Village of Addison Receives "Commitment to Excellence" Award

Lincoln Foundation Recognizes Efforts in Government Service

The Lincoln Foundation for Business Excellence announced that the Village of Addison has received the prestigious Lincoln Award for Commitment to Excellence for the year 2001. Addison will receive one of just four awards to be presented this year, chosen from 15 applicants. Just one other municipality has ever received this award; the Village of Palatine was a 1997 recipient.

"We are pleased that the Lincoln Foundation has recognized our efforts to provide the highest quality services to our residents. This is a great honor for the Village, our elected officials and our staff." said Village Manager Joseph Block. The award was granted to the Village after a three day site visit conducted by eight Foundation assessors in late January. The assessors reviewed several hundred pages of documentation provided by the Village, interviewed approximately one-quarter of the Village staff, and approximately two dozen residents during their visit.

Founded in 1994, The Lincoln Foundation for Business Excellence is a publicly and privately supported not-for-profit organization. It was created to significantly raise Illinois worldwide competitiveness by improving the performance of its institutions and businesses.

The Lincoln Award criteria provide a model for continuous improvement, along with the Lincoln Award recognition program, to candidate organizations in search of excellence in five sectors: Industry, Service, Health Care, Education, and Government. The continuous improvement model is patterned after the national Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award criteria.

Candidates submit a comprehensive application that demonstrates their efforts in seven criteria: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource development and management, process management and organization results.

The Village of Addison received its award at a presentation held on Wednesday, March 13 at the Union League Club in Chicago. Award winners will also be honored by the Illinois House of Representatives in Springfield on Wednesday, April 3.

For more information about the Lincoln Award or the Lincoln Foundation for Business Excellence, visit their web site at www.lincolnaward.org.