Business in Illinois has taken some big hits in recent years.

From the major to the very small, circumstances have led to problems that have left the state with a black eye. What to do about the problems facing businesses and communities seems to be a work in progress.

During a recent stop in Pontiac, Illinois Lieutenant Gov. Juliana Stratton said the state is constantly looking to make businesses thrive, including new programs.

Stratton told The Leader that when she came into office, the Main Street program was virtually nonexistent and that there was no funding for the program.

“I advocated to make sure that we could reinstate the Illinois Main Street Conference and make sure we could provide the appropriate resources so that people could come together and network and learn from each other and learn how to build their Main Street communities,” Stratton said. “That certainly happened, and I was proud to host the Main Street conference in Pontiac and really just celebrate the outstanding work that’s being done in historic downtown and neighborhood districts across the state.”

Illinois has been hit with many business closures and departures for varying reasons, including COVID and high property taxes. Among those major corporations to leave in recent years is Caterpillar, which still has a plant in Pontiac. Boeing moved to Virginia and Citadel was leaving for Florida.

Despite those companies leaving, Stratton believes things are turning around and highlighted the recent deal between the UAW and Stellantis to revitalize and invest in the Belvidere, Illinois plant.

“Under Gov. (JB) Pritzker’s leadership, it has been very clear that Illinois is open for business,” Stratton said. “What happened in Belvidere, that was a huge announcement where the United Auto Workers negotiated a new contract and came to an agreement with Stellantis, we know that was good for our workers and good for Illinois.”

The Stellantis plant in Belvidere, which is just east of Rockford, has been idled since February and left thousands of workers waiting to come back to work.

“Over the last several years, the governor has been focused on a permanent solution in Belvidere that would help retain and grow good paying jobs,” Stratton said. “This is going to be thousands of jobs and billions in investment for our state and that’s good news.”

She said this is one example, but there are many others of the administration’s efforts to continue to build toward a thriving economy in Illinois. She added that the state surpassed $1 trillion in GDP in recent months for the first time.

Stratton also stressed the importance of attracting new business, large and small, to the state.

“We do have an environment where companies can now thrive and we’re going to keep pushing for more investments in our state,” Stratton said. “When you have a big business, which we certainly want to attract to our state, that’s incredibly important.

“When those jobs are created at that big corporate site, they need coffee shops, they need restaurants, they need bookstores, they places to go to buy their goods and wares and we need to support small businesses.”

Even though Stratton is from the south side of Chicago, she chairs the governor’s Rural Affairs Council and gets to visit rural communities to lift up assets of those communities. Some of this is being done through Illinois Main Street.

“I always say that small businesses are the life blood of our communities because they hire people from the community and that money circulates in the community,” Stratton said. “People want to see a well-rounded community.”