Watch DuPage County Board of Commissioners Chairman Dan Cronin of Elmhurst deliver his Annual State of the County Address to members representing the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce and Industry, host Chamber 630 (Downers Grove and Woodridge) and seven other local chambers via Zoom video conferencing on January 20.

Conducted virtually due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, this year’s event included a panel discussion led by Karyn Charvat, Executive Director of Power Forward DuPage and featuring Ron Lunt, Office Division Partner and Founding Partner of Hamilton Partners and Greg Bedalov, President and CEO of Choose DuPage, the County’s economic development agency.

In his Address, Cronin reported that 2021 will be both a “transformational and transitional” year for DuPage County due to the health care and economic crisis created by the Pandemic.

DuPage has weathered the storm better that most counties in Illinois and even nationally, with an unemployment rate of only 5.4 percent reported by the end of November 2020, as compared to the high of 14.7 percent last April, which was even higher than the 10.2 percent back in January 2010 coming out the Great Recession of 2007-09.

The County shared $43 million of its $161 million in funding from last March’s federal Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Stability (CARES) Act with municipalties, including $2.4 million to the City of Elmhurst in reimbursements for police, fire and other COVID-19 expenses.

Administered by Choose DuPage, the County used CARES Act monies to fund $20.49 million in forgivable $15,000 Reinvest DuPage Grants to 1,621 small businesses and not-for-profit organizations, including the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce and Industry.  Of those grants, some $5 million went to support restaurants and bars.