Illinois Governor Visits Koreatown Business Center Opening In Chicago

how are you sir you're looking well thanks for coming good afternoon um good afternoon all right welcome welcome to the to the will group well welcome to not north lawndale my name is steve davis and i am the founder of the will group we're a company that have been in business for 35 years uh it's named after my father who was a humble man my hero who who lived a very simple life but was the most profound and wise man that i ever met we have been in the electrical distribution electrical business for many years and with the help of what i call a true public-private partnership we were able to work with the city of chicago former mayor rahm emanuel and our current mayor lori lightfoot and her staff to take land that had not been on the tax rolls for nearly 35 years see where i come we we believe that relationships plus transactions equal transformation and when you have relationships with people like the governor's office that are interested in doing great things for a community great things can happen we often ask what can come good out of the west side of chicago i can tell you a lot of great things are happening i can tell you that nearly three three quarters of a million light fixtures have been built on the west side of chicago multi-million dollars worth of capacitor banks have been built on the west side of chicago and we're grateful i think sometimes we we discount and we think that that people that live in in poor communities that as a result of their beliefs or maybe their morality and i can tell you nothing could be further for the truth because i found this community to embrace us to love us and support us and what i want to do is be very intentional about creating as many jobs as we possibly can to give people hope to pay them above minimum wage with health care and retirement benefits now this not would not be possible without the help of governor pritzker's office the ceo we were struggling we were really struggling and i i know i have to be quick sloan but give me a couple of minutes here you know we we had to land we've had some environmental remediation issues we were looking at some other sites that would have been much less but we are committed to the west side and because of the the dco grant we were able to roll the dice and take a chance we were able to work with customers and partners like the city chicago like commonwealth edison light gin fair and bring jobs here and because of that we now stand in this facility that is phase one of a 20 million dollar what i believe transformational uh project right here on the west side so we're grateful i can't tell you enough governor how thankful we are for you and the lieutenant governor for your support alderman scott there are so many people that are customers and and i can't call everybody because i would forget so charge that to my mind and not my heart because i am so grateful for all the work that's been done to make this happen here my dad always taught me you have a moral obligation to repay a moral obligation to repay those of us that are able to do a little bit you're going to really be happy when you can fulfill that moral obligation to repay some of the things i've been able to do the governor's put me on on the tollway board and i chair the dni committee i i chair the committee at dupage airport we have a program called tuskegee next and you will see some bright beautiful children young people who came together now they're flying airplanes you will get on a united or american or delta flight and you will see one of our kids flying airplanes and this is all because of the public-private partnerships and us all coming together to do good things so governor with that i want to thank you and thank you and thank you we are humbled that you would be here we know that we have struggled we've all struggled doing doing the pandemic with covey and please everyone get your shots please everyone get your shot be careful be safe but thank you governor for picking this as one of the first places you would come and help us celebrate thank you thank you well thank you very much stephen and i want to tell you how great it is to be here with the will group family in celebrating this next step for your organization yours is a company that consciously invests in our communities and the city of chicago and the state of illinois is better for it i also want to recognize the other leaders here who are joining us to celebrate this moment lieutenant governor juliana stratton dceo acting director sylvia garcia representative omar williams alderman michael scott deputy mayor samir mayakar mark denzler of the illinois manufacturers association all of whom have come out to join us to join all of you today in celebrating k-town i want to welcome former mayor rahm emanuel who stands with us who had the vision on this effort when a few others did and worked tirelessly with stephen davis and with his company to bring to life what you see and to remove obstacles for its successes they imagined a manufacturing facility where ex-offenders could get good jobs working on projects that improve the community and in this case upgrading streetlights throughout the city the state of illinois is very proud to build on that partnership and i know that stephen and his family will continue their commitment to inclusive growth addressing climate change and standing as a beacon on the west side moments like these are important to celebrate where the will group is establishing yet another footprint creating a hundred local jobs employing folks re-entering the workforce from prison and spurring additional economic development here in north lawndale and this makes me proud to have established the office of