Champaign Community Coalition 5/9

The Champaign Community Coalition had its monthly meeting yesterday. More information about the organization on the Cheat Sheet here and their website here. A theme that ran through the meeting was about the weather improving with the season and a need to redouble efforts for the violence and crime that comes with it. Police representatives and activists alike pointed to the idle time on people's hands, being outdoors more, and even issues where people want to leave their windows open or using their garages and sheds providing opportunity for theft when left unsupervised. The Champaign Police representative summed it up his advice as "Lock it / Hide it / Keep it."

The Urbana Police representative noted an increase in shootings already from last year, including two since the last meeting. There has been a general uptick in the usual "juvenile shenanigans" such as criminal damage, fights, and so on. There were a few questions about what has been shattering windows on area interstates, but there wasn't any new information other than they're still working on it and to report anything suspicious you see.

The Champaign County chapter of the NAACP had a presentation by their president, Minnie Pearson, about the work they do locally. This ranged from investigating reports of discrimination and work to resolve them under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She highlighted a program to help with dialysis and health care needs in the community. She also highlighted the Afro-Academic Cultural Technological and Scientific Olympics which is a competition involving local high school students that have gone on to be known for their talents in national competition.

She also described some of their anti-bullying work with cyber-bullying, a criminal justice initiative with the Illinois Association of Police Chiefs, and a program to help teach kids how to safely interact with police. The meeting agenda was packed so the presentation went by very quickly. She ended on a note encouraging recruitment, "Don't tell me [the NAACP] doesn't apply to me because I'm white. It's for everyone!"

A representative from the Carle program Healthy Beginnings presented an overview of a program targeting areas of poverty in Champaign-Urbana with targeted health care access programs and support. Notably this support starts at prenatal care as they explained that early life, even prenatal care, circumstances can have long term effects on life outcomes. More from their about page. Here's a quick excerpt:
We believe every parent deserves the resources to build a limitless life for their children and families. By working closely with our community partners, we are building a culture of health, ensuring children and their families, regardless of life circumstances, have an opportunity to be prosperous and live the healthiest life they can.

Services Offered

• Nurse home visiting care/support for pregnant moms & their families (the ONLY home visiting services of its kind in the area with interpreter services)
• Mobile clinic services (Summer 2018)
• Child and family education
• Employment opportunities
• Healthy food access
• Many more being developed with partners!

They are developing a 20 year plan that ranges from individual care through interpersonal, community and organizations all the way to policy towards ensuring access to health care resources. They are currently embedded in the Garden Hills community and hoping to bring in a mobile medical unit and other resources such as education opportunities to the community.

Overall their approach is a holistic community support concept to end cycles of poverty as opposed to just focusing on the medical access issues. For example they highlighted support for the Community School Model that's shown some effectiveness (adopted in Bloomington and recently Rantoul if I heard correctly). They also stressed the importance of dealing with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and encourage folks check out the CDC website on the subject. I've been hearing a lot more focus on trauma related to a lot of community activism lately. That could be a good sign.

After that the Youth Employment Services (YES) program issued a report on 110-115 students or so they've been matching up with 35-40 employers and some progress with adding more via the Chamber of Commerce.

The Urbana Police Department a local student presented a video on educating young students on how to deal with a traffic stop with a cooperative and uncooperative example and discussions afterward. The video employed a local police officer and local high school students for the video simulating the stops. They explained that the key point was to give the same respect you think you deserve. It highlighted the stigma that police face and pointed out that all police aren't the same and all departments aren't the same. The recreations used a white officer and young African-American students, but the stigma of greater concern appeared to be what the officers faced in that situation. The student volunteer said he participated because many of his friends don't know what to do in that situation and he wanted to help.

The Urbana Park District handed out information on free events coming up, including Play Days in the park this summer. The Champaign Community Coalition are enhancing those events with more activities and funding. This will be occurring at the parks considered neighborhood parks more so than the more touristy spots. Similar summer programs will be happening in Champaign, they said.

Urbana is having a Walk, Roll, or Stroll with the Mayors event coming up with both Champaign and Urbana mayors. More info here.

Moms Demand Action highlighted the upcoming June 2nd "wear orange" events and attempts to make June 2nd National Gun Violence Awareness Day. The events will include some of those performances cancelled at the March for our Lives event in March due to a late Central Illinois blizzard.

