History
May 2006
Effingham County Vision 2020xxxx Presents Lou Tice in Effingham May 12th, 2006. A lunch presentation by one of the most respected educators in the world.
February 2006
The Effingham County Vision 2020 group and Lake Land College work out an arrangement where Lake Land College is the coordinator for the various training offerings from Pacific Institute, including the Investment in Excellence (IIE) upon which Vision 2020 is based. Effingham County has it's second IIE training, facilitated by local trained facilitators. 30 people attend.
October 2005
Effingham County Vision 2020 kickoff breakfast held. Approximately 300 people attend to hear about the launch of the project on a county wide basis.
April/May 2005
Investment in Excellence training is held, five major goals are identified, along with eight major areas of interest or "spokes" Graduates of the training volunteer to serve as committee members for the various "spokes" and identify Garnet Hall as an immediate impact project.
February/March 2005
Funding is secured to begin the visioning process and 40 county leaders are identified to attend the first Investment in Excellence training program.
January 2005
EA community breakfast is held to introduce The Pacific Institute (TPI) to community leaders, county mayors and village leaders. The county-wide visioning process is named Effingham County Vision 2020.
October/November 2004
Interviews are conducted with the four finalists. The Pacific Institute (TPI) is selected to lead county residents through the visioning process.
September 2004
Ten proposals are received. Four companies are selected for further interviews.
July 2004
Requests for Proposals to conduct a county-wide visioning process for Effingham County are sent to 13 companies from across the United States.
June 2004
Effingham group attends Community Leader Breakfast in Coles County to hear Laural Manegre of The Pacific Institute (TPI) speak. The group meets Laural for about an hour following her presentation to learn more about TPI and it's services.
January 2004
Sub-committee makes report to business leader group, noting that successful communities studied have gone through a community visioning process. A coalition is formed by the City of Effingham, Effingham County Board, Greater Effingham Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Effingham Civic Foundation and Effingham County Community Foundation to further study an economic development plan for Effingham county.
October 2003
Greater Effingham Chamber of Commerce hosts Business Leader Luncheon with city and county officials to discuss economic development efforts in light of potential closing of Quebecor World plant and resulting job loss. A sub-committee is formed to identify best practices in economic development in Midwest communities.