Why was MAPPING the Future program created?
Governments throughout rural Illinois faced a series of threats and challenges during the 1980s and early 1990s. Employment opportunities in the industrial, manufacturing, and farming sectors were declining. As the number of goods-producing jobs declined, young people and other talented individuals left rural Illinois for higher-paying careers in urban areas. Weakened economies, aging populations, and a gradual erosion of public infrastructure systems only accelerated a downward spiral of shrinking property values, limited tax bases, failing schools, and the loss of other public services in rural areas. This crisis prompted action in many towns facing socioeconomic chaos – some thrived, but a few barely survived. The MAPPING the Future of Your Community program was created in 1991 at the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, located at Western Illinois University, Macomb, Ill. With initial support from the Office of the Lt. Governor and the Governor’s Rural Affairs Council, the MAPPING
