Cahokia Mounds Museum Society wins prestigious history award

The remains of the most sophisticated prehistoric native civilization north of Mexico are preserved at Cahokia Mounds State Historic site, located a few miles west of Collinsville, Illinois in the southwestern part of the state. Here lie the archaeological remnants of the central section of the ancient settlement that is today known as Cahokia.

In 1976, The Cahokia Mounds Museum Society was founded as a not-for-profit to support the historic site. Their mission is to promote for the public benefit the educational and scientific aspects of Cahokia Mounds and associated archaeological sphere. The society recently received an award of excellence from the American Association of State and Local History for their augmented reality experience, “Back to the City of the Sun.”

“Back to the City of the Sun” brings the past to the present with audio and video through an app for personal smart devices. On the tour, visitors can see the temple that once stood on Monks Mound and other cultural aspects of the site that were present 1,000 years ago through the camera of a smart phone or other device.

The 2023 award of excellence is part of the American Association of State and Local History’s Leadership in History awards, the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation of state and local history.

The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is located at 30 Ramey St. in Collinsville. The site’s interpretive center and gift shop are currently closed for renovations, however the grounds are open to the public daily from 8 a.m. until dusk and guided tours take place twice per day, Wednesday through Sunday. For more information, visit IDNR’s website.

From backyard brews to national brewing champions

• Craft beer
• Small Business Saturday
• brewery
• black-owned

Imagine you are a small minority owned brewery in Chicago and the owner of Samuel Adams, Jim Kock, drinks your beer right in front of you and tells you that he can smell the hops exploding! Talk about a surreal moment!

For Funkytown Brewery co-founders Richard Bloomfield, Gregory Williams and Zachary Day, they did not have to imagine a moment like that, because it became their reality at the 12th Annual Samuel Adams Brewing and Business Experienceship Craft Beer Competition.

The three childhood friends from Oak Park entered into the competition among 50 other businesses and became finalists at the New York Crafting Dreams Beer Bash. Their victory sent them to the national competition, where they reigned supreme giving them access to mentorship, networking, and funding from Samuel Adams Brewing.

Funkytown Brewery is more than just craft beer. They build their business on values centered around culture and community involvement. They believe in making craft beer more accessible to women, Black people, and other demographics that are usually not at the top of the market minds of brewers.

.Funkytown started from small brew batches in their parent’s garage and is now sold at over 600 locations across the Chicagoland area and Wisconsin including Wrigley Field and the United Center. This September the co-founders will create a craft beer to showcase at the Great American beer Festival in partnership with the brewers at Samuel Adams’ Boston headquarters.

For more information about Funkytown Brewery and how they are using their entrepreneurship to give back to their community visit them here.

Illinois surpasses competitors in state business rankings

Illinois’ extensive business leadership perseveres with top rankings highlighted by CNBC’s 2023 Top States for Business publication. Business and educational opportunities continue to increase as Illinois surpasses the rankings of their neighbors and its own previous ranks. Based on 10 categories of competitiveness, Illinois is reported at top 10 in the nation for four categories and top 20 in six categories. Overall, Illinois is named the 17th best state for business, which is ahead by two places in their 2022 ranking and up from 30th in 2019.

Highlights of Illinois’ rankings:

• #2 in the nation for infrastructure
• #2 in the nation for education
• #6 in the nation for access to capital
• #9 in the nation for cost of living

Through the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois initiative, Illinois stimulates economic movement across the state with the completion of more than 5,300 miles of highway and nearly 500 bridges, as well as over 750 accessibility and safety improvements. Additionally, the initiative invests into Illinois’ educational foundation by passing Smart Start Illinois and increasing funding through the MAP Grant and AIM High.

Improved infrastructure, state-wide access to affordable education, and economic growth, combine to create higher quality of life for Illinoisans. Among its positive rankings in infrastructure and education, Illinois is a part of the top 20 states for life, health, and inclusion, which includes healthcare, worker protection, and voting rights.

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Illinois counties ranked top places to live in the U.S.

Some of America’s best counties are right here in Illinois. According to the July 2023 issue of Site Selection Magazine, several Illinois counties are cited as the best areas to live based on the total number of economic development projects each made from January 2022 to March 2023. When it comes to building a county into one of America’s best, Pat Boeshart, president and owner of LiteForm Technologies, says you must reflect on how you can do business through its inevitable challenges.

The report names Cook, Kane, DuPage, and Will counties as top ranking areas for living and business investments.

Each county takes great pride in its individual strengths and collaborative environment that continues to make them a rich blend of urban and rural locations, diverse faculties, affordability, high quality of life, and connectivity amongst their neighboring regions. Below are the four Illinois counties and their rankings.

• Cook County: Ranked #2 with 231 projects
• DuPage County: Ranked #9 with 91 projects
• Kane County: Ranked #14 with 52 projects
• Will County: Ranked #16 with 48 projects

For more information on these counties and stats, please read the report here.