DuPage County Wins Awards
DuPage County received seven Achievement Awards from the National Association of Counties. The awards honor innovative, effective county government programs that strengthen services for residents.
“DuPage County strives to be a leader at the state and national levels. We’re proud to share information about our initiatives with other government leaders nationwide. And we are gratified to receive this recognition from NACo,” county board Chair Deborah Conroy said.
Each year, NACo’s Achievement Awards recognize outstanding programming in 18 categories aligned with the comprehensive services counties provide. The categories include children and youth, criminal justice and public safety, libraries, management, information technology, health, civic engagement and more.
DuPage County won awards for the following programs.
• Back to School, Back to Work — an initiative designed by workNet DuPage to assist parents who took an extended career break to take care of their children but are now planning a return to the workforce
• Realtime Winter Weather Solution — a real-time application that tracks and monitors snowplow operations during a snow event to track the location of the snowplow, temperature of the roadway, salt usage from each plow truck and recency of a roadway being cleared
• Municipal Infrastructure Match-Share Grant Program — a program to assist local communities with needed infrastructure improvements to improve stormwater operations during severe storms
• DuPage County website redesign — the new site prominently features high-demand services, addressing 80 percent of user needs without needing to scroll, and has been streamlined to make it more manageable and more useful to residents
• Police Transparency and Crime Data Portal — the portal shares data with law enforcement and the public
• 18th Judicial Circuit Court QR code project — the code helps victims of domestic violence quickly and safely seek the resources that they need
• Guardianship Family Engagement Mediation Program — this program refers eligible families in probate court to a no-cost mediation program to work with a trained professional mediator
Zoo’s WHIRL GALA A great SUCCESS
Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s 43rd annual Whirl black-tie gala raised more than $1.5 million to benefit animal care and welfare initiatives along with conservation and education programs at the zoo. The event was hosted by the Brookfield Zoo’s Women’s Board and Board of Trustees.
The fundraiser, which was attended by 465 corporate, civic, and philanthropic leaders from the Chicagoland area, was held at the Hilton Chicago. “Brilliant Horizons,” the gala’s theme, celebrated the zoo’s 90th anniversary this year while looking ahead.
Among the attendees were Ruthie, a scarlet macaw; PJ, a prehensile-tailed porcupine; Pederson, a tamandua; Medusa, a Dumeril’s ground boa; and Safia and Kaya, two of the Zoo’s leopard tortoises. The animal ambassadors interacted with guests during the cocktail hour.
The evening included visits by other animal guests, a paddle raise, raffle drawing and live auction.
Photos appear online at http://www.facebook.com/thehinsdalean.
