As Mayor of Rockford since May 1, 2017, Tom McNamara’s top priorities have been Public Safety, Neighborhoods and Economic Development. He’s also worked diligently to provide more educational opportunities for our young people and to strengthen our City’s finances.

PUBLIC SAFETY

There is nothing more important to our City than the health and safety of our citizens. To improve public safety, we need to be both creative and vigilant. At the same time, we need to address crime at its roots. We need to be proactive in preventing crime before it happens. There are new and innovative programs for our youth which deter and prevent criminal behavior. Mayor McNamara is committed to continue implementing and expanding proactive programs to reduce crime, along with bringing resources to our mental health crisis and drug abuse epidemic.

Prevention and Intervention:

• FAMILY PEACE CENTER - Opened the state's first Family Peace Center for victims of domestic and sexual violence.
• EDUCATORS' TEAM - Created an educators' team to develop an annual two-day summit, as well as training and assistance for educators to identify and respond to children in crisis from domestic and sexual violence.
• NAVIGATORS - Worked with Rockford Park District and YMCA to support embedding navigators into afterschool youth recreation sites to connect youth and their families to additional services and resources.
• HANDLE WITH CARE - Collaborated with Rockford Public Schools and Rockford Police Department to create a notification system to provide school staff with notice that a student may have been exposed to a traumatic event.
• STEP UP PROGRAM - Implemented a 12-week intervention/diversion program for youth and their families to receive group and individual support.
• HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESPONSE TEAM - Established a Human Trafficking Response Team to identify, refer, investigate and prosecute human trafficking in Winnebago County.
• CAMP HOPE - Launched Camp Hope for youth to help them process experiences of being exposed to domestic and/or sexual violence in a trauma-informed way to help with healing and finding hope.
• NO ENTRY PROGRAM - Launched a five-year initiative to address racial and ethnic disparities and reduce the number of youth entering the justice system with a new no entry program.
• RE-ENTRY PROGRAM - Partnered with Winnebago County to establish a program to identify and deter members of the community who were at a heightened risk of committing future acts of crime and gun violence, as well as helped hire a special prosecutor for the program.
• ENGAGING MEN & BOYS PROJECT - Awarded a grant to develop a train-the-trainer program to help staff of youth-serving agencies identify, respond and redirect behaviors, beliefs and actions that may lead to violence against women, girls and marginalized communities and encourage them to be positive mentors to their peers.
• COMMUNITY HEALING CENTER- Awarded a grant to support the establishment of a Community Healing Center, a multiagency, multidisciplinary facility, where children exposed to violence, and their families can receive healing and supportive services that promote trauma recovery, youth development, and violence prevention and interventions.
• YOUTH PROGRAMS - Supported youth programs, such as Comprehensive Community Solutions, 815 Alive, New Genres Art Space and Boys and Girls Club, to provide youth with positive experiences and outlets, as well as reduce the number of youth entering the criminal justice system.
• WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS - Partnered with a local minority contractor to hire at-risk young adults to gain job skills by building sidewalks in neighborhoods across our community. In addition, partnered with another contractor to establish pre-apprenticeship program for vertical construction.
• CRIME REDUCTION PROGRAMS - Provided funds to both Northwest Rockford Neighbors, Inc., and Community Life Center to establish youth programming to help with crime reduction and violence prevention.
• VIOLENCE PREVENTION RESPONSE TEAM - Worked with a grassroots team to respond in real time to violence. The team connects shooting victims to long term navigation and support in an effort to start their recovery, develop a pathway out of violence and prevent retaliatory shootings.
• BARBERSHOP PROJECT - Provided tools and education to local barbers and beauticians to help interrupt the cycle of violence and support the mental wellbeing of clients.
• MY LIFE MY CHOICE - Introduced a Human Trafficking Prevention curriculum for girls ages 12-18 to learn the signs of grooming and human trafficking so they are equipped to recognize tactics and seek help.
• VIOLENCE PREVENTION COORDINATING COUNCIL - Convened a multidisciplinary team to organize and align violence prevention efforts.
• SCHOOL BASED HEALING CENTERED FRAMEWORK - Identified and participated in the development of a framework that promotes healing centered practices for staff, scholars, and community exposed to trauma.

Enforcement:

• OFFICERS - Increased our authorized police force to more than 300 officers.
• LICENSE PLATE READERS - Purchased more than 150 mobile and stationary license plate readers.
• CAMERAS - Quadrupled the number of cameras in high traffic and high crime areas.
• GUN DETECTION - Purchased gunshot detection software.
• SOCIAL ANALYTIC SOFTWARE - Instituted social analytic software to track use of social media by criminals.
• BODY WORN CAMERAS - Equipped each officer with a body worn camera and each vehicle with a dash camera.
• PARTNERSHIPS - Continued strong partnerships with local agencies, including Loves Park Police, Park District Police and the Sheriff's Department.
• RELATIONSHIPS - Strengthened our relationship with the State Police, FBI, DEA and ATF.
• CCRT - Created the Crisis Co-Response Team, which couples law enforcement with social workers, to respond to mental health crisis calls.
• SPEED RADAR DETECTION - Purchased speed radar detection equipment for all marked patrol vehicles to increase the amount of officers who are equipped to enforce traffic violations, which allows for an increase in traffic safety operations within the City.

