The 1861 Group

The best part about our work? The communities we get to work with, and the fine colleagues we collaborate with to hone a community's vision. President Kyle Terry was in breezy ?? Verona, Wisconsin last week to get to know the community and stakeholders who will work hand in hand ???? with our consultant team on the comprehensive planning process ?? . The community cares, is ambitious, and is focused on equitable development. What more could you ask for?!

Another successful Training Tuesday (turned Wednesday). Yesterday we joined the economists ?? over at Chmura Economics & Analytics for their webinar, "Exploring the Tourism Economy: Trends, Opportunities, and Strategies for Growth." ?? ? ?? ?? ?? We learned about the state and size of the tourism & hospitality market nationally, unique tourism draws and markets throughout the state of Virginia, and some best practices popping up across the nation. Every single community can (and should!) benefit from the tourism-based economy, best practices leveraging new and existing markets, and utilizing new ways to analyze the tourism economy. We're looking forward to bringing these learnings into our work!

While we moved our weekly "Training Tuesday" session to Wednesday, The 1861 Group is constantly looking for opportunities to grow and evolve our practice and knowledge base as technology ?? ?? changes the fields we work in as well as the greater world around us at a rapid speed. Thanks to Choose DuPage and Ed Coronado for a stimulating webinar on innovative forecasting ?? ?? strategies yesterday!

This event was refreshing and inspiring!! We love to support organizations elevating voices ?? that don't get enough play in traditionally male-dominated spaces, and oh my, we could listen to angela hurlock speak about the importance of housing for hours if given the opportunity. What an absolute rockstar of a professional and speaker ??? Thanks to Tania Kadakia for the invite, and we can't wait for the next Illinois Women's Affordable Housing Network event!!

The 1861 Group was THRILLED to sponsor a table at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club annual gala - raising money for a great organization doing such important, #community-focused work. Joining Kyle and Kimberlie Terry at the table were immensely generous folks passionate about #equity and keeping programming at HPNC affordable and open to all: Cole Parker, Danelle Parker, CFP?, Jay Readey, and Samaih Mukhtar. Shout out to the whole staff at Hyde Park Neighborhood Club for a successful event, including Angela Habr who announced the organization's upcoming revitalization and modernization project ?? ?? ?, and to Jenny LeFlore AKA Mama Fresh - Chicago's #1 MC who sold the vision and message of HPNC so well. Looking forward to next year's event already! Hopefully any future Che Rhymefest Smith photo bombs will have less thumb in frame ?? ????♂?

163 years ago today - in 1861 - the fledgling community of Hyde Park, Illinois was incorporated. Our company is named in honor of the lively, diverse, welcoming community it was started in. When thinking about a name, Founder and President Kyle Terry thought long and hard. A lot of spaghetti was thrown on the wall. He realized that if our work is dedicated to creating communities that residents love and are proud of, honoring Hyde Park - "the greatest neighborhood in the world" (in his words) - would only be appropriate. So happy Township Incorporation of Hyde Park, Chicago Day!

Work hard, play hard. We appreciate that The MetroAlliance, Inc. and Southland Development Authority understand this and hosted a #MarchMadness watch party ?? ?? /networking event ?? for the folks making a difference in the Southland. Thanks to Jay Readey for opening the Collaboration Cave for this event!

With renewed conversation about the State of #Illinois and City of #Chicago potentially spending public dollars on a new ?? #stadium for the ?? #ChicagoBears, we'd be remiss if we did not bring this video back up: https://lnkd.in/ewpeGPRK President of The 1861 Group, Kyle Terry, talks financing stadiums with public ??. Not mentioned in the current dialogue around a new stadium? Taxpayers STILL OWE more than $600MM on Soldier Field renovations from the early 2000's ??????. For a City and State with such underfunded pensions, that already owe more than a half BILLION on prior stadium renovations, it seems ridiculous to even think about ponying up ?????? for a team that was ready to leave the City just last year.