• December 21 marked the dedication of Habitat for Humanity-Quad Cities' 25th home. The house is located on Street "A" in Moline and will be home to Elizabeth Thompson and her three sons. Thompson will making a down payment and signing a 20-year mortgage, and has completed at least 250 hours of "sweat equity" (volunteer time) working on her home, other homes under construction, and other Habitat activities. Thompson's home was built in partnership with Bob Buker of Beaver Builders and is Habitat's fourth home in Moline. For more information, see Habitat for Humanity-Quad Cities' Web site at (http://www.habitatqc.org) or call (563)359-9066.
• Tired of being pestered by telemarketers? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is creating a national do-not-call (DNC) list and has adopted new regulations to give individuals greater control over telemarketing. The DNC list will support both telephone and Internet enrollment. Once enrolled, individuals remain on the list for five years. Most telemarketers will be prohibited from calling individuals enrolled on the DNC list. However, charitable organizations, banks, and common carriers that have in-house telemarketing operations will not be affected by the list. (To include those telemarketers, the Federal Communications Commission would have to adopt new sales-call regulations.) For the most up-to-date information, visit (http://www.ftc.gov/donotcall/). The biggest hurdle is that the FTC must obtain approval from Congress to charge telemarketers $16 million to build and administer the list. Additionally, telemarketing industry groups are likely to mount lobbying and litigation campaigns against the new protections.
• Illinois governor-elect Rod Blagojevich has appointed Representative Mike Boland (D-East Moline) to serve as a member of his transition team's advisory committee on ethics. Boland will help develop policy options in an attempt to restore public confidence in state government by utilizing his legislative work in the area of campaign-finance reform, including the drafting of legislation to help local jurisdictions make use of up-to-date technology to ensure that every vote cast is counted. Blagojevich takes office January 13.
• Young professionals involved in the Young Professionals Network (YPN) of the Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce raised nearly $2,500 for local charities this past quarter. Since launched nine months ago, YPN has reached more than 400 young professionals and has made contributions to four local not-for-profit organizations. YPN is an arm of the Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce and is designed to offer young businesspeople an opportunity to become involved in the community, network, and gain an insider's view of the regional business and civic scene. For more information, contact Ashley Voss or Molly Tiernan at (309)757-5416
• The Lincoln Bronze Award for Commitment to Excellence was awarded to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, by The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence in a ceremony held December 10 in Naperville, Illinois. The Lincoln Bronze Award is bestowed upon organizations demonstrating a plan and commitment to implement key management processes to achieve performance excellence. Five Illinois organizations received recognition with either the Silver Award for Progress Toward Excellence or the Bronze Award for Commitment to Excellence. The District was also awarded the Bronze Award in 2001. For more information about The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence, call (630)637-1595 or visit its Web site at (http://www.lincolnaward.org/).
• The Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House is dedicated to providing homeless women and their children with food, shelter, and moral support. If you have any questions, would like to volunteer or drop off an donation, or have suggestions on other ways people can help the Dorothy Day House, call (309)786-1737 or write to 901 20th Street; Rock Island, IL 61201.
• December 31 is the deadline for Iowans to take advantage of college-savings-plan tax deductions. Iowans who open (or contribute to existing) College Savings Iowa accounts by the year's end can deduct up to $2,180 per account on their 2002 taxes. Visit (http://www.collegesavingsiowa.com) or call (888)672-9116 from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday to learn more and start saving.
• GovEngine seeks to promote e-government resource and initiative in accordance with the e-Government Act of 2002. GovEngine contains no advertising (no banners or pop-ups) and no in-framing of any external page and does not open a new browser when a link is clicked. GovEngine's mission is to promote e-government connectivity, and it has more than 180 pages of federal-, state-, and local-government and court resources, all accessible in two clicks. The local-government directory breaks down each state by county and city and has approximately 15,000 links nationwide. See for yourself at (http://www.GovEngine.com).
• The Riverboat Development Authority recently announced that it will purchase the artistic piece known as The Gossips that is part of the Sculpture on Second program initiated in 2002 by the Downtown Partnership (a division of DavenportOne) and Quad City Arts. More than $5,000 of the $15,000 purchase price will be returned to the Downtown Partnership to be used by its volunteer Arts & Culture Task Force to continue the Sculpture on Second project in 2003. For more information on downtown Davenport, visit (http://www.downtowndavenport.com).
