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Stephenson County staff report lower unemployment, new school entrepreneurship program and child-care plans
Summary
County staff reported a 3.6% local unemployment rate, outlined plans to launch a high‑school entrepreneurship course in 2026, described a YMCA proposal to expand child-care capacity at Stewart Center West, and updated progress on a DCEO site‑readiness grant and enterprise‑zone mapping.
Andrea, a county staff member, reported labor and economic development updates at the Stephenson County board committee meeting, saying the county’s unemployment rate is 3.6%, down from 4.5% in March.
The unemployment figure, drawn from the April Illinois Department of Employment Security report, comes with other local indicators: 760 residents were listed as unemployed, 852 unique job postings were active, and 256 employers posted openings; the median posted wage across those listings was $26.52 per hour (about $55,000 per year), Andrea said.
Those figures matter because they set the backdrop for county efforts to grow workforce pipelines and retain talent. Andrea told the committee the county is partnering with Freeport High School and Highland Community College to adopt the Midland Institute CEO entrepreneurship program for juniors and seniors. A steering team of area business leaders will meet later this month, with a goal to form a board by the end of summer and start classes in fall 2026.
The report also said child-care is a continuing constraint on recruitment and retention. The YMCA of Northwest Illinois has submitted a letter of intent to purchase Stewart Center West and proposes a multi‑phase project that would include child-care and, if capital fundraising completes, would double current child‑care slots, Andrea said.
On business-attraction work, staff said they have expanded the study area for a DCEO (Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity) site‑readiness grant after obtaining a landowner letter of support. Staff continue to work with local manufacturers seeking to expand, coordinated a traffic study for 360 DMG at Bell Race Crossing, and are exploring redevelopment concepts for a vacant downtown plant.
Regarding the county’s enterprise zone, staff said they are finalizing a boundary application for the Sebencia project, moving through required units of government and hoping to wrap the application in July. The office is also updating application forms and web text and working with Blackhawk Hills Regional Council to host an interactive enterprise‑zone map; staff said the zone spans two counties and that the separate county mapping arrangements have complicated a single interactive map.
The staff update closed with outreach and community engagement notes: Auto Smart will host a ribbon cutting; discussions continue about restarting a stalled Freeport housing development and the NAACP housing committee has completed two public sessions and a follow-up “what we heard” meeting that grouped comments into education (homeownership/financial literacy), home improvement/code enforcement, and housing growth (infill and new development).
The county’s economic development staff offered to supply more in‑depth job data on request and encouraged referral of job seekers to Workforce Connections.
