Vandalia Civic Advancement Association

09/11/2026

🌟What should our community look like 10, 20, or even 30 years from now?

This fall, we’re bringing that conversation to the community.

Vandalia Civic Advancement Association, in partnership with the City of Vandalia and the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, is launching MAPPING the Future of Your Community — a five-session process designed to bring people together to help identify where we are today, where we want to go, and how we get there.

📢To learn more about the MAPPING imitative, click the link below: https://vandaliacivicadvancement.com/initiatives/rural-mapping

🗯We’re thinking beyond the next event or the next project.

Housing. Economic growth. Workforce. Recreation. Quality of life. Tourism. Infrastructure. Community connectivity. Population growth. And the assets and opportunities that can position our community for decades to come.

We expect approximately 100 community stakeholders to participate — and this process is open to the public.

We want residents, business owners, parents, young professionals, retirees, educators, volunteers, and anyone else who genuinely cares about the future of our community to have an opportunity to be part of the conversation.

The five sessions will be held at the Family YMCA of Fayette County beginning October 7.

The future of our community shouldn't simply happen to us.

Let's help shape it together.

🌟To learn more about the Vandalia Civic Advancement Association, click here:
https://vandaliacivicadvancement.com

09/07/2026

Walkability is a huge quality of life asset! ITEP dollars coming back to our community to help develop and improve the sidewalks and connectivity in our community will be a worthwhile investment!

08/26/2026

🌟This is a tremendous article about asset based community development and is a great example of what we have going for us right here in our own backyard! Take a minute and read through the link.

🌱 What if rural economic development starts from within?

This is an interesting read about the future of rural communities — and it challenges some traditional thinking about economic development.

For decades, the dream for many small towns has been landing the big one: the major employer, factory, or outside investment that suddenly changes the local economy.

Those opportunities absolutely matter.

But they can’t be the entire strategy.

Rural communities also have to build from what they already have:

• Local entrepreneurs and new businesses
• Skilled people with ideas who may not see themselves as entrepreneurs yet
• Strong schools and workforce development
• Natural and recreational assets
• Local institutions and partnerships
• Infrastructure and quality of life
• A culture that believes something can actually be built here

One of the strongest ideas in this article is asset-based community development — identify the natural, cultural, and human assets already present in a community and build outward from them.

That’s an important shift in perspective.

Economic development isn’t only about asking:

“Who can we convince to come here?”

It’s also about asking:

“What can we build here?”

And perhaps most importantly:

“Who is already here with an idea worth investing in?”

A healthy rural economy needs existing businesses, outside investment and new local entrepreneurship.

We shouldn’t stop pursuing the next employer.

We should also be working to create the next one.

Great food for thought for rural communities like ours.

Nobody is coming to build your rural economy, and the people still waiting for a corporate headquarters to relocate to a county of 12,000 residents are waiting for a bus that stopped running in 1985.

08/18/2026

Today, Vandalia Civic Advancement was represented at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s Southeast Region Roadshow here in Vandalia.

These meetings matter because community development does not happen by simply waiting for the next grant announcement or the next business opportunity to appear.

It happens by being in the room, building relationships, understanding where state and federal priorities are headed, advocating for local needs, and making sure our community is prepared when opportunities become available.

Today’s discussion brought together DCEO, Illinois Economic Development Corporation, the Illinois Office of Broadband, USDA Rural Development, regional economic-development professionals, businesses, educational institutions and community leaders to discuss everything from:

• Business recruitment, retention and expansion
• Industrial site readiness and infrastructure
• Workforce development and career pathways
• Downtown and vacant-property revitalization
• Grocery and rural business development
• Broadband infrastructure
• Housing and community development
• State and federal grants and financing tools

For Vandalia Civic Advancement, this is exactly why collaboration is so important.

VCAA was created to help connect the organizations already doing important work throughout our community—local government, education, healthcare, economic development, workforce partners, businesses and quality-of-life organizations—so that we can better align projects, resources and advocacy around a common vision for the future.

Projects like these take time—and sometimes years—through conversations, planning, relationships and making sure decision-makers understand what our community is working toward.

Our job is to continue showing up.

To listen.

To advocate.

To build relationships.

And most importantly, to turn those relationships into real opportunities for Vandalia and Fayette County.

Thank you to DCEO and all of today’s participating organizations for bringing these conversations directly to our region.

Strong communities don’t develop in isolation. They develop through alignment, collaboration and a willingness to work together toward something bigger.

08/12/2026

𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐎𝐍. 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐄. 𝐀 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄.

VCAA representatives Ben Frazier, Pat Click, and Vandalia Mayor Doug Knebel recently presented an update to the Fayette County Board about the work underway to strengthen regional coordination and position Fayette County for future growth and investment.

