2025 One Shawnee Regional Summit Resources
The third One Shawnee Regional Summit took place on October 10th, 2025 at Vienna High School in Johnson County. We have made available some of the materials that were presented at that event below:
Welcoming Remarks / SI Now "Points of Pride" Presentation
One Shawnee President, Patrick Windhorst, welcomed participants to the 3rd annual One Shawnee Summit and introduced Deb Barnett, Executive Director of SI Now, who highlighted locally driven community initiatives and recent economic growth that their organization has witnessed throughout southern Illinois.
Keynote - "Investing in Rural Prosperity: A Framework for Advancing Shared Economic Prosperity "
Samantha Evans, regional outreach manager for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, provided the 2025 keynote address focusing on the critical role of rural areas to our national economy, providing an overview of the "TRIC" model used to facilitate rural development.
IHDA - "Resources for Development, Local Market Analysis and Planning Support"
Kristopher Walton, Community Revitalization Planner with Illinois Housing and Development Authority's Strategic Planning and Reporting Division, shared available agency resources related to community level planning and housing accessibility.
Land Banking in Rural Areas: "Every Small Town Could Use One, Brownfield Locations and a Regional Land Bank"
This session, hosted by Dr. Victoria Livingston, Director of Prairie Hills Resource Conservation & Development, provided a deep-dive on land banking as an often under-utilized local development tool that shows promise in even the smallest rural communities.
Birth-To-Five Illinois: Local Challenges and Opportunities
Zena Madison, Brittany Hale and Janice Crow, Regional Birth-To-Five Council Managers covering the One Shawnee service area, shared their organization's mission and findings or recently completed needs assessments for our region focused on children and young caregivers.