Government Advocacy

About One Voice

One Voice, under the leadership of the EDC, is a pro-community campaign that has brought together leaders from the City of Bloomington, the Town of Normal, McLean County, labor, local educational institutions and local private businesses. These groups have formed the One Voice Task Force. The goal of the campaign is to make McLean County a stronger economic force and a better place to live.

One Voice Theme: Transportation

In the past, the One Voice Task Force chose local projects to support in their quests for federal funding. However, this year is different. In light of the recent earmark ban, Bloomington-Normal/McLean County delegates traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet our congressional delegation and show them our community stands united in support of local transportation projects, initiatives and infrastructure improvements that require funding in our community.

The transportation agenda was developed from the recent TransSummit, which was hosted by the Economic Development Council and the McLean County Chamber of Commerce on October 21, 2011. The day long summit included a diverse group of community leaders, elected officials and transportation experts.  

Click here to read the white paper 

The white paper was used by the EDC's One Voice delegation to advocate for the community's most needed and required transporation assets when they traveled to Washington D.C. in March 2012.

Annual Washington, D.C. Fly-In

While in D.C., the One Voice group met with Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Kirk's staff, Congressman Tim Johnson's staff, Congressman Aaron Schock and Congressman Kinzinger. In addition to meeting with our congressional delegation, the group met with various organizations and committees focused on transportation such as the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Associated General Contractors of America, Association of American Railroads, National League of Cities, US Department of Transportation (Office of the Secretary) and the Senate Environmental & Public Works Committee.

The group attended meetings at the United States Department of Agriculture to learn more about agribusiness in order to begin to prepare for the next issues summit which will be held in the Fall of 2012.

The One Voice delegates attended a welcoming reception hosted by the Laborers' International Union of North America.