The message was clear: Although Vandalia is in our name, this effort is intended to benefit all of Fayette County.

VCAA is bringing our major community stakeholders to the same table, aligning priorities, identifying opportunities, and building a stronger, more unified voice when advocating for our region.

From recent infrastructure investments and state-level advocacy to workforce data and the upcoming community mapping process, we are working to ensure Fayette County is organized, prepared, and ready to compete.

This is about economic development.
This is about quality of life.
This is about creating generational change.

We have more assets, more opportunities, and a better story to tell than many people realize—and we are just getting started.

Read the full update below. ⬇️

https://vandaliacivicadvancement.com/news-resources/vcaa-presents-regional-growth-effort-fayette-county-board

08/08/2026

🌟Pretty interesting facts about our region!

🌟Learn more at:
https://vandaliacivicadvancement.com/resources

08/06/2026

🚧 This is what building for Vandalia’s future looks like.

Today, the State of Illinois announced that the City of Vandalia has been awarded $2.368 million through the Regional Site Readiness Program to extend utilities and roadway infrastructure serving 97 acres of the Vandalia Industrial Park.

Combined with the $3 million awarded in 2025, this represents more than $5.36 million in State investment toward preparing Vandalia for future economic development.

For Vandalia Civic Advancement, this is exactly why infrastructure, land use and site readiness are among our core areas of focus.

Communities today are competing for more than businesses. We are competing for investment, jobs, workforce, families and long-term economic opportunity.

And having available land is only part of that equation.

When companies evaluate where to locate or expand, they increasingly look for communities that have already done the difficult work — roads, water, sewer, utilities, engineering, planning and other infrastructure needed to move a project forward.

That is what site readiness accomplishes.

It transforms land with potential into a location that can realistically compete when opportunity arrives.

This investment can strengthen Vandalia’s ability to:

• Recruit new industry and private investment
• Support expansion of existing employers
• Create future employment opportunities
• Increase the competitiveness of the Vandalia Industrial Park
• Position our community for larger regional and statewide opportunities

Perhaps most importantly, this is another example of the kind of intentional, long-term community building Vandalia Civic Advancement exists to encourage.

Economic development rarely begins when a company announces it is coming.

It begins years earlier — when communities coordinate leadership, invest strategically, strengthen infrastructure, develop their assets and position themselves to compete.

There is still much work ahead, but more than $5.36 million in site-readiness investment is a significant step toward the kind of future Vandalia is working to build.

We congratulate the City of Vandalia on securing another major competitive investment for our community.

This is how we prepare for what comes next.

📖 Read today’s announcement from the State of Illinois:
https://gov-pritzker-newsroom.prezly.com/gov-pritzker-announces-regional-site-readiness-program-grant-awards

Site Ready Illinois grants provide $35 million for 22 sites to spur infrastructure improvements, community renewal, and industrial economic development

08/06/2026

🌟Be sure to check out our new website🌟

Vandalia Civic Advancement aligns community leadership, strategic priorities, investment, and long-term planning to strengthen our community and surrounding region.

07/03/2026

Wonderful showing of fireworks last night! Great job to all volunteers who made it memorable!

06/12/2026

🌟State Leaders Visit Vandalia🌟

A huge thank you to Deputy Governor Manar, the DCEO Team, Economic Development Team, and many other state leaders for spending time with us!!

This week, Vandalia Civic Advancement had the opportunity to host representatives from the Illinois Governor’s Office, DCEO, and statewide economic development leadership for an in-depth discussion about the future of Vandalia and our area.

The conversation focused on many of the priorities our community has identified as critical to long-term success:

• Workforce Development & Talent Retention
• Housing & Community Growth
• Healthcare Access & Workforce Needs
• Site Readiness & Economic Development
• Infrastructure Investment
• Recreation, Quality of Life, and Community Assets

What made this meeting especially meaningful wasn’t simply who was in the room—it was the unified voice at the table.

Representatives from local government, healthcare, education, economic development, park district, the YMCA, and the business community came together to tell a shared story: Vandalia is investing in itself, planning intentionally, and working collaboratively to build a stronger future.

State leaders recognized what many of us already know: communities that succeed are those willing to work together around a common vision.

The State team shared that communities across Illinois often seek assistance in building the type of collaboration and stakeholder alignment that already exists in Vandalia. While there is still much work ahead, it was encouraging to hear that our community’s willingness to work together is being noticed beyond our borders.

This is exactly why Vandalia Civic Advancement exists.

As we prepare for the Rural MAPPING process this fall and continue developing a long-term community strategy, meetings like this help strengthen relationships, identify opportunities, and position our region for future success.

The work is just beginning, but the momentum is real.

Together, we’re not simply planning for the next project—we’re helping shape the next generation of Vandalia and our region.