The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) recently announced it still has $1.8 million in state grants to offer homeland security manufacturing firms in Illinois for the current fiscal year, according to a report by the Copley News Service.
DCEO also announced that its Innovative Product Grant Program awarded $500,000 in state grant money to five Chicago-area firms. Individual grants ranged from $150,000 to $50,000. DCEO Director Jack Lavin says the grant money will help the selected manufacturing companies create 54 new jobs over the next few years, according to the report.
The firms are variously involved in video surveillance, surveillance camera parts, collapsible fabric storage tanks and transportable metal containers.
The program has already awarded approximately $4 million in grant money to Illinois companies during the past two years, according to the report. An application for Illinois grant funds can be found at www.hsmd.Illinois.gov/hs/IPG.htm.