• Family Resources was recently awarded a three-year federal grant through the Department of Health & Human Service to provide adoption-preservation services to adoptive families in Scott, Cedar, Muscatine, Louisa, Des Moines, and Lee Counties in Iowa. The variety of services can include adoption-sensitive preparation of a child, preparation and support of the adoptive family, and formal classes to help both child and parents upon adoption finalization. For more information on the programs, call Family Resources at (563)326-6431.
• Tired of being pestered by telemarketers? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is creating a national do-not-call (DNC) list and has adopted new regulations to give individuals greater control over telemarketing. The DNC list will support both telephone and Internet enrollment. Once enrolled, individuals remain on the list for five years. Most telemarketers will be prohibited from calling individuals enrolled on the DNC list. However, charitable organizations, banks, and common carriers that have in-house telemarketing operations will not be affected by the list. (To include those telemarketers, the Federal Communications Commission would have to adopt new sales-call regulations.) For the most up-to-date information, visit (http://www.ftc.gov/donotcall/). The biggest hurdle is that the FTC must obtain approval from Congress to charge telemarketers $16 million to build and administer the list. Additionally, telemarketing industry groups are likely to mount lobbying and litigation campaigns against the new protections.
• Illinois governor-elect Rod Blagojevich has appointed Representative Mike Boland (D-East Moline) to serve as a member of his transition team's advisory committee on ethics. Boland will help develop policy options in an attempt to restore public confidence in state government by utilizing his legislative work in the area of campaign-finance reform, including the drafting of legislation to help local jurisdictions make use of up-to-date technology to ensure that every vote cast is counted. Blagojevich takes office January 13.
• Young professionals involved in the Young Professionals Network (YPN) of the Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce raised nearly $2,500 for local charities this past quarter. Since launched nine months ago, YPN has reached more than 400 young professionals and has made contributions to four local not-for-profit organizations. YPN is an arm of the Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce and is designed to offer young businesspeople an opportunity to become involved in the community, network, and gain an insider's view of the regional business and civic scene. For more information, contact Ashley Voss or Molly Tiernan at (309)757-5416
• The Lincoln Bronze Award for Commitment to Excellence was awarded to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, by The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence in a ceremony held December 10 in Naperville, Illinois. The Lincoln Bronze Award is bestowed upon organizations demonstrating a plan and commitment to implement key management processes to achieve performance excellence. Five Illinois organizations received recognition with either the Silver Award for Progress Toward Excellence or the Bronze Award for Commitment to Excellence. The District was also awarded the Bronze Award in 2001. For more information about The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence, call (630)637-1595 or visit its Web site at (http://www.lincolnaward.org/).
• The Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House is dedicated to providing homeless women and their children with food, shelter, and moral support. If you have any questions, would like to volunteer or drop off an donation, or have suggestions on other ways people can help the Dorothy Day House, call (309)786-1737 or write to 901 20th Street; Rock Island, IL 61201.
• December 31 is the deadline for Iowans to take advantage of college-savings-plan tax deductions. Iowans who open (or contribute to existing) College Savings Iowa accounts by the year's end can deduct up to $2,180 per account on their 2002 taxes. Visit (http://www.collegesavingsiowa.com) or call (888)672-9116 from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday to learn more and start saving.
• GovEngine seeks to promote e-government resource and initiative in accordance with the e-Government Act of 2002. GovEngine contains no advertising (no banners or pop-ups) and no in-framing of any external page and does not open a new browser when a link is clicked. GovEngine's mission is to promote e-government connectivity, and it has more than 180 pages of federal-, state-, and local-government and court resources, all accessible in two clicks. The local-government directory breaks down each state by county and city and has approximately 15,000 links nationwide. See for yourself at (http://www.GovEngine.com).
• The Riverboat Development Authority recently announced that it will purchase the artistic piece known as The Gossips that is part of the Sculpture on Second program initiated in 2002 by the Downtown Partnership (a division of DavenportOne) and Quad City Arts. More than $5,000 of the $15,000 purchase price will be returned to the Downtown Partnership to be used by its volunteer Arts & Culture Task Force to continue the Sculpture on Second project in 2003. For more information on downtown Davenport, visit (http://www.downtowndavenport.com).
• Family Resources was recently awarded a three-year federal grant through the Department of Health & Human Service to provide adoption-preservation services to adoptive families in Scott, Cedar, Muscatine, Louisa, Des Moines, and Lee Counties in Iowa. The variety of services can include adoption-sensitive preparation of a child, preparation and support of the adoptive family, and formal classes to help both child and parents upon adoption finalization. For more information on the programs, call Family Resources at (563)326-6431.