Tracy Parsons, the facilitator started to wrap up the meeting with a quick summary of upcoming issues:

Next month there will be a new initiative announced for young men struggling with serious life decisions and connecting them with community volunteers. Everyone will be working on eliminating idle time for bad decisions. The Mental Health Board (MHB) is working on summer initiatives. Racial Taboo, a community group discussing racial issues locally as part of a project around the documentary of the same name, is planning a meeting on June 11th 11-1:30 at the Baha'i Center in Champaign.

There was a last minute announcement from Stop the Violence / Increase the Peace that they're working with Lincoln's Challenge this year at Parkland possibly working with cars again for activities.

The meeting ended on a note of hope in spite of the current concerns and need for vigilance over the summer with the violence issue: last year ended with 25% less violence so the work by various groups in the community is helping.

The meeting adjourned at 5:07pm.

Area Job Fair

The Regional Planning Commission is "an intergovernmental membership organization that provides a variety of programming in the areas of regional, environmental and transportation planning; economic, community, and workforce development; social services; early childhood education; and technical assistance in East Central Illinois." They, together with the local chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management will be having a local area job fair in Champaign tomorrow:

Up to 90 employers expected at Chambana Job Fair set for Thursday
Up to 90 area employers are expected to attend the Chambana Job Fair, set for 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Hilton Garden Inn, 1501 S. Neil St., C.

The spring job fair is presented by the Central Illinois Human Resources Group and the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission.

Half-hour workshops are offered all day, with "Helpful Tips for Getting and Keeping the Job" focusing on applications, resumes, interviews and workplace expectations.

There will also be on-site resume writing assistance and printing as well as mock interviews.

The full article is here. The website for the job fair with more information and registration is here.

Kickapoo Rail Trail Funding

The News-Gazette had a blurb on the Kickapoo Rail Trail getting a funding grant today that shows some of the overlap between state and county government bodies, in this case the Champaign County Forest Preserve (More information on the board and board meetings are available at their website here: http://www.ccfpd.org/about/board-meetings). From today's paper:

IDOT awards $225,520 for amenities on Kickapoo Rail Trail
The Illinois Department of Transportation announced Monday that it awarded $225,520 in grant money for amenities on the Kickapoo Rail Trail.

The grant was one of 218 applications throughout the state for IDOT's Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program. The state awarded a total of $35.7 million in grants to 53 projects in 2018.

The money will go toward improving amenities on the 24.5-mile trail. It will be spent within four years, and the Champaign County Forest Preserve District will contribute a funding match of at least 20 percent.

When completed, the rail trail will run from east Urbana to Kickapoo State Park outside of Danville. The first segment, from Urbana to St. Joseph, opened in August 2017.

Defense of Nursing Home Management

Reminder: There is a Special Meeting of the County Board this week where information about the potential buyers of the Nursing Home will be presented. More information at The Week Ahead 5/6 - 5/12.

Cathy Emanuel, a member of the Champaign County Nursing Home advisory board, recently argued in defense of the Nursing Home in light of numerous complaints by proponents of selling the home and a flare up over an emergency funding issue (more on that here: County Board and a Do-over). The full commentary was in Sunday's News-Gazette, but here are some excerpts to get the gist:

Whether or not the sale of the nursing home is ultimately voted to be pursued, I believe the county board made a wise move by reversing itself last week and extending SAK Management Service's contract to continue their operation of the facility until at least July 31, and as a member of the Champaign County Nursing Home Advisory Board, I know SAK stands ready to continue longer if the need exists.

Much information has been shared regarding the historic shortfalls of the nursing home and its current status, and while some anecdotes have been true, other circumstances have been distorted or misrepresented. I have had a front row seat for several years, and since SAK was contracted in July of 2017 when the facility was facing monumental challenges to accomplish its mission, significant progress has been made...

Still, since SAK has assumed management, they have made quality improvements and have replaced temporary staffing with dedicated full-time hires, including 14 quality registered nurses. Related to this, they have greatly reduced the incidences of pressure ulcers, sometimes called bed sores.

When SAK arrived in 2017, there were 42 patients afflicted with this painful condition, but today there are fewer than five. This improvement is a direct testament to our outstanding, committed nursing staff.

