Forward Janesville - TheReport - First Quarter 2024

Great things can happen to those who preserve and successfully navigate rocky waters. Inside this quarter’s Report, writer Ashley Pettay takes us through the multi-year journey that led to February’s ground-breaking for the Woodman’s Sports & Convention Center. It is important to chronicle the ups and downs of pivotal community projects – most importantly as a playbook and history lesson for future endeavors. Every time a community steps up and puts something like this in the win column, a community’s DNA is further developed. As you read on, you get the sense that Janesville is building that community DNA. Some point to our area’s resiliency and reinvention post-Great Recession and GM’s closure. They point to our successful bid to expand I-90, a project with an impact we are just fully discovering. They point to the redevelopment of downtown and the ARISE Plan that embraced a river and turned the heart of our community into a place that welcomes thousands every Saturday for our Janesville Farmers Market. Our river, the Rock River, is a 300-mile tributary of the Mississippi River and was known as the Sinnissippi to the Sauk and Fox indigenous peoples. The name means “rocky waters.” Maybe our DNA was being formed centuries ago by the environment as an ability to navigate challenges. This land, our community, calls to us to take part in its destiny; it asks us to work hard for it, to toil. This Report chronicles the toils of our community and how you, our members, are working to make your businesses, organizations and the community a better place. It was wonderful to see the more than 70 businesses and not-for-profits who came together to re-launch our Business Expo in February. What an amazing showcase of passion, energy and diversity. I am thankful for Chief Chad Pearson accepting the baton from retired Chief David Moore. His story is one of destiny to serve. It doesn’t take much to recognize the sacrifice our leaders of public safety make for our community. But our DNAbuilds. People step up. They make a difference. I am thankful to hear the inspiring ways members like Esperanza & Edgar Suarez, Kara Blue, and Todd Needham are working to make an impact in the community through their volunteer involvement with Forward Janesville. I am thankful for the business and private leaders who stepped up and invested in our Foundation’s newest economic development fund, Vision Forward, something we will be sharing more about in future Reports. Lastly, I am grateful to those businesses that recognize the power of Forward Janesville to lead this community forward. There are investors who step up every time there is an ask of them, whether it is participation in our events, involvement in this magazine, event sponsorship, or membership investment. Thank you to the 12 members who invested more than $10,000 with Forward Janesville in the 2023-24 fiscal year: ABC Supply, Alliant Energy, Baker Tilly, Blackhawk Community Credit Union, Blain Supply, BMO, Johnson Financial Group, JP Cullen, Mercyhealth, Nowlan Law, Prent, and PremierBank. As we look to the future, I do not think we will have calm waters. In fact, I am confident we will have to navigate deftly and confidently and courageously. I have no doubt this community will do so. Whatever you are called to do, know you are making a difference. The Sinnissippi calls us. Paddling Upstream 4 | FORWARD JANESVILLE Oakleigh Ryan Interim President & CEO Forward Janesville Photo Credit: Eric Panico