Bureau of Economic Development

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Cook County Community Recovery Initiative - COVID-19

Mission

To Lead and Promote Equitable Economic Growth and Community Development .

Key Initiatives

2020 Census: The Cook County Complete Count Commission, in conjunction with our Bureau, will champion the importance of maximizing full participation in the census throughout the county. For more details, go to their website.
The Chicago Regional Growth Corporation (CRGC) drives collaboration across the seven county Chicago region, including the City of Chicago, to generate inclusive growth and prosperity. It has assisted 155 companies increase their export sales by $45.7 million and create 165 jobs since 2015. In 2019, we increased participation by firms in the South Suburbs by 75%. Visit their website for more information.
The Chicago Metro Metal Consortium (CMMC) supports and strengthens the region’s metal manufacturing cluster by promoting the Chicago metro region as a leading center for manufacturing, strategically and efficiently aligning stakeholder efforts, and offering manufacturers resources to grow their businesses. Find out more.
South Suburban Economic Growth Initiative (SSEGI) provides an opportunity for the County to scale, amplify and leverage regional programs, resources and investments in the South Suburbs. One of their major priorities has been facilitating the creation of the Southland Development Authority launched on November 13, 2019. For more information, visit their website.
Sector Partnerships: Cook and Will Counties launched the industry driven Will/Cook Transportation, Distribution and Logistics Partnership to leverage the opportunities and challenges facing this growth sector. This effort represents the launch of the Calumet Manufacturing Industry Sector Partnership. Two other regional initiatives are the Chicago Defense Resiliency Program and the Apprenticeship Expansion Program.

Departments

The Bureau has three departments within its umbrella:

Disaster Recovery

DPD was awarded Federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding related to severe flooding that occurred in the Spring of 2013 in suburban Cook County. For more information, and to download our application for the CDBG-DR Design/Engineering Grant Program, please go to the Disaster Recovery and Resilience site.