SAK has also instituted a new restorative care program so our residents are helped to reach their full physical potential.

The benefit to patients is tremendous, and financially, this elevated level of care has increased our Medicaid reimbursement rate, which can be annualized to $200,000 of additional revenue based on this quarter.

Additionally, our federally assigned star rating is moving upward in all of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services indexes. We have reached the 4-star level in staffing and quality measures on a 5-star scale.

Full commentary here.

Champaign County Farm Bureau Foundation

In this week's Friday on the Farm at the News-Gazette website, Myla Monroe Earth Partners Agriculture Literacy Coordinator for the Champaign County Farm Bureau Foundation (I imagine business cards with small font) explains their outreach to area schools. This includes understanding where their food comes from, but also the technological and scope of agriculture jobs beyond farming itself. They offer scholarships and educational outreach for modern agriculture. As their website states:

When it comes to agriculture, it’s time to think beyond crops. Think business. Think communication. Think mechanics. Think fashion. You may be eligible for a Foundation scholarship...

Local agriculture plays an important role in our daily lives. Our authentic agricultural-based resources bring agriculture into the classroom with the intent of creating a more informed consumer.

For more information check out their website here. For more on their education program here. To check out the News-Gazette Friday on the Farm video (with links to previous episodes) click here or the player image below.

Community Service Center of Northern Champaign County

The News-Gazette published a letter to the editor today noting the recent fundraising by the private non-profit Community Service Center of Northern Champaign County which connects residents in the Rantoul area and Northern Champaign County more generally with services (food and energy assistance, rural transit, etc). That letter below:

For more information about this organization and the services it helps facilitate, check out their website or facebook page.

The Week Ahead 5/6 - 5/12

*** There's a Special Meeting of the County Board with information being presented and Q&A about the potential sale of the Nursing Home. The meeting is this week on Wednesday May 9th at 7pm (agenda here). More on the board's leaning heading towards a possible vote to sell at the end of the month here: Nursing Home Vote Count. ***

Other Events:

Groups that crossover with Racial Justice Task Force recommendations meeting this week:

Champaign Human Relations Commission May 7th at 5:30pm. More information on City of Champaign meeting times here. This commission had previously recommended to the City Council that they remove the exemption to their housing discrimination protections as recommended by the RJTF

Champaign Community Coalition meets Wednesday May 9th from 3:30pm to 5pm at the Champaign Public Library.

Urbana Human Relations Commission meets on May 9th at 5:30pm. More information on Urbana Council Chambers and meeting times here.

Build Programs Not Jails meets Wednesday, May 9th at 7pm at the Independent Media Center.

There may be more news again this week on the RJTF Housing Recommendations.
Here are some of the latest updates: I heard about additional meetings with the Mayor of Champaign with representatives of several local organizations. More on that as I learn more. I also heard about the County ACLU talking about writing letters to their City Council members.

Previous updates: There was a meeting earlier between CU Indivisible and the Mayor of Champaign on the issue (more on that here). The issue also came up at the Housing Authority of Champaign County (more from the Reentry Council meeting last month). And there was the County Board vote (more information and links on the Cheat Sheet here) and a recent Smile Politely article have motivated a lot of ideas towards movement.

County Calendar:

*** There's a Special Meeting of the County Board with information being presented and Q&A about the potential sale of the Nursing Home. The meeting is this week on Wednesday May 9th at 7pm (agenda here). More on the board's leaning heading towards a possible vote to sell at the end of the month here: Nursing Home Vote Count. ***


The week kicks off Monday with the County Executive Transition Committee that is establishing the rules and guidelines for the new County Executive form of government. Previous minutes, handouts, and agendas here (under 2018 meetings - note that the most recent minutes are in the next meeting's agenda packet awaiting approval). These meetings are open to the public and held in the Putnam Room (map).

The Facilities and Environment & Land Use Committee meetings (Tuesday and Thursday, respectively) are both streamed live (link below) if you want to see what that's all about. You can also get a pretty good idea from their respective previous agenda packets that Facilities deals with maintaining the County's facilities throughout and the Environment & Land Use deals with environmental issues and how land is used within the County's jurisdiction.

