On December 14, the Chicagoland Manufacturing Renaissance Council (CMRC), program operated by Manufacturing Renaissance (MR), held its first in-person Ministers for Manufacturing (M4M) committee meeting since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was hosted at Matot, Inc., manufacturing company in Bellwood, IL in the western suburbs of Chicago. Jim Piper, President of Matot and CeCe Matot, 4th generation owner of Matot, welcomed 9 members of the M4M committee both in-person and through video conference to learn more about this important manufacturing company in our region. Matot manufacturers high-precision dumbwaiters for hospitality and medical sectors and industrial dampers. Jim also serves on the CMRC Leadership Committee.
Rev. Anthony Haynes, Chairman, led the agenda to begin the nominating process to fill the co-chair positions to help build the faith community network across the westside, southside, suburban and statewide. Faith leaders are a strategic part of community-based economic development. The CMRC seeks to engage and activate our faith leaders as advocates for manufacturing-oriented development and related training and education programs. MR’s David Robinson and Erica Staley shared program updates including the latest on the Cook County Early Warning Network development and our interest to engage the M4M members to help build out the community-based network to share information about local manufacturers who may benefit from assistance to avoid layoffs and untimely closures keeping good jobs and good companies in our communities. The meeting concluded with a tour of Matot’s factory floor and commitments to share the calendar of quarterly meetings in 2022 and upcoming advocacy days.