minority economic empowerment capital grant program in my first year in office in order to create an illinois where economic opportunity abounds for all of our residents we have to take real action to address the obstacles holding us back in our state and across our nation black and brown owned businesses have too often been cut out of key resources for building and growing a business if you can't get your business started or grow it you can't compete and thus cycles of equity gaps are allowed to continue in illinois we're beginning to put an end to those long-standing harms our ome grant program exists to equip more minority-owned businesses with resources to grow or to establish their enterprises last year i'm proud to say that we delivered over 11 million dollars to 31 organizations like the will group across the state opening the door for a ripple effect of new investments and jobs and today i'm proud to announce that my administration will be opening another round of ome capital grant applications these are new investments in under-resourced communities made possible by the truly transformational rebuild illinois capital program crucially our commitment to equity expands beyond the scope of just this program with efforts established across my administration that includes the billions of dollars of economic relief that we're directing to programs such as our back to business grants workforce recovery efforts youth employment programs violence prevention affordable housing impacted industry grants capital investments and so many other efforts leveraging our portion of the federal arpa funds to build a strong and inclusive recovery from this pandemic induced economic crisis and there's yet more work to be done in short the impact that we are so proudly celebrating today is not an end in and of itself but another milestone on the journey toward the illinois that we're trying to build the illinois our residents truly deserve so thank you and with that i'd like to turn it over to my esteemed colleague and my partner in governance lieutenant governor juliana stratton good afternoon everyone and thank you governor pritzker for that kind introduction and for leadership that is centered on lifting up illinoisians throughout our state it is always an honor to stand with you thank you steve for your visionary leadership as chairman and founder of the will group every day the will group honors your father and it's an example of how we can use family values to build a legacy of hard work and excellence that helps others and uplifts entire communities and in fact thank you to the entire team at the will group and the site crews for adjusting your schedules in order to host us today in this magnificent facility it's great to be here today with so many advocates community leaders and elected officials as the governor has already acknowledged everyone in the interest of time i'll just say thank you all for your vision and your passion for west side communities we are so grateful for your partnership as we build a stronger illinois everyone just take a moment to look around you this is what success looks like this is what opportunity looks like this is what faith looks like this facility is more than beams and walls more than brick and mortar it is a facility of dreams of what is possible the k-town center proves that great things can be accomplished when there is access to resources and when ingenuity and excellence are allowed to meet equity and opportunity sadly this does not always happen in our communities in this country bipark owned businesses have often faced race-based barriers and inequities and have been cut out of the process for far too long when it comes to raising capital and having access to resources in fact according to data from the federal reserve 80 percent of white business owners received at least some of the funding they've requested from banks while only 66 percent of those owned businesses owned by people of color have received such funding and for the loans that were granted white owned companies not only received more funds but they also paid lower interest rates on those loans this is unacceptable and it only perpetuates the existing disparities and serves as a barrier to real economic development and growth especially in communities like north lawndale so our administration as the governor spoke about is laser focused on closing in equity gaps and eliminating barriers to economic empowerment in our most under-resourced communities and that's why it's exciting to be here today in k-town this facility is named for the historic k-town district in north lawndale where it will live and continue to thrive whether kessie or kosner as you all know k-town was a destination for blacks during the great migration from the south when our ancestors headed north in search of safety more opportunities and a better life for their families but then during the sixties our thriving businesses were destroyed after the assassination of dr king and never fully recovered but residents who love this community and all of us really who love this city in our state never gave up and now we're seeing the change and the growth and this k-town center is a beautiful symbol of that resilience this manufacturing venture exemplifies resources at work and creates a great opportunity for those on the west side in west side communities so yes it's about jobs yes it's about manufacturing but it is also about bringing dignity back to workers and changing the trajectory of families and communities for generations to come this is only the beginning and i look forward to working with governor pritzker lawmakers community advocates business leaders and others to make illinois a model for the nation when it comes to economic inclusion