Paine Schwartz Partners Announces Investment in Urban Farmer, Manteno’s Plant-based Specialty Dough Producer

Global food and agribusiness PE leader Paine Schwartz Partners invests in our plant-based specialty dough manufacturer Urban Farmer Foods through new “Food Chain Fund V” platform.

Now more than ever, community partners are an integral part of Kankakee County’s resiliance and growth. n 2020, United Way of Kankakee & Iroquois Counties – with our Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley – generated and distributed more than $600,000 for emergency Covid-19 relief. While this work continues, our United Way is mission driven to serve our residential and business community each and every day by investing in the strategic areas of: youth success; economic mobility; and access to health services.

A vacant 576,000-square-foot warehouse in Manteno has found a new occupant and the company is seeking 600 workers. It appears the location, 1125 Sycamore Road, will house the packaging and distribution of supplies connected to COVID-19 pandemic. McKesson Corp., an Irving, Texas-based company, has signed a lease with property owner Cardinal Real Estate of Sherman Oaks, Calif. McKesson is advertising for 600 warehouse workers — specifically material handlers and machine operators — with pay at $17.45 per hour, including benefits. To support the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the company, through its centralized distribution network, will be involved with the movement of COVID-19 vaccines and ancillary supplies needed to administer vaccines.

Kankakee Community College has added a free interactive tool to its website that helps students and prospective students find careers that match their interests. The software, called Emsi Career Coach, tailors career options for users based on questions about themselves. The personalized results include career titles, labor market data and academic programs that could lead to those demand occupations. The software can also be used to build resumes and connect to job openings locally and regionally. Career Coach is free and is available for anyone to use.

Governor JB Pritzker today released industry-specific guidelines that allow for the safe re-opening of businesses as the state progresses into the next phase of the Restore Illinois plan. All four regions of the state are on track to advance to Phase 3 of the plan in the coming days, allowing thousands of residents to return to work, and the reopening of businesses in the following industries: retail, offices, manufacturing, barbershops and salons, summer programs, various outdoor recreation activities and bars and restaurants for outdoor dining.

If you think back to your days as an employee, you may recall that one of the best cases for a raise, a title change or even a promotion was to just learn new skills. For your business, the path to operational improvements, margin increases and new revenue streams is identical.

If you and your employer have already experimented with a distributed team, you know that many of the major concerns around remote work — compromised productivity, camaraderie and accountability — were grossly overstated and easily checked. But the question of how to maintain a happy remote team — that takes a lot of care and intentionality.

Businesses that think through the needs of their customers in an ever-changing and adapting world will ultimately outlast their competition by offering solutions that work well both today, post-pandemic and in the next big world change, whatever it may be.

In a flash poll of Kankakee County lenders on Monday, the Economic Alliance learned that in the federal Paycheck Protection Program’s initial $350 billion round of emergency funding, more than 1,500 regional businesses were served, with approved loans totaling more than $260 million. According to those polled, the majority of businesses had already received a disbursement. In this initial round, businesses served employ more than 30,000 individuals.

Experts from the world’s leading plasma companies have come together to create a new alliance aimed at treating the new coronavirus. Partners include CSL Behring, the third largest biotech company globally, currently underway with a 1.8 million SF expansion of its Kankakee, Illinois, production site.