QUINCY (WGEM) – John Wood Community College, The Great River Economic Development Foundation and five regional manufacturing companies launched the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) today at John Wood’s Workforce Development Center.

This is Illinois’ first FAME chapter. JWCC’s President Bryan Renfro said the work-study program is intended to recruit, educate and train individuals into the manufacturing profession.

The FAME program at JWCC is intended to boost advanced manufacturing training in the area.

Students will attend JWCC two days a week and will work three days a week at one of the sponsored manufacturing companies.

“The unique thing about this program is students are employees while they go to college,” said Renfro.

Before working with an employer, the students will get several different manufacturing training.

“Using different types of training simulators ranging from ranging from electrical, mechanical, hydraulics, pneumatics even HVAC,” Renfro said.

Once they get done with the simulators, students will be sponsored by a manufacturing company and will get to use what they have learned in real life.

“They’re going to come here and learn how to work on the equipment learn how to do things that need to be done and they’re going to be working with tradesmen at the facility,” said Knapheide Maintenance and Facility Manager Chuck Makins.

When students are finished they can get right into the workforce with the company they trained with.

“It’s going to run around five semesters for the students, and I believe it’s about 80 hours worth of time at school,” Makins said.

All of the skills they learn in the program will help them advance quickly in their careers.

“Gives them the skills that they need to be promoted rather rapidly through the workforce environment,” Renfro said.

Dot Foods, General Mills, Titan Wheel, Gardner Denver (Ingersoll Rand), and Knapheide are the companies that will sponsor students for the program.

Renfro said they’re expecting to recruit between 15 to 18 students.

He said the college will spend the next few months reviewing applicants.

They expect students to start working with one of the sponsored companies in June or July and students will start classes for the program in August.

To apply or read more information on the program, click here.

Copyright 2023 WGEM. All rights reserved. https://www.wgem.com/2024/01/12/jwcc-gredf-regional-manufacturing-companies-create-illinois-first-fame-chapter/

QUINCY (WGEM) – The Great River Economic Development Foundation says 77 new businesses opened their doors in 2023, a trend they say they want to see continue in 2024 and beyond.

One of those new businesses was Platt Daddy BBQ which opened in April 2023. Owner Jeremy Platt said getting to that point wasn’t easy.

He said they had purchased the building in 2022 and had to remodel the inside. He said construction costs went over budget, and inflation didn’t help. He said startup costs were also high with their fryer’s hood vent costing around $20,000. He said taxes as well tend to take a lot of money from them. He said he was lucky he had some friends to help him get his business started.

“My sister in law who is a finance director for Chaddock, she’s really good with numbers so she made sure I was overly prepared for when it came to that business plan,” Platt said.

He said the downtown community in general is very helpful. He said while he didn’t utilize any community resources, having resources like that available to a business like his is helpful.

With the 77 new businesses, including major ones like Target and Planet Fitness, economic officials at the Great River Economic Development Foundation want to keep the momentum going.

Madison Badgley, the Director of Business Development, said their business start up guide and concierge program have helped many new businesses navigate red tape and state and federal regulations. She said it’s also helped them create plans and know where to go to get help, such as resources and grants. She said they want to continue to find ways to support current businesses, and attract new ones.

“One of the biggest things is we’re always looking for ways to expand upon the Business Concierge program,” Badgley said. “Businesses often are dealt with new changing of employment laws or different laws coming down from the state and federal level and so we are always looking for ways to help them navigate that and continue to thrive,”

She said if they can help current businesses thrive, it makes the area a more business friendly. She said they try to make sure there are resources and help available to help businesses thrive in the area, that way future entrepreneurs know they will have assistance.

the new businesses that opened in Adams County in 2023 are the following:

8te Open

A New Creation Salon

All Puckered Up

Bard Optical

Benson Financial Group

Bin to Bin Mobile Cleaning

Bricktown Inn

CC’s Coffee Bar

CR’s Bakery

Crazy Acres Entertainment

Creative Co. Balloon Design

Enchanted Books

Extra Mile Auto Care

Flawless

Franks

Funky Finds

Games N Grains

Geek E -Services

Golden Collective

Grains & Grounds Brewing Company

Greenhaus Cafe

High Caliber Custom Coatings

High Pressure Power Washing

Home Instead

Hooligans Tavern

ImmunoTek IV

Wellness Studio

Jeni’s Odd Pets

JoJo’s Grooming Pawlor

Karlie’s Bakeshop

Kick it to Kay

Lakeview Wedding Venue

Limitless Medical

Live Well Studio

Luxe Stogie Co.

Maverick’s Landing Zone Lounge & Venue

Modern Social: Media Management Co

Nichols Heating and Cooling

Organize Plus

Perk Coffee Co.