and now it is my honor to introduce the acting director of the illinois department of commerce and economic opportunity sylvia garcia [Applause] thank you for that introduction lieutenant governor stratton good afternoon everyone my name is sylvia garcia the acting director of the illinois department of commerce and economic opportunity or dceo i'm excited to be here with all of you in north lawndale as we celebrate not only this win for the community but for the entire state a special congratulations to steven jessica and the entire team at the world group on this important milestone and achievement looking around it you can see how this has risen out of the community and really will have a great impact going forward governor pritzker and the state of illinois were proud to make an investment in this project through our office of minority economic empowerment grants which provided five hundred thousand dollars in funding to jumpstart work on the impressive new facility as you as you heard from my fellow speakers the k-town business center delivers a major investment for the community and will unlock jobs and economic opportunity to benefit this area for years to come not only that but the new industrial complex being built right here is powering innovation and innovative products which will help fix the l create led fixtures in the city of chicago and a wide range of other products that will increase the reliability of outdoor lighting while increasing safety reducing energy costs and improving quality of life for communities across the city and the state manufacturing is a critical part of our economy and when you take a look at what the will group has built in north lawndale you can see the real impact it's having on the community this k-town project exemplifies illinois commitment to investing in economic development and doing it in an equitable and inclusive way in a way that supports growth for small business and residents alike at dceo we hear time and time again from small owned black and brown owned businesses not only is it difficult to start a business but how hard it is to access capital to grow and expand as you as you move along and we know that the inequities that the communities of color face have only been exacerbated under the during the cove 19 pandemic under the governor and lieutenant governor's leadership we are working to change that to address the disparities communities of color face and accessing cal capital and having programs like this one that make huge investments in communities this this k-town investment is one of their along with 30 other projects across the state is critical to reducing that capital access gap each project funded supports jobs economic activity and tax revenue for the community this type of economic boost couldn't be more important than it is right now and because we know that some have been hit significantly harder than others we're working to provide targeted support to ensure a level playing field for all businesses regardless of size type or zip code as the governor mentioned we're we're using that equity lines as we deploy economic relief programs as part of the fiscal 2022 budget which includes 450 million dollars that will be overseen by the department of commerce and economic economic opportunity and as well we'll be announcing another round of funds later this year for this program itself so we we look forward to supporting the success of the k-town investments and the will group as we go forward and helping the other 31 or other 30 omi grantees as they work to achieve the next level with that i'd like to turn it over to one of k-town and north lawndale's biggest advocates alderman michael scott thank you so much good afternoon everybody good afternoon uh i am so happy to host all of you here in north lawndale today um you know this story started i think in earnest about three years ago um and we were in city council and uh steve being the advocate that he is you know came up to me and said hey you know we can supply all of the lights for the city of chicago uh which i i truly believe that he could um but but what happened there was was more of a friendship uh and he said hey come show me some things in your ward let me figure out how i can be helpful and so we drove around this community uh ended up on this piece of land and he said hey look i want to bring and build my company right here in north lawndale right here in this community i want to put hundreds of people in your community to work and how could you not smile and love something like that right somebody who does not have to does not owe us anything uh sees the need and and wants to do that um the story kind of fast forwards a little bit later uh and and the former mayor who is also a good friend of mine uh i took josh and jessica to him and i said hey look um they don't want anything they just want to buy some land from us and they want to build a business here um and and and him being uh the champion for the west side that he's always been uh what you don't know is is uh ron was was raised over here on on the uh west side i'll tell you that story another day um another day another day another day right we won't get in that today um and and so you know i took that to josh and jessica to him and he said hey i love this idea how can we make that happen and and we started and before he left office we broke ground on here and now we fast forward uh to this administration uh and the commitment from the leicester administration to make sure that this is something that is going to work not only for k-town but for the city of chicago and and what i didn't know is uh we have partners on the state who feel the same way and so i want to also thank the pritzker administration for stepping up in