Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development President Ken Springer returned to Galesburg's Morning News to recap the organization's second annual advocacy trip to Washington, D.C., and to discuss a new national communications series designed to put Galesburg on the radar of housing developers, companies, and site selectors across the country.
Topics covered in this interview:
- Who made the Washington trip and what the delegation accomplished
- Face-to-face meetings with Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, Congressman Eric Sorensen, Representative Darin LaHood's legislative director, and officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration
- The three projects KCAP presented — South Street underpass safety
improvements, the drilling of municipal water wells, and the construction of a modernized fleet maintenance facility.
- Congressman Sorensen's selection of the fleet maintenance facility as one of his 20 congressional spending priorities — and what comes next
- How the congressionally directed spending process works and what role Mercury Public Affairs plays
- What KCAP has learned from two years of Washington advocacy
- "Growth is Galesburg's Story" — the new national profile series and why KCAP is telling Galesburg's story to outside audiences
- Galesburg's momentum heading into the rest of 2026
For more on KCAP's Washington trip and Galesburg's national profile: KCAP returns from Washington with momentum — and a new mission to tell Galesburg's story nationally →