Congressman Eric Sorensen stops in Peoria to discuss local infrastructure

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Congressman Eric Sorensen, Peoria Mayor Rita Ali, Illinois Transportation Secretary Omar Osman, and other leaders in labor met at the Peoria art guild to discuss ways to improve local infrastructure.

Local leaders in central Illinois are seeing a shortage of infrastructure workers across the state.

The biggest takeaway from the discussion is the need to intrigue the younger generation with labor-intensive jobs. They spent the day brainstorming ideas of how to get the younger generation interested in a career in infrastructure.

“We need to make sure that we’re encouraging kids to go into STEM fields today. We need to make sure that the education there is focused on STEM because it’s so important for the viability and the sustainability of our communities,” said Sorensen. 

Congressman Sorensen said he’ll go back to Washington D.C and bring these issues to the floor of the House of Representatives.