Eastern Iowa Community College District (EICCD) received more than $1.5 million to provide job training for people in the Quad Cities area. These funds were made available through the U.S. Department of Labor's Community Based Job Training Initiative. Although the job-training project was developed specifically for those working in the transportation and warehousing industries, the skills that will be taught are valuable for local workers in several other industries, including health care, food processing, wholesale/retail trade, and office services. These industries employ 45 percent of the Quad Cities area's available workforce.
The Bettendorf Jaycees are currently seeking nominations for the following awards: Citizen of the Year, Religious Leader of the Year, and Educator of the Year. To nominate a Bettendorf resident for any of these awards, write to the Bettendorf Jaycees at (bettendorfjaycees@hotmail.com) or send a letter to President Don Wells, 2511 Bellevue Ave., Bettendorf IA 52722 by January 10. List why you think your nomination should win, and be sure to specify the category.
If you pet is the star of the family, enter the Humane Society of Scott County's "Pet Pawparazzi Photo Contest" in January. Pet photos can be submitted in 12 categories. The entry fee is $4 per photo, and all proceeds benefit the Humane Society. All entries must be received by January 29. To enter, download the form at (http://www.hssc.us) or pick one up at 5001 North Brady Street in Davenport. No professional photos allowed. Photos will only by returned with a self-addressed stamped envelope. For more information, call (563) 388-6655 or email (adoptapet@hotmail.com).
River Action is introducing an Environmental Book Club in January to discuss books focusing on environmental issues past and present and relating, whenever possible, to the Mississippi River watershed and the Quad Cities area. The first book will be The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan. That book will be discussed on January 30 at 7 p.m. at the Rock Island Main Library, and on January 31 at 10 a.m. at the Davenport Main Library. To learn more, call (563) 322-2969 or e-mail (riveraction@netexpress.net).
The Figge Art Museum in Davenport has been awarded a $120,000 grant from the prestigious Henry Luce Foundation. The grant, which will be paid in installments of $40,000 over three years, supports the Grant Wood archives project. The grant will enable the Figge to properly conserve archives that include personal possessions; handwritten letters and scrapbooks of letters; photos and gallery announcements from the 1920s to 1942; and material that Grant Wood's sister, Nan Wood Graham, collected until 1975. The archives have been used by numerous American art scholars and researchers who have studied and written about Wood's studio, his art, and his life.
Iowa has received more than $1.1 million in Emergency Food & Shelter (EFS) program grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This funding will help Iowa's social-service agencies feed and provide shelter to those who are hungry and homeless. Scott County received $82,561. EFS grants help nearly 12,000 agencies nationwide prevent homelessness and provide food and shelter. Specifically, EFS funds are used to supplement food-, shelter-, rent-, mortgage-, and utility-assistance programs for people with non-disaster-related emergencies. More than $2.9 billion in EFS grants have been distributed to local communities since the program was authorized by Congress in 1983. The money given to Iowa this year will be divided among 19 counties and a general state fund.
Quad Cities families are invited to celebrate the arrival of 2007, family style, at the New Year's at Noon celebration at the Bettendorf Family YMCA on Sunday, December 31. The event will include a countdown to noon with Father Time (also known as Bettendorf Mayor Mike Freemire), a balloon drop, and holiday treats. The event will be held from noon until 2 p.m, at the Bettendorf Family YMCA at 3800 Tanglefoot Lane. Doors will open at 11:30 a.m., and the first 100 children will receive free party favors. The event is free for YMCA members and $10 per family for community members.
More than a century after Rudolf Diesel pioneered the engine - which ran on peanut oil, the original "biodiesel" - that would bear his name, we are still running diesel engines on sludge pumped from the ground. The Midwest is a hotbed for alternative fuels, with plants sprouting like spring corn to generate biodiesel- and ethanol-based fuels. I won't get into the argument about efficiencies of production between the two, but I would like to know where in the Quad Cities metropolitan area you can buy either of these fuels. The nearest biodiesel station that I've been able to find is in Iowa City. There are no E-85 fueling stations that I've been able to find within reasonable driving distance. The gas-station owners that I've talked to have no idea how to get these fuels for their customers, and the fuel distributors are even less help. If anyone knows of gas stations that sell either of these fuels, please contact me at (cityshorts@rcreader.com).
Fejervary Children's Zoo will accept a grant from Guardian Industries of DeWitt, Iowa, to help pay for renovations planned for the petting zoo. The renovations include modeling the petting zoo after an Iowa farm in miniature scale. Plans are in the works to resurface the exterior and interior of the existing barn structure. When complete, the barn will have customized stalls and pens suitable for housing miniature horses, calves, sheep, goats, pigs, ducks, and turkeys. Further support for this project is needed, and donations can be made to the Fejervary Zoological Society; P.O. Box 2122; Davenport IA 52809.
A contingent of 22 nurses with Genesis Medical Center was the first to complete a program designed to enhance patient care by increasing the nurses' clinical reasoning skills and cultural sensitivity among staff and toward patients. Other goals include increasing nurse retention and satisfaction. The 12-credit certificate program is a collaboration between St. Ambrose University and Genesis Medical Center that is funded through a five-year, $723,600 U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration grant.