a major way to make sure that you know when we invest in communities like this it doesn't go away uh it is important to for us to invest in black businesses that are going to do just the right thing for black communities in in our city and so thank you to everybody around on this table i'm going to bring to you somebody who is a partner in good government with me somebody who from the day that he got in office kind of hit the ground running this is his district he is a great friend of mine and will be a great friend of the will group representative williams good evening everyone um thank you alderman scott that's that was a great introduction um thank you steven the willis group thank you all for being here i hope you all i wish you all much success hope you continue to grow hope you build your building across the street and i'm glad you're here i really do because what this does is it brings other investors and other community organizations say hey london is a great area they got great employees they want to keep growing and keep going i like the slogan that says the will is a way one of the great things i'm always about is when you give people of color an opportunity especially to get people young men and young ladies who had problems in the past opportunities the the to live in the future you know because so many times people they label you with a f on your background they don't necessarily see the person they don't necessarily see the case of why you got the elf you know sometimes people get elsewhere just being in the wrong place being with the wrong people so i want to thank you for giving i don't like to call them mexicans i like to say people who had previous records in their life a second chance second opportunity and i also want to encourage you all who aren't employed here to buy in the london area there's some beautiful great stones here please you know it how great would how great would it be to be like they live in the suburbs where you got a five and ten minute commute from your house to your employee so there's a will there's a way make that possible your way and thank you all good afternoon everyone my name is samir mayakar i'm proud to be deputy mayor of economic and neighborhood development for the city of chicago and i bring greetings from mayor lightfoot and i have to say it's an exciting day here on the west side because just a few hours ago we were with alderman scott and we announced an initiative where we were groundbreaking 250 homes that will be built on vacant lots here in the north lawndale community [Applause] an element's got no we're going to get it to a thousand so should have done that this morning and then to be standing here today i'm not just saying this because i'm a former manufacturing guy but in this facility and to see the jobs that are going to be created here you think about the jobs this facility and the homes in north lawndale these are the keys to economic recovery now let me tell you about economic recovery here in the state of illinois and in the city of chicago let me give you some statistics first we have the lowest unemployment rate here in the chicagoland region out of the top four cities in the country second we have the highest amount of consumer spending growth of the top 20 cities in the in the country since the pandemic started third we have the highest adult vaccination rate of any major city and we've been able to do that while vaccinating a higher percentage of our black and brown residents than any other major city and then finally thanks to our partners in the community the business sector and the nonprofit sector the city of chicago published the first comprehensive economic recovery plan of any american city as to how we get out of covet and at the center of that plan was focusing on manufacturing and making sure that the environment for black and brown businesses improves and we are a model here in the city and you've heard that from the other speakers so i can't think of a more appropriate place to be as we think about a model for recovery than right here today and the city of chicago stands ready and is proud to partner with the will group so that we can continue this growth so thank you very much and i now will turn it back over to the [Applause] governor are you ready whenever you're ready hopefully so before i take questions from the media i want to take a moment to address the ongoing covid19 pandemic and the urgency of vaccination here in illinois illinois's access to and utilization of vaccines has allowed us to remove our capacity restrictions in phase five of the restore illinois plan that's incredible progress that has delivered many of our residents great hope but it's imperative that we remember that this doesn't mean that the pandemic is over around the world and here in illinois this virus is very much present infecting people hospitalizing some and tragically killing others every day israel which has led the world in vaccinations has reinstated its indoor mass mandate and other mitigations in light of fully vaccinated adults getting infected with the delta variant additionally they've seen a rise in unvaccinated children under 16 getting infected with covid19 so let me reiterate each additional person who gets vaccinated and here in illinois we're still averaging thousands of first doses a day makes our states our towns our neighborhoods our families that much safer get vaccinated we've surpassed president biden's goal of 70 percent of the eligible population receiving at least a first dose but when you look at our overall population only about 59 percent of the population is partially vaccinated that leaves over 5 million of our neighbors extremely vulnerable with real consequences just this month an outbreak at a central