Additional Strategies:

• EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION - Doubled the number of children in Early Childhood Education, as well as doubled the number of hours Head Start students are in the classroom.
• BUSINESS ACCELERATOR - Supported Think Big to create a small business incubator for minority and women owned businesses.
• SCHOLARSHIPS - Created the Rockford Promise NIU partnership to provide any child who lives in Rockford and graduates from RPS with a 3.0 GPA free tuition for four years at NIU.
• EXCEL CENTER - Provided funding to Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois to support the development of an Excel Center, where students can obtain a high school diploma, workforce training and dual credits while offering free child care and other support services.
• NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT - Launched a Neighborhood Improvement Initiative to bring community resources and services directly to six neighborhoods negatively impacted by violent crime.
• CANNABIS FUND - Designated the 3% local sales tax on recreational cannabis to support various programs for economic and business development; education; youth programming; job training; health; or other financial assistance to individuals, businesses, and communities within the City that have been disproportionately impacted by cannabis-related laws.

NEIGHBORHOODS

Mayor McNamara worked to strengthen neighborhoods by reducing property taxes, investing in infrastructure, and tackling blight. The foundation of our community is our neighborhoods. We will continue to put more funding into neighborhood streets and use a data-driven approach to make better decisions.

• CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN: Used City funds to leverage State/Federal funding and implement the largest Capital Improvement Programs (CIP) in the City’s history, as well as ncreased the amount of money designated for neighborhood streets and sidewalks.
• WATER INFRASTRUCUTRE PLAN: Approved the largest Water Infrastructure Plan our City’s history.
• WEBSITE: Launched a web-based tool on City of Rockford website to track infrastructure projects.
• TAX REBATE PROGRAM: Established a new three-year Tax Rebate Program for newly-built construction.
• BLIGHT REMOVAL: Reduced blight by demolishing both commercial and residential properties.
• REHABING HOMES: Worked with Northern Illinois Community Development Corporation to fix distressed/foreclosed homes and sell them for owner-occupied usage.
• DAVIS PARK: Started redeveloping Davis Park into a destination for residents and visitors alike.
• TREE PROGRAM: Launched A new Residential Tree Removal Program to help address dead and dying trees on private property.
• REGISTRY: Created a Vacant and Foreclosed Property Registry to track vacant structures in process of foreclosure and address issues with properties before they drag down neighborhoods.
• LAND BANK: Partnered to create a Land Bank to focus on clearing titles to vacant, abandoned, and blighted properties and return them to tax rolls generating additional revenue.
• FIBER OPTIC NETWORK: Partnered with SiFi Networks to install an underground, high-speed fiber optic network in front of every home in Rockford.
• LED LIGHTS: Transitioned all street lights to LED, added back many lights that were taken out in 2012.
• PUBLIC ART: Added more than 50 murals and wrapped utility boxes throughout the community.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Mayor McNamara and his team have worked to improve the entrepreneurial climate to stimulate small-business growth, aiding local businesses and entrepreneurs that want to open or expand business in Rockford. Priorities have been providing economic development incentives to enhance business opportunities with long-term growth potential to create stable jobs with livable wages.

• HARD ROCK CASINO: Advocated for a casino in Rockford and secured Hard Rock as our casino partner.
• BMO CENTER: Secured $23M for renovations, including new ice, new sound, new lighting, new entrance and new customer attractions.
• DOWNTOWN: Continued to develop downtown with the new Rockford Public Library, Water Power Lofts, 301 South Main and Barber Colman.
• STELLANTIS: Worked with the Northern Illinois Council of Governments to develop a plan with Stellantis to reopen the Belvidere Assembly Plant as a parts distribution center, build a new assembly plant for a mid-sized pickup truck and build a new electric vehicle battery plant.
• PCI: Supported PCI Pharma Services, a leading global contract development and manufacturing organization, in creating two new facilities, which will not only make a tremendous impact on the local Rockford community through job creation but will also have a significant impact on delivering life-changing treatments to patients.
• BUSINESS INCUBATOR: Worked with Think Big to develop a Small Business Incubator to provide technical assistance, training and other business development services to entrepreneurs and small businesses.
• PASSENGER RAIL: Secured Metra to provide safe and reliable passenger rail between Chicago and Rockford.
• MAGELLAN TELESCOPE: Celebrated the Giant Magellan Telescope at Ingersoll, which is the most powerful telescope on Earth and is designed to discovered the unknown.
• COLLINS AEROSPACE: Opened the GRID at Collins Aerospace, a $50 million investment, which is the most advanced electric power systems lab.
• AIRPORT: The Chicago Rockford International Airport continues to grow, increasing employees from 4,700 to 8,500.
• AAR: announced a $2.6 million investment to support and expand workforce training, pipeline development and 80 apprenticeships at AAR's Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at our airport.
• FORWARD FOR FUN: Established a program to allocate money in each ward to create new, free events.
• REGROW GRANTS: Created a grant program funded by our 3% local tax on adult-use cannabis retail sales.
• VISITORS: Broke record for visitors spending with $508.5 million in 2022.

EDUCATION

While schools are independent of City government, they are not independent of our community. The futures of our schools and our City are intricately tied together. Mayor McNamara has worked to increase collaboration between the City and schools to boost our number of college graduates.

We have worked with local private sector businesses to create partnerships with our college-bound students. We also need to invest in a vocational center to provide after-school training programs for those students who feel college is not the right fit for them. Investing in education is critical to our economic development.

• ROCKFORD PROMISE: Established the Rockford Promise NIU Scholarship Program, enabling students from Rockford who attend a Rockford Public School and earn a 3.0 GPA to attend Northern Illinois University tuition and general fee FREE.
• EXCEL CENTER: Allocated funding to Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois to support the development an Excel Center, where students can obtain a high school diploma, workforce training and earn dual credits while offering free child care and other support services.
• YOUTH: Supported youth by providing funds to local organizations, including Comprehensive Community Solutions, YMCA, 815 Alive, New Genres Art Space, Boys and Girls Club, Northwest Community Center and Community Life Center.
• WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: Partnered with a local minority contractor to hire at-risk young adults to gain job skills by building sidewalks in neighborhoods across our community, as well as partnered with another contractor to establish a pre-apprenticeship program for vertical construction.