Forward Janesville - TheReport - Second Quarter 2019

10 • W W W . F O R W A R D J A N E S V I L L E . C O M It’s an exciting time to be a part of Forward Janesville—and I am honored to be beginning my tenure as board chair. For 100 years, our business community has worked together to continue to build opportunities and excel. We now have the unique responsibility of taking the lead on our next 100 years. The actions we undertake now will build our tomorrow, and I believe it is going to be a bright tomorrow indeed. This past year, under Sherri Stumpf’s remarkable leadership, we accomplished many pivotal initiatives that provide a strong foundation for our coming efforts. Sherri set a high bar for me, playing a seminal role in our success and in the success of Blackhawk Community Credit Union, which made a significant contribution to the ARISE effort, including an announcement that their future headquarters, Reflections Plaza, will be located in downtown Janesville. During Sherri’s term we also supported a city-led Janesville Housing Summit, advancing development efforts and incentives in this area; witnessed some wonderful downtown events on and around Festival Street, including the downtown bike race and Flannel Fest; and the ARISE progress was honored with multiple awards, including the Rock County Historical Society Community Pride Award and the Wisconsin American Public Works Association 2019 Project of the Year. Additionally, we have helped to advance the engagement and development of the next generation of leaders through our support of a new young professionals group called Join Janesville. We continue to support the youth through partnerships in the workforce education/assistance area. The Rock Internship Program, led by Rock County Development Alliance and Rock County 5.0, doubled in size and recently won the “Eddy” Economic Development Award at the Greater Beloit Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner. Programs like Industry Day and Inspire Rock County are thriving and continue to represent very successful partnerships between the business community and education. A special thanks to Oakleigh Ryan of Whiton House Consulting, who led our strategic planning efforts this past year. During that process, we looked into the past to learn from our history; interviewed key community leaders, volunteers, and staff; and held a board of directors planning retreat. The opportunity statements that resulted will guide our next 100 years, ensuring we fulfill our mission and continue to make Janesville a Community of Choice for generations to come. I hope everyone takes a moment to review our strategic planning report, now available online on the Forward Janesville website. David Hiller of CDH Consulting, also assisted staff in developing a new strategic dashboard, which we will be using to track progress on our strategic focus areas. I have the good fortune of working with a motivated, hard-working staff and a strong board of directors, who have made Forward Janesville the exceptional organization that it is. I am looking forward to working with all of them this next year, advancing the opportunities our strategic planning process uncovered and being a part of shaping the next 100 years and the future of Janesville. Forward Janesville, local businesses, our city leaders, community members—what an amazing place we live in, where everyone has come together in such an impressive and generous manner, rallying public and private resources alike to revitalize our downtown and build our future together. We invite every one of you reading this to be a part of our transformation as well. Please continue to share your ideas and efforts with us—we are all in this together, and together we can accomplish remarkable things. What will you do now, for tomorrow? Warm regards, FJI Board Chair Letter from the Incoming Chair