The Rural Transit Advisory Group deals with issues with rural public transportation in the county. More information including agendas available here. There's a recent quarterly report for anyone who wants to dive into their overview.

The Highway & Transportation Committee meets at the Highway Building and oversees the Highway Department which "bears responsibility for preparing plans, specifications and estimates for County bridges and culverts and supervising construction of same. The Department also supervises the construction and maintenance of all Champaign County highways. In addition, the Department keeps records of contracts, purchases of materials, machinery, etc. and administers the County Motor Fuel Fund, County Bridge Fund, State & Local Bridge Fund and Township Motor Fuel Tax Fund."


The full 2018 schedule is on the Calendar page and the County page. The regular County Board meetings are back to Thursdays until next holiday season.

If you're curious about learning more about how your county government works, it's easy enough to live stream a meeting or go in person: Attend a Meeting.

*Meeting is broadcast live on Comcast Public Access and at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/champco1776

Where is Brookens?

Brookens Administrative Center
1776 East Washington Street
Urbana, Illinois 61802-4581
Phone: 217-384-3772

After 4:30 the Washington Street side Parking Lot is Closed See Maps for the North East Parking Lot Access

CU 1 to 1 Mentoring in the News

CU 1-to-1 had a banquet for graduates that included interviews in the video above. The News-Gazette had a "behind the scenes" introduction to the interviews here. C-U One-to-One Mentoring is the school-based mentoring program of the Champaign Unit 4 and Urbana District #116 Schools. Mentoring is about building relationships of trust between a young person and an adult for the purpose of providing support, encouragement and guidance. From the "Top of the Morning" blurb in the News-Gazette today:

Article web link here. And link to CU 1 to 1 website here. More information and links on their twitter feed here.

County Health Inspections

Many of us read with dread the horror stories from the restaurant health inspections, hoping our favorite spots didn't break our hearts... or guts. The News-Gazette has an article based on a CU-Citizenaccess.org article here. Not recommended for the squeamish. A related article caught my eye, however, and I wanted to highlight it here. Here are some handy and informative excerpts from an example that explains how the food inspection system is structured in Champaign County:

As health inspections change, departments debate enforcement
...
With 1,284 food establishments within Champaign County, the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District conducts between 1,600 and 2,000 inspections every year. But later this year, those inspections will change.

Illinois has adopted the Food and Drug Administration’s most recent update to its Food Code, which was published in 2013, and has required all health departments to adopt the new code...

Initially, health departments were given until July to implement the code, although the state has extended that deadline until January 1, 2019. Champaign is still shooting for the original deadline, Roberts said...

Roberts said the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District and the Champaign County health board will hold a joint study session in late April to discuss how to implement the code.

The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District covers both the Champaign and Cunningham townships, essentially the borders of Champaign-Urbana. The county covers the rest...

Currently, the health district conducts all inspections in the county through an intergovernmental agreement; however, only food establishments within Champaign-Urbana are required to post a color-coded placard denoting the results of a health inspection...

The placard system started in 2014. Food establishments outside of Champaign-Urbana are not required to post the placards, as the Champaign County Board voted down a resolution to do so over worries it would harm business owners.

For a fuller picture of the example and the details, check out the full article here. I narrowed it down to color coded placards for the purposes of seeing how all of the government entities interact, from federal guidance and state regulations down to local intergovernmental interactions.

Reentry Council May Meeting

What is the Reentry Council? This post has a quick overview at the top. In a nutshell, the Champaign County Reentry Council connects people reentering the community from the criminal justice system to the services and support structures they need to succeed individually. That success also translates to less recidivism in the community and better support for families to be safe and successful as well.

Today's meeting followed up on a lot of the topics from the April Meeting (minutes here).  Bruce Barnard was facilitating the meeting. Celeste Blodgett was attending in her new role as Office Support Supervisor for Rosecrance and thanked everyone for their appreciation sent at the last meeting.

Claudia Lennhoff from Champaign County Health Care Consumers discussed the 2018 CCHCC Annual Awards presentation. They will be making a presentation to the Urbana City Council in further recognition of crisis intervention trained officers:

She also highlighted the issues with the Medicaid transition to Medicaid Managed Care. The roll out has left many people auto-enrolled in plan that won't work for them and they are only given one opportunity to change them. She asked that providers and organizations that come across clients with these problems send them to CCHCC so they can help them get on the best plan for their needs.

