CHICAGO – Continuing to deliver on his Opportunity Returns pledge to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in Central Illinois, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich today announced that the Millikin Regional Entrepreneurship Center has awarded its first challenge grant to a local company. The challenge grant is a $5,000 award designed to help accelerate the achievement of a critical milestone for young business ventures using the e-center’s services. Perry Dynamics, a maker of medical rehabilitation training equipment in Decatur, was named the first challenge grant recipient.
“Entrepreneurial activity is the pulse of the national and local economy. Not only is it the most vigorous engine of new job growth, but the greatest key to fostering a diversified economy that has the capacity to expand and generate more prosperity for more people in Central Illinois. By investing in promising firms like Perry Dynamics and giving them the resources they need to take their ventures to the next level, we’re not only fostering their individual success, but unleashing the collective economic potential of this entire region,” Gov. Blagojevich said.
Perry Dynamics, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets state-of-the-art balance and proprioception training equipment, a range of motion device used in medical rehabilitation. Proprioception is the sense of body joint position and, through range of motion exercises, the body’s balance and core stabilization can be enhanced. After success with its PROPRIO 5000 model, the company decided to develop a new model designed to meet the needs of patients with more severe disorders that require a less aggressive rehabilitation approach. The hands-on assistance and challenge grant award provided by the Millikin Regional Entrepreneurship Center has played an instrumental role in helping Perry Dynamics create the Proprio® 4000 prototype, which has already garnered heavy interest in the marketplace.
The Millikin Regional Entrepreneurship Center is one of 15 entrepreneurship centers Gov. Blagojevich has opened over the last two years. The entrepreneurship centers make up one vital component of the Illinois Entrepreneurship Network (IEN), a comprehensive network of resources designed to strengthen the state’s capacity to develop small businesses into market successes and help entrepreneurship act as a more dynamic engine of growth. Last March, Gov. Blagojevich launched the new IEN Web site, www.ienconnect.com, which features a free business needs assessment and a referral within 24 hours for personalized, face-to-face assistance.
The challenge grants are one of a number of specialized resources the Millikin Regional Entrepreneurship Center and other entrepreneurship centers offer its clients. The awards assist entrepreneurs or small businesses with obtaining professional services for comprehensive business plan assistance, evaluation of a proposed start-up or expansion, or other accelerated support purposes. Award funding is determined based on the potential for successful achievement of a significant business milestone for client firms. Applications are awarded based on their display of project viability, growth potential, public purpose or other merit-based factors.
“Entrepreneurs and small businesses like Perry Dynamics are vital to our local economy and to job creation,” said State Rep. Bob Flider (D-Mount Zion). “The Millikin Regional Entrepreneurship Center has been instrumental in the success of many local small businesses. It is a great success story, begun by local leaders with a vision to help small businesses succeed. The Governor and DCEO have made a wise investment in Central Illinois.”
“Perry Dynamics, Inc. is a truly unique and distinctive company. This grant will enable the company to build and develop a prototype the will help countless people when it is complete. Through the Millikin Regional Entrepreneurship Network, we hope to connect to more exceptional businesses and entrepreneurs and help them get where they want and need to be with their respective businesses,” said Connie J. Beck, director of the Millikin Regional Entrepreneurship Network.
“This e-center and the challenge grants it is providing are really a wonderful representation of the new model for economic development in Central Illinois that Gov. Blagojevich has created. That model dedicates resources at the community level where they are needed most and works to create economic opportunity one person at a time, one business at a time and one job at a time,” DCEO Director Jack Lavin said.
Gov. Blagojevich’s Opportunity Returns regional economic development strategy is the most comprehensive approach to creating jobs in Illinois’ history. Since a one-size-fits-all approach to economic development just doesn’t work, the Governor has divided the state into 10 regions – each with a regional team that is empowered and expected to rapidly respond to opportunities and challenges. Opportunity Returns is about tangible, specific actions to make each region more accessible, more marketable, more entrepreneurial and more attractive to businesses. It is about upgrading the skills of the local workforce, increasing the access to capital, opening new markets, improving infrastructure, and creating and retaining jobs. Opportunity Returns is about successfully partnering with companies and communities, both large and small, to help all of Illinois reach its economic potential.