Lobbying for Small Towns

Which financial issues are small towns in Illinois facing?

Skills

Data Collection

Data Analysis

Policy

Lobbying

Software

Canva

Excel

My Role

Lobbyist

Web Designer

Bishop Hill, Illinois is a town of barely 100 people in the rural Midwest. Founded in 1846 by Swedish settlers, it is now a national and state historic site due to its cultural events and historical buildings.

Overview

Growing up, I always visited my grandparents in Bishop Hill. When my family immigrated to the United States from Sweden, they settled in the town. I was enamored with the Swedish harvest festivals, dala horses, and cultural reenactments.

Currently, it is facing a sharp population decline, an aging constituency, and deteriorating infrastructure. The village is provided an annual budget of $40,000 by the State of Illinois, which is lower than the average state salary of an individual.

I stepped in as their public relations coordinator to research financial pain points for small towns in the state, lobby for more funding for Bishop Hill, and design a government website to help them move to the digital age.

Process

To begin, I wanted to gain more support from other small towns. I developed a survey to determine the infrastructure, staffing, and administrative challenges of small towns based on funding. To ensure that the survey was clear and easy to respond to, I made most questions multiple-choice or checkbox answers.

After that, I used the Illinois State Comptroller's Office and census data to locate all 236 small towns in Illinois with a population under 250. I contacted every mayor to encourage survey responses.

I gave mayors two months to complete the survey before collecting the data. I analyzed the data for trends and turned it into a flyer.

During the April 2024 Illinois Municipal League Lobby Day I spoke to several legislators in person and gained meetings with 20+ state legislators. Information about Bishop Hill was disseminated to all Illinois General Assembly members.

Website Development

Illinois created the Open Meetings Act, which imposes stricter requirements on transparency of town meeting minutes. Previously, volunteers created and maintained private Bishop Hill websites.

I decided to create an official government website maintained by village board members. The color palette is yellow and blue - based on Sweden - and the font is based on historical signs around the town.

It provides required government information, several useful forms for the town, and focuses on easy accessibility and town knowledge.

Lessons Learned

• Make surveys easy to complete. Many mayors didn't know how to use Google Forms and called me to answer questions. This provided much more useful insight to the struggles of towns.

• When lobbying, pitch a good idea rather than complain. I argued for how Bishop Hill could become the "Napa of the Midwest" rather than complaining about a $40K budget.

• While we imagine the world is technologically updated, we must be aware that many constituencies are not.