When new businesses are considering locating in Champaign County, one of the first things they look at, after the business climate, is education.

"It's very critical to them to have a qualified workforce, and as they recruit and bring people here, they want to make sure we have quality schools," said John Dimit, president of the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation.

The EDC just unveiled an information campaign, called GreatSchoolsGreatLife, aimed at providing information about local schools to companies considering locating in the area, as well as current residents.

The campaign includes a website, http://greatschoolsgreatlife.com/; a video (posted on the GreatSchoolsGreatLife and the Champaign County EDC websites); and public service announcements to air on radio and TV, all with information about education in Champaign County.

"Other places stress education quite a lot when they're trying to attract new businesses to the community," said Dimit, who also is president of the Urbana school board. "This is overdue."

Information about education needs to be online and accessible for prospective businesses, said Tom Bruno, a member of the marketing committee working on the campaign and a Champaign city council member.

"A lot of research occurs before we even know they're looking at us," he said.

Champaign school Superintendent Arthur Culver and Urbana school Superintendent Preston Williams were the education committee co-chairmen on the campaign. Williams noted the campaign includes not only the Champaign and Urbana school districts. It is a countywide effort, he said, including all the public school districts as well as the private schools.

"As a county, we are a tremendous resource for employers and their employees coming in," Williams said. "It's not only pre-K-12 education, but also the assets of the University of Illinois and Parkland. We work a great deal together to ensure students have opportunities many people in the state of Illinois do not have."