Fledgling DuPage economic group needs cash

"It's all here" has become the rallying cry of a new economic development commission established to help lure businesses to DuPage County.

The marketing material created by the DuPage Regional Development Alliance boldly proclaims the county has it all: potential development, a talented work force, plenty of good schools and a solid transit system.

It seems the only thing the group set up to lure those businesses doesn't have enough of is money.

"Fundraising at this point has been our main goal, as well as defining our message," said Roger Hopkins, president and CEO of Choose DuPage.

Hopkins joined hundreds of county government and business leaders Thursday at the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook to essentially urge business leaders to donate to their cause.

The county's development alliance, which now calls itself Choose DuPage, was created nearly three years ago to coordinate area efforts to attract, retain and expand local businesses.

Just getting the operations off the ground have posed a challenge, Hopkins said.

"A major challenge we've faced is just creating an identity," he said. "We don't want to replicate the efforts of other entities in the county."

Hopkins was hired last December to lead the group, originally named DuPage Biz, in establishing programs to help businesses thrive and eventually lure more corporate headquarters into DuPage.

Organizers of Choose DuPage say the group has more than $3 million in pledged contributions, including $2 million from the county. But much of that money has yet to be seen, Hopkins said.

The group hopes to raise more than $5.5 million for its operations over the next four years.

"Part of the transition (from fundraising to marketing the county) will happen when we start getting the checks in the mail," Hopkins said.

Will and Lake counties already have created similar countywide ventures. Organizers said they expect Choose DuPage will fill that niche of an entity which competes for new businesses both locally and nationwide.

"I don't believe we have reached our full potential for economic growth," DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom said. "This work will have a positive, lasting impact on the economy and the region."