Civil Municipal Magazine - Nov 2023

91 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 11 Chamber of Commerce adds: “Considering we’re not a big city, we’re a village, one of the things that jumps out to me in Mokena is the diversity of the opportunities for employment here. You can be in any industry that you want because there is so much opportunity in multiple different fields. We have retail, restaurants, light manufacturing, and medical facilities that have been growing in recent years. You can teach; we have multiple public and private schools and colleges. I can’t think of a field that you might want to enter that doesn’t have an opportunity here.” Where business comes to stay Two chief agenda items for any municipality wishing to attract and retain businesses and residents are keeping up with its them. JJC has been great for the community. We have a great presence of universities in the region including Northwestern, Depaul, Loyola, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois. We have a great educated workforce in Illinois.” “Mokena is also home to the Local 597 Pipefitters Training Center,” says Anderson. “This is a state-of-the-art training facility used by the local pipefitters for apprenticeship programs such as HVAC mechanical services, the building trades, gas distribution, and welding. The program is considered by many to be one of, if not, the best construction industry apprentice program in the world.” Melissa Fedora, Executive Director of the Mokena MOKENA , I LL INOIS