually beneficial. Even though we are both part of the University of Illinois System our partnership is relatively new. Once it started, more and more mutually beneficial opportunities became...

When two more grocery stores closed in 2018 in Southside and East Bluff Peoria neighborhoods, University of Illinois Extension staff joined the team of policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, and activists working to eliminate disparities in equitable access to healthy food. The process to...

There are tremendous opportunities in small town’s historic downtowns. This past fall University of Illinois Extension partnered with a Bradley University marketing class to implement a market analysis that will help Delavan, IL identify business opportunities in their community. Through the...

School of Architecture students worked with City of Peoria’s Innovation Team to begin small changes that will lead to big impacts in one Peoria neighborhood. Improving the livability of our towns and cities commonly starts at the street, block, or building scale. While larger...

During this past summer UIUC School of Architecture graduate student Saloni Sheth, worked with Peoria PlayHouse Childrent’s Museum and University of Illinois Extension to consider redesign opportunities for the museum. Seloni’s engagement with Peoria her hometown, came about has as a carryover...

STEAM experts and leaders join forces to better serve our local educators and citizens. In March, University of Illinois Extension, in collaboration with Illinois Informatics Institute and Champaign-Urbana Fab Lab convened a half-day workshop at the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s...