illinois summer camp has led to 85 positive cases among attendees alone and at least one unvaccinated adult has now been hospitalized exemplifying the danger of unvaccinated people not wearing masks indoors idph is working with the cdc to assist in the expanding outbreak and is in the process of identifying the presence of any specific variants in this outbreak already the delta variant that sent israel back into mitigation is a growing presence in illinois we expect it to dominate our cases statewide by the fall the lessons here at home and across the world are a harbinger of what could happen here particularly in low vaccinated areas if we don't see a higher uptake of the vaccine across illinois this is very real i implore all residents if you have friends and family on the fence share with them the life-saving benefits of these free vaccines and encourage them to remain masked until they are fully vaccinated share the facts you can go to idph.illinois.gov and review the vaccination rate of any county in the state to be up to date on the safety of your community and to shift your behavior accordingly it's the best tool that we have to protect one another and now i'd be happy to take questions from members of the media marianne it is just out of an abundance of caution i wanted to wear a mask today you know we have a number of people here and i thought it was appropriate to do so yeah i think i'm trying to you know we're all making judgment calls i think when we leave our home every day i would encourage everybody whether you're vaccinated or not to bring your mask with you you know what the guidelines are across the state of illinois and use your mask accordingly i would say from my own perspective if you're going into a heavily crowded area you don't know if somebody is not vaccinated and so you should just bring your mask with you and keep safe it's a first um well i certainly will talk to idph i know that they're in charge of making the designations of data and so we'll make sure to push them on the question i don't know where that is in process but we'll make sure to get back to you about it yes so as soon as i am able to but i also want to be clear that you know in the early days of the cleanup and taking care of those whose houses their property were damaged not to mention the people who were injured sometimes inappropriate to create a distraction by having a high-level official show up just for a visual tour having said that i was given a visual tour of it although i wasn't there through pictures through video and so on and as you know because i know you called us on the day of the tornado i've been in regular contact with the mayors the state representatives the state senators who cover that area and even talk to one of the business owners in the area we have provided a resource center for every person that lives in the affected areas that provides some of them who are unfortunately without a home right now with some resources including food including direct access to all of our agencies so they can get shelter and anything else that they need so we're looking at you know the the challenge here is we've provided every resource that you would need for whether you had a disaster declaration or not um what we generally look for in a disaster declaration is whether or not we can get reimbursement by the federal government and unfortunately over the last number of years federal governments raised its guidance for how much money you need to have in damages in an area before you can get federal help that number is almost 20 million dollars that's the guideline from the federal government and so we're trying to tally up all of the damage that was done in the area so that we can determine whether we can go to fema and get that community the money that it may need a different topic sure what do you think about the bears in arlington heights and do you think the state could commit funding that's not something we're looking at right now i think obviously there are private business decisions that are being made i've enjoyed many years of seeing the bears at soldier field um and so you know the determination about what will happen to that property is a matter of private concern by the sellers uh and but for me anyway i have you know spent my uh you know adult life going to soldier field to watch the the bears and have enjoyed that and and i you know i hope that i'll be able to continue to do that but again these are private decisions by private uh companies um and i think that the mayor will have much more uh direct input in that than i will what do you want to ask about that specifically there's 660 bills that have been delivered to my desk or will be over the next uh month or so uh and so they're obviously we're looking at each and every one of them even the illinois manufacturers association has recommended vetoing or avian different bills i mention it because the leader is here uh and and there are a number of others so we're looking at every every bill you know the changes that will be made i'll have to consider as i receive those bills the what yeah yeah we're looking at all the options here but you know remember that uh one of the big considerations here is making sure that we have enough child care available many many many women have been put out of work as a result of the pandemic and don't have child care available to them as a result of the need to you know deep mitigate uh covet 19 within those child care facilities so we've been working to expand that in order to help them get back to work listen people who are not working right now want to go back to work so we just need to make it easier for them to do so thank you you

2021-07-01 01:10

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