Peters Lawn Care

Planet Fitness

Platt Daddy BBQ Pryor

Homewash Plus

Q-town Kicks

Q-Town Lawncare

Revival Coffee

Rooted Yoga

Roscos Chuck Wagon

Salon Bestie

LLC Severs Orthodontics

Shake Shack

Shandi’s Coffee & Creams

LLC Shear Approval Landscaping

Shelby Job Agency

Strandz Hair Salon

Strategic Management Consulting

Sweet Lady Jane’s Bakery

T-John Lawn Service

Tannie Kakes

Target

The Engraved Hive

The Farm Stand

The Hangout

The Q

The Rodeo

The WearHouse

Tiny Trends Baby Boutique

ToneCraft Media

Trudy’s Trendy Boutique

United Alloy

Verizon

Vessel Fitness

Wahlburgers

Waylon Rhoads Jewelry

Yoga Bee

Your Mamas Food Truck

Copyright 2023 WGEM. All rights reserved. https://www.wgem.com/2024/01/05/economic-development-leader-looks-continue-adams-county-business-growth/

QUINCY (WGEM) – A new Illinois law requiring mandatory paid time off has been enacted.

It allows people working a minimum of 40 hours a week to earn one hour of PTO for every week they work 40 hours.

Kyle Moore, the President of the Great River Economic Development Foundation, said there’s still a hiring shortage throughout the Tri-States. He said at any given time in Adams County alone, there can be up to 650 open jobs.

He said companies have taken steps to attract workers by increasing pay and benefits, and even offering tuition reimbursement. He said they’ve even seen small businesses like restaurants and retail shops offer paid time off, something they usually don’t do. However, with the new law making it mandatory for all businesses, he said they’ve heard concerns from area businesses.

“What we’re hearing really are concerns about first, how do they keep their books, how do they make sure that as an employee accrues paid time off, how are they making sure that they’re accurately reflecting what the employee has earned,” Moore said.

Moore said businesses are concerned about keeping track of an employee’s PTO and how to record them so they can follow state guidelines. He said there are also concerns for budgeting PTO as well. He said this could harm economic development due to the added cost.

Moore said there is some potential that workers in Iowa and Missouri wanting extra PTO might come over the river to work in Illinois.

Jon Meckler, the Regional Director for Chick’s Restaurants, said this could be a great opportunity for restaurants.

Meckler said restaurants are known for their turnover rates, and he thinks the new mandatory PTO law might help reduce that turnover rate. He said Chick’s offers PTO for higher-level employees, but with this, for all employees who work a minimum of 40 hours a week, it would be great for them. He said it can provide an incentive for employees to stay, but also be a good recruiting tool as well.

“Getting more quality applicants that know they can be taken care of better and have better benefits because restaurants are kind of known for not having the benefits of vacation time, sick, pay leave and all that and this could help bridge that gap a little bit,” Meckler said.

Meckler said this could attract more full-time workers to restaurants as well. He said if there are more full-time workers they could give workers more responsibility, such as ordering supplies or working more around the food. He said something like this could also help boost morale in the restaurant industry.

Moore said for businesses wanting information on how to keep track of their employees’ PTO or assistance navigating the law, he encourages them to call the Great River Economic Development Foundation at 217-223-4313.

Copyright 2023 WGEM. All rights reserved. https://www.wgem.com/2024/01/03/mandatory-pto-required-illinois-businesses/

Published: Dec. 20, 2023 at 4:27 AM CST

QUINCY (WGEM) – If you’ve searched for local child care and come up short, you are not alone.

It’s something economic development leaders said they want to tackle as 2023 turns into 2024.

Administrators at Quincy’s 10th Street Children’s Academy said they usually have the capacity to take up to 150 children, but right now they can only care for 100 because of the state’s staff to child ratio policies.

Child Care Director Alison Berhorst said the demand for infant and toddler care is the highest as those demands make up most of their waiting list, which is at almost 200 kids. She said currently they have 25 staff members. She said when they attempt to recruit staff, they often face challenges from college students who have concerns about entering the childcare field.

“Looking at the medium wage for early childhood teachers, it’s substantially less than other careers that may have the same level of education so definitely pay is an important one,” Alison Berhorst said

She said their starting pay is $15 an hour while other places pay minimum wage. Berhorst said benefits are another challenge. Limited funds mean they can’t provide certain things like health care, but they can offer PTO, sick days, and retirement benefits to help their workers.