Mark Driscoll, staff member of the Champaign County Mental Health Board / Developmental Disabilities Board, passed out flyers for the Salvation Army's reentry program for employment and training. Click image to the right to enlarge.

He also talked about a program providing training for inmates at the Champaign County Jail. Our Jail had been the first to open their doors to the program. There was some discussion about presentations on the program for the local Drug Court as well as through CCHCC. I will update with more specifics as I find out more.

In the report on the Jail, there was talk about the limited facility space (and a bit of a flooding calamity for the new staff who managed to make it work in spite of the issue). They said they're seeing all sorts of, what sounded like, positive results, with the additional staff. There was a discussion with the facilitator and CCHCC's Lenhoff about the seriousness of the facility space limitations limiting the ability to deliver services.

In what will certainly raise skepticism among local jail expansion proponents, Lenhoff explained that she believes there is confusion between previous jail expansion plans and the current ones. Previous plans were derided as wanting more cells with less concern on why they should be filled. She explained current expansion ideas are geared towards space to provide services, not in place of services before reaching jail, but to ensure that those who are in that situation have all the necessary service options. "There should be no wrong door" for people to seek services. She explained that sometimes incarceration is the point where services are needed and wanted most.

The jail's numbers when it comes to screening for services were reported as positive. The screenings help determine need and eligibility for inmates so they can get connected to them.

The Crisis Intervention Team Steering Committee was said to have made at least some data collection uniform across the county, which could be very positive for data collection results. I'm not sure if this data would be necessarily related to or helpful to other efforts of data collection locally for criminal justice, but it certainly sounds like an interesting development. For more information on the CIT team and how it operates, check out their webpage on the Urbana website.

There was some discussion about the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program grant money recently released and what sounded like a reference to the proposed coordinating council from the Racial Justice Task Force overarching recommendations:

The Mental Health Board representative noted that the matching funds from their County body would require more detailed information to get moving through the board procedures. Rosecrance's representative offered to help get the information organized and get those details to them by the end of the week.

Mr. Barnard then went over the "Stepping Up" brochure excerpt describing some of Champaign's efforts on mental health and criminal justice collaboration (click to enlarge):

More information on the Stepping Up Initiative and it's goal to reduce the number of mentally ill in our jails at their website. The group is also suggesting a "Day of Action" on or around May 16th to have events informing the public of affiliated programs and opportunities. The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program public presentation at the Champaign Public Library and material from the "Innovator County" recognition press release materials were considered as starting points towards a press conference coordinated with local press. Rosecrance volunteered to help lead in coordinating those efforts.

There was a quick overview of recent letters of support for HACC applying for a reentry housing pilot program, as well as a TASC reentry program. The TASC program focused on women from Decatur corrections to Parole District 3.

They offered me a chance to ask questions, but I hadn't caught up enough to know what to ask yet. I did however offer, since our goal is to inform the public on how their local government works, to do what I can to spread the word and let people know what's happening with all of this. So a full write-up tonight and more updates to follow!

Amazingly they adjourned at 12:39pm. Seemed like we covered a lot in 39 minutes. Maybe it just seemed faster after the data and statistics presentation at the HACC meeting yesterday? Could be.

Housing Authority 4/26 Meeting

Last week the Housing Authority of Champaign County had their Board of Commissioners meeting of the month of April. The meeting's open session was split up on either side of a closed session about a real estate purchase or sale (agenda packet here). Unfortunately I was only able to catch the first half due to time constraints. If I get more information I'll update here, but more than likely it'll just be a link to the minutes from the May meeting packet later this month (link here).

Somehow I had forgotten where the agenda packet links were and kept missing it on the Board of Commissioners page after seeing "coming soon." They're still there. On the PC version of their website they're under "About Us" at the top of the page and then the "Board of Commissioners" button. On the left-hand side there's a link to Documents and they're there for 2017 and 2018. On a phone or handheld device it's under "Menu" -> "About Us" -> "Board of Commissioners" and then "Documents" on the menu. I'm not sure if my confusion is because there aren't links from the meeting information page, or if there used to be links that are now gone there. It could be that I just forgot how I got there.

