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Community Development

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Moving Toward Transportation Equity: A Case Study

Transportation moves us. Jobs, school, health clinics, grocery stores, recreational facilities, and more would be impossible to get to without adequate service and infrastructure. But history shows that the benefits of transportation have not been distributed equitably, and historically...
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{re}Imagine West Main Sets Stage for Progress

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...
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Winning Opportunities of Service Learning

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...
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Strategic Program Planning to Strengthen STEAM Education

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...
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UIUC Grad Student Research Catalyzes Peoria Food Hub

University of Illinois Extension, Fulton-Mason-Peoria-Tazewell Unit staff worked to facilitate University of Illinois Urbana Champaign School of Architecture’s engagement with City of Peoria and community leaders during two separate semester-long courses. During the Spring 2017 semester, graduate...
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American Planning Association Illinois Chapter Student Award

When first-year Master of Urban Planning student Marcia Klopf began her search for a master's capstone project, she was looking for a project which would combine her interests in historic preservation and urban design. Through Kathie Brown, a University of Illinois Extension Educator for Community...
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Peoria Named Finalist in Play Everywhere Challenge

In July, City of Peoria was selected as a finalist in the Play Everywhere Challenge, a $1 million national competition that will award outside-the-box ideas to make play easy, available, and fun for kids and families in cities across the U.S. The Challenge is hosted by KaBOOM!, a national non-...
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Discover Manufacturing Career Expo 2015

During the annual Discover Manufacturing Expo, over 800 students from 29 area schools are introduced to manufacturing career pathways. This is the second year University of Illinois Extension has engaged with the Greater Peoria EDC's Strategic Manufacturing Group in linking area manufacturers with...
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Washington Historic Commercial Square

Creating a local Historic Commercial district is the focus of a UIUC Department of Urban and Regional Planning Capstone project. Marcia Klop, Graduate Student in Department of Urban and Regional Planning at UIUC is working with University of Illinois Extension, City of Washington Economic Developer...
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Local Food Resource Guide, 2015

Local Food Resource Guide The food we eat has profound impacts on public health, environmental quality, economic development, and land use. Increasingly, activists, analysts, public health practitioners, farmers, consumer advocates, and policy makers agree that finding new...
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Small Business Toolkit - Canton, IL

Taking stock of the community's resources to support entrepreneurship growth and development is a critical element to creating a proactive environment for business development. Local Economic Development Organizations can take proactive approach to assisting existing and prospective business owners...
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Downtown Success Indicators, A Review of the Literature

August, 2014 North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Extension, University of Wisconsin Extension, Iowa State Extension. Maintaining and revitalizing a downtown plays a critical role in overall...
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Downtown Success Indicators

Throughout the Midwest, there are examples of thriving central business districts. University of Illinois Extension in partnership with the University of Illinois Department of Urban and Regional Planning conducted a literature review to identify common strategies and attributes of successful...
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