Rural Illinois: Working Towards a Brighter Future

The GRAC was founded almost 30 years ago in October 1986 to provide a voice to the farmers, businesses, and residents of rural Illinois who contributed to the success of the state, but who sometimes felt that the larger cities in the state received a disproportionate share of attention from policymakers in Springfield and Chicago. [...] The purpose of the GRAC is draw attention to rural Illinois, and to develop and implement strategies to expand opportunities, and enhance the quality of life for rural residents. [...] The GRAC was intended to implement the Rural Fair Share Initiative, increase the visibility of rural issues before state government, provide input into policies that could shape rural regions, and help coordinate the way services were delivered by the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (the forerunner of today’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity), and the Illinois Departmen. [...] In addition to the already established Rural Fair Share Initiative and the GRAC, the final report recommended the passage of the Rural Diversification Act, and the creation of four research and technical assistance centers including the Governor’s Rural Affairs Council 2 Office of Rural Community Development, the Center for Value-Added Agriculture, the Center for Forestry Industry Development, and. [...] With over 1.4 million people in rural Illinois, and according to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) nearly 220,000 students in K-12 as of the 2015-2016 class year, any long term strategy to improve the lives of people in rural Illinois inevitably will be tied to the effectiveness of the local education systems (ISBE 2015a).