My Fellow Illinoisans,  

If you ask anyone in our state what they most want to see happen here today and tomorrow, the answer is simple: create more jobs.  

While the experts will tell you that this is a task for the economists in Washington, I don’t think we should just sit back and wait for someone else to solve our problems.  It’s time we address them head-on. It’s time we start taking steps here in Illinois to create jobs and spur growth.   

We recently divided the state into 10 regions, and are creating plans for each that contain tangible, specific actions we can take to make each region more accessible, more marketable, more entrepre­neurial and more attractive to businesses.  

This website is all about our plan to create jobs in each of these ten regions.  The details of our plans are the result of working with local legislators, civic leaders, business and labor leaders – all of whom want to see this state prosper.   

Our plan addresses a wide array of the Illinois’ local needs, including supporting business attraction and development, promoting entrepreneurship and innovation, strengthening education and job training, improving infrastructure and public transportation and investing in agriculture, renewable energy and the environment. 

Our work begins wit the unveiling of plans for each of the ten regions.  It will continue over the next several years, as we make each idea a reality.  To coordinate the work of more than a dozen state agencies and ensure that each idea is implemented as quickly as possible, I am sending a team of people to work and live in each region, and focus solely on making sure that every part of that region’s plan takes effect.   

This work will continue every day throughout my administration. And, if we all work together, we can make great things happen.