Berhorst said one way they’ve managed to help with staffing is by partnering with local colleges like John Wood Community College to provide students with internship opportunities at their facility. She said it not only gives them classroom experience, but also has helped recruit future workers

Great River Economic Development Foundation Kyle Moore said the lack of staff impacts just how many children facilities are able to take care of, and it has effects on the workforce and economy. He said for parents, a lack of childcare slots means they have to decide who works and who stays at home. He said for employers, it hinders their ability to recruit people. State regulations require a certain staff to child ratio, and when facilities are short staffed, it means less children at their facility.

He said they continue to discuss strategies with facilities and employers to help fix the childcare shortage.

“We really want to work to get more people into childcare and to get them to understand that it’s a wonderful life fulfilling career,” Moore said. “One of the things that we want to do is work with our partners across our institutions of learning to reduce the cost to obtain a career in education and childcare.”

He said they also want to focus on staffing and supporting existing facilities locally. He said building new centers would only take away workers from current struggling centers.

He said support can take the form of grants or partnerships, and working with existing facilities to help them navigate red tape and other regulations.

Moore said a common problem childcare facilities face is how long background checks on people take. He said when facilities hire someone, the background check can take one to two months, and by the time it gets back, the person might have found another job.

Copyright 2023 WGEM. All rights reserved.

https://www.wgem.com/2023/12/20/leader-look-address-quincy-child-care-shortage/

QUINCY (WGEM) – The Great River Economic Development Foundation had its annual 2023 meeting Tuesday night.

GREDF members and community leaders attended the meeting to look back on the economic successes of 2023.

GREDF members said Target and United Alloy boosted this year’s economic development.

They said next year’s plan will focus on affordable housing and job demands in the community.

“Work with elected leaders to adopt a strategy to combat the housing shortages that we have here so that way its more affordable and that people have more choices. We also know that childcare is a huge barrier for people to gain employment and so we want to continue to work with our partners to really develop some childcare solutions,” said GREDF President Kyle Moore.

GREDF members said they released a housing study last year and will implement their plans for it in 2024.

Copyright 2023 WGEM. All rights reserved.

https://www.wgem.com/2023/12/13/great-river-economic-development-foundation-hosts-2023-annual-meeting/

QUINCY (WGEM) – Those at the Great River Economic Development Foundation say they have a lot to celebrate.

President Kyle Moore said when they hold their annual meeting Tuesday, they will not only highlight past accomplishments but also plan future initiatives.

Moore said past successes include bringing Target to Quincy, bringing 73 new families to the city through their Q-Wrap program and the fact that 40 businesses have signed up for their Business Concierge Program.

He said they plan to announce three new workforce development programs to further help the businesses community in 2024.

“A lot of times in economic development, our current businesses and residents always ask why we always try to attract people from outside of the area and what are we doing for people that are already here?” Moore said.

Moore said the programs are designed to re-skill and re-develop the area’s existing workforce. He said they will continue to support local businesses.

Adams County Board chairman Kent Snider said GREDF has done a great job bringing businesses like Target to the Quincy area, as it’s brought jobs and other businesses along with it. He said he wants to see more businesses come to town, like restaurants and retail, to help bring more jobs to the area. Snider said he also wants to hear or see some more action when it comes to developing the riverfront.

“That can really help the economy and bring a lot of visitors here so we really need to get that off the ground and we’re still stuck in the process of burying the lines,” he said. “We need to get that finished so we can move forward and build our dock, build our amphitheater, whatever we want to do down there.”

Door open for the meeting tonight at 4:45 p.m. at the Oakley-Lindsay Center and the event starts at 5:30 p.m.. All members of the community are welcome to attend.

Copyright 2023 WGEM. All rights reserved.

QUINCY (WGEM) – The Great River Economic Development Foundation hosted the fourth annual MakerFest on Thursday morning at the Oakley-Lindsay Center in Quincy.

The event highlighted National Manufacturing Month, which is in October.

Dozens of companies came from across the Tri-States and set up display booth for students to have the chance to ask questions about future local career opportunities.

GREDF Director of Workforce Development Angela Caldwell highlighted how Tri-State junior and senior high school students get to live locally after graduation.

“The different things that they can do right here at home – they don’t have to go to another state or a larger city,” Caldwell said. “They can stay here around family and get a very good head-of-household job.”

More than 250 students from 16 schools across the region attended MakerFest, eager to learn more about what careers the Tri-States has to offer.

John Wood Community College Dean of External Relations Tracy Orne said the students who attended MakerFest already have their foot in the door when inquiring about potential career opportunities.

“Employers come to our classes while students are learning to recruit them, so today is a first job interview, I would say,” Orne said. “Saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to go to John Wood and get this training, what kind of jobs might you have for me when I complete this?’”

Upon graduation, they can seek local full-time employment in fields like manufacturing, logistics and other skilled trades with just one to three years of training.

Copyright 2023 WGEM. All rights reserved.