Rachel Parker, Chillicothe’s new Head of Economic Development
- Details
- Category: Local
- Published on Wednesday, 18 January 2012 20:25
- Written by Ausra Rowell
Rachel Parker’s passion has always been the betterment of communities and their citizens. This is apparent because of her involvement in both state and county organizations.
She’s served on the Peoria County Board; the City of Peoria; she was a Development Specialist for the City of Peoria; Rachel worked with the Illinois Small Business Administration; she was part of the Economic Council; she was on the board for School District 150; she had a role in the Economic Council for Peoria, both city and county; and Rachel is currently part of the team on Peoria Metro, an organization the has been created for state, county and community business.
Rachel had heard about the opening of our Economic Development’s position through Greg Truninger, our former ED. A number of years ago they had worked together with the Economic Development Council for Central Illinois and have always maintained a friendship.
During her interviewing process, Greg gave Rachel an overview of all the he’d been working on and Chris Boyer, Mayor Pro-Tem, spoke about the city’s focus on beefing up our locally owned small businesses and working on ideas for our riverfront, now named Eagle’s View, where the old grain elevator stood, and the beautiful eagle sculpture now holds court.
Rachel’s plans for Chillicothe are exactly what the majority of our community has been asking for. She declared that she would go door-to-door to all our small businesses and find out exactly what their needs are and how we can increase their financial growth as well as the growth of Chillicothe. Rachel mentioned that she plans on LISTENING to the business owners, because she feels that this is truly the only way to find out what their concerns are.
Because of Rachel’s long-term involvement in all aspects of city and county development, she has, and will maintain contact with other communities in Central Illinois. Rachel will use these contacts depending on the requirements of our business owners.
Rachel is extremely excited to begin her new job, which is this Wednesday.
On a side-note, Rachel has two beautiful children, both in their 20’s, who were born on Flag Day and St. Patrick’s Day. Daughter Riley, the St. Patty’s baby, during her stay at the hospital as a newborn, was affectionately nick named O’Riley Green. Rachel is also the proud grand parent of 2 grandchildren.
As if Rachel Parker does not do enough, she also is a baker and she has named it ”Sweet Cakes by Rachel”. We here on Second Street are hoping that before she walks into City Hall, she will be sharing delicious delights with us all.
Please stay tuned as we follow her career with our wonderful community.
