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Illinois River Cities and Towns Initiative announces plans to buoy maritime opportunities · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Illinois River Cities and Towns Initiative announces plans to buoy maritime opportunities.
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  Written by Matthias Warner This article is being read by an automated
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  voice brought to you by Everlit. Local officials, which include Ottawa Mayor
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  Robert and Morris Mayor Chris Brown, are taking steps to beef up
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  industry and opportunity along the Illinois River.
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  Brown and Hasty were joined by other community leaders and project partners
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  at the 2026 Illinois River Cities and Towns Initiative Annual Meeting at
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  the Starved Rock Lodge to help collaborate on ways to improve communities
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  through and along the Illinois River.
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  A strong regional economy depends on having a strong, skilled workforce, and
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  workforce development, is a major priority of IRSTI, Peoria Mayor and Co-Chair
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  of IRSTI Rita Ali said. If We want a world-class supply chain,
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  we need to build a world-class workforce right here along the Illinois
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  River. Alley announced that an agreement between IRCTI and WeWork The
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  Waterways was reached on a memorandum of understanding to help workforce development,
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  education and awareness of career and economic opportunities related to the Illinois
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  River. According to its charter, WeWorkThe Waterways is a national nonprofit educational
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  organization that introduces students to the maritime, shipping, and logistics industries through
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  hands-on exploration, classroom-based learning, and direct engagement with professionals. The
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  agreement came on the heels of ongoing communication between the groups over
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  the last year since the 2025 annual meeting. The collaboration will enhance
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  the educational opportunities.
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  At colleges and technical assistance at other institutions for careers in maritime
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  logistics and shipping, building up a workforce to improve job and economic
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  opportunities for communities along the Illinois River. These are not super common
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  careers that you hear about on a daily basis, Ali said. I'd
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  like to see more people, especially young people, enrolling in these opportunities.
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  Ottawa Mayor and IRCTI co-chair Robert Hasty said. That the agreement is
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  representative of why the initiative was formed in the first place, bringing
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  communities along the river together, strengthen their collective voice, and create more
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  opportunities across the river corridor. One of the biggest priorities is going
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  to be making sure that we get all of The
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  colleges along the entire corridor involved in these programs so that we
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  can get a workforce that's ready, Hasty said. All of these cities
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  are looking for different kinds of jobs and we've got to ensure
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  that people are properly trained. Ali said that Illinois Valley Community College
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  will be soon added to the Cornbelt Ports Rural Maritime and Logistics
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  Training and Education Consortium to help buoy the initiative's efforts. The consortium
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  is another entity that aims to help support the development of a
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  workforce for maritime jobs and careers.