Illinois State Senators Announce 2024 Funding Priorities and Include $675,000 to mHUB for Regional Supply Chain Development
On Monday, March 25, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth announced the Illinois priorities supported in a second set of funding bills that outline congressionally directed spending and appropriations for the fiscal year 2024. Referred to collectively as a “minibus” of government funding bills, mHUB has been included with an earmark of $675,000 to support the organization’s work in growing a regional supply chain network by connecting entrepreneurs with local suppliers and contract manufacturers.
The full list of funding priorities were outlined in the March 25 announcement, which followed a March 9 announcement highlighting the first set of bills.
The mHUB Supply Chain Network project will support hardtech startups in developing scalable domestic supply chains to accelerate commercialization. mHUB will build upon a diverse, regional supply chain network and develop a technical assistance program that connects domestic suppliers and contract manufacturers with hardtech entrepreneurs. These associations will lower barriers to entrepreneurship and manufacturing and improve the likelihood of success for product-based startups and the ability to scale.
This funding will strengthen work already in progress, such as that being done in partnership with the Heartland Climate Tech Partnership, Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center, and Illinois Manufacturers' Association, which received U.S. Small Business Administration funding last year.
“Illinois has shown a commitment to supporting and reshoring its manufacturing base and recognizes that early-stage innovators building hardtech and physical technologies can play a large role in the stability and growth of regional supply chains,” said Haven Allen, mHUB CEO and co-founder. “We thank Senators Durbin and Duckworth for recognizing the potential growth opportunity of pairing entrepreneurs with manufacturing resources to build resiliency, ensure that we keep our innovations U.S. made, and ultimately strengthen the economy.”
Quotes from the announcement are as follows:
“While I am frustrated at this year’s unnecessarily drawn out process of funding the government, I am encouraged to see strong, bipartisan support for the second ‘minibus,’” said Durbin. “These bills complete funding for Fiscal Year 2024, bolstering programs that benefit Illinois’ families, communities, and economy.”
“Our state and nation are stronger when we invest in our communities and families, and that’s what these bipartisan funding bills do,” said Duckworth. “I’m relieved we were able to pass a strong bipartisan package that not only prevents a partial government shutdown that would have hurt working families across our nation, but that also fully funds the government for the remainder of the 2024 fiscal year and secures critical support for projects all throughout our state. The Congressional Directed Spending we secured in these bills will help strengthen Illinois’s economy, providing much-needed improvements to infrastructure, cleaning up our drinking water and helping keep our communities safe.”