The new Executive Director, David A. Northern, Sr greeted attendees and the public audience with hallway handshakes on the way into the meeting. Public comment included a thank you from a partner organization on a construction project and then a long line of kids, teachers and staff of the Urbana Neighborhood Connection Center. It sounded like there had been a presentation planned in previous months, but in lieu of those plans they wanted to give a brief overview and let the parents and students speak towards the benefits to them and the community. The program offers resources to students and parents alike to succeed in school, resolutions, literacy, on-line support for reports, and so much more. More information at their website here. They topped it off with pictures highlighting their success stories and graduates:

Most of the meeting was consumed by a presentation of data from a recent research report on HUD's Moving to Work program. The information was dense and the questions and answers wonky and over my head. Some of the presentation reflected expectations. Difficult situations in life had impacts on the success of employment gains, e.g. lack of transportation options, nearby jobs, children with disabilities, etc. Two issues that were highlighted were chronic and acute health conditions and criminal background being barriers to needed services and options. This data may help tie in with the Housing pilot program and other Housing recommendations of the Racial Justice Task Force.

There will apparently be a presentation of this data to HUD in Washington this week as well. They discussed possible outreach efforts to inform the public. The question and answer discussion mainly dealt with specific details of comparison city data, participation incentives, and feedback.

The rest of the open session involved voting on the agenda items being voted on unanimously yes to pass. There was a technical question or two along the way. On the media contract the new Director highlighted the need for the community to know about what the Housing Authority does and is doing. A lot of it sounded like it was geared towards image with "spots" highlighting the positive things they do. As the Chair put it, they do an excellent job... but they're not telling their story. This (f) and the next resolution (g) passed with minor amendments unanimously.

They then went into closed session on a property purchase/sale. More information on the rest in a future update and/or the minutes in the May meeting's agenda packet here.

Third County Board Candidate

A third interested candidate's name has joined the fray for a vacancy appointment by the Champaign County Democratic Party. This time it isn't someone who recently lost a Democratic primary for a board seat this year already. For those who missed it this is for the District 6 seat being vacated by Joshua Hartke, who is resigning due to his impending move to Colorado. From today's News-Gazette:

UI law school clinic attorney becomes third candidate for Hartke's seat
Tracy Douglas, a supervising attorney at the University of Illinois College of Law's community preservation clinic, is the third candidate for the District 6 vacancy on the Champaign County Board.

Douglas joins Pattsi Petrie and Charles Young as applicants for the seat that had been occupied by Josh Hartke, a Champaign Democrat. His resignation took effect Monday.

District 6, which is almost entirely within the Champaign city limits, is bounded by Bloomington Road on the north, Kirby Avenue on the south, Prospect Avenue on the east and Duncan Road on the west.

No date has been set yet for precinct committee members to interview candidates and select a board member. Michelle Jett, the first vice chair of the county Democratic Party, said Monday that they hope to appoint a successor within the next week.

More information, including some of her policy positions on jail expansion (against) and the Nursing Home (against privatization) at the full article here.

United Way Local Grants

United Way grant money, still being raised, is set to be distributed locally soon (list of programs here). Lots of information available from the United Way of Champaign County's website here. Details from today's News-Gazette:

United Way set to hand out grants totaling $2.7 million on July 1
The United Way of Champaign County plans to put $2.7 million to work in the local community over 12 months starting July 1, the agency said Monday...

These programs — which strive to improve education, health and financial stability in the community — will share in about $1.3 million in grants.

The grants are part of more than $1.9 million in money raised through unrestricted donations, with the balance of the $2.7 million going to charities specifically designated by the donors, according to United Way President and CEO Sue Grey.

In addition to program grants, part of the $1.9 million in unrestricted funding will go to other United Way community impact initiatives — including its 2-1-1 around-the-clock human-services information and referral line, kindergarten readiness and the local men's winter emergency shelter, Grey said.

The United Way will continue fundraising for the upcoming 12 months through June 30, and whatever additional money comes in during the next two months can be either added to programs that didn't get the full amount of grant money they asked for or to fund other initiatives, Grey said...

Some targets include 5,700 people properly managing chronic health conditions, 6,270 kids from newborn to age 5 achieving developmental milestones and 150 people getting jobs.

More at the full article here. Even more details at the United Way of Champaign County news post.