The Public Works Department of the City of East Moline has been cleaning out the historic Strand Theatre, 1006 15th Avenue, as part of the effort to improve and clean up the downtown. The city has received a $99,000 grant from the federal Department of Housing & Urban Development for partial renovation of the building. Repairs to the exterior wall and roof have been completed, and work on the front façade will commence as weather permits. All of this work, including the cleanup, is an effort to make the building marketable to a private developer for renovation.
Three individuals and one community partnership were honored late last year for their efforts to reduce tobacco-related deaths and disease in Iowa. The awards were given at the Iowa Tobacco Control Conference, held in West Des Moines on November 5 and 6. This year's award recipients included Tobacco-Free Quad Cities of Scott County.
The executive board of Moline Centre Partners has announced the hiring of Pam Owens as executive director and Glenn Kass as marketing and fundraising director. Owens comes to the organization after two years as the executive director of Main Street Orion. Kass spent three years each with the Quad City Steamwheelers and the Quad City Mallards.
Work by more than 500 young artists from the Quad Cities will be on view through May 18 in the Young Artists at the Figge exhibits. Teachers in six area school districts will select work by their students that will be featured in the Community Gallery of the Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street in downtown Davenport. Each district exhibit is on display for about three weeks. For more information, contact the Figge Art Museum at (563) 326-7804 or visit (http://www.figgeartmuseum.org).
Teens for Tomorrow, an initiative of the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend, is now accepting grant applications from local charitable organizations. Applications are available to download at (http://www.cfgrb.org) and must be submitted to the Community Foundation, 852 Middle Rd., Suite 100, Bettendorf IA 52722 by Wednesday, February 13. Teens for Tomorrow is part of a nationwide movement that unites and empowers teens to lead and support change through philanthropy. For more information about Teens for Tomorrow, call (563) 326-2840 or e-mail (alirorah@cfgrb.org).
City Center School for the Arts is leaping into the new year with a name change: Ballet Quad Cities School of Dance, effective January 1. Open enrollment for winter-session classes began the week of January 7. For further information, contact Ballet Quad Cities School of Dance at (309) 786-2677. The organization is located at 617 17th Street in Rock Island.
Writer Eddy Harris will read from his work February 7 at Augustana College in the college's "Lit Wits: Writers Read at Augustana" series. The event will be held in Wallenberg Hall (in the Denkmann Building) at 7 p.m. Harris has spent his life traveling. Rather than passing through a place, Harris says that he immerses himself in its geography, culture, history, and inhabitants' viewpoints to explore the intersection of his own identity as a black American with black culture in general and with the places he finds himself. In his four books, Harris reflects on his discoveries in places as far-flung as the African continent, the American South, and the streets of Harlem.
The committee for the C. D. Wiman Memorial Trust has awarded Christian Care, a not-for-profit agency serving homeless men and victims of domestic violence, a $1,000 grant toward its capital campaign for improvements to two shelters in Rock Island. The highest priority is to upgrade the electrical system in the 100-year-old home that serves as Christian Care's domestic-violence shelter. The present system was installed in 1940 and needs to be updated. If you are in need of Christian Care's services or would like to make a donation to the organization, call (309) 788-2273.
Eldridge resident Dan Bynum, writing as B. J. Loft, has written The North Point Boys. Dan's book was published by PublishAmerica. For more information, visit (http://www.eldrwrtr.com). He is writing his second book, The Libra Trust, which is the story of triplet sisters, their lives, their loves, and murder.
The City of Rock Island has completed its draft of the 2008-2013 Consolidated Plan and One Year Action Plan. Copies are available for review on the second floor of City Hall, at the Martin Luther King Center, on the city Web site (http://www.rigov.org) under "Important Links," and at the Rock Island Public Library at 401 10th Street. A public hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, January 29, at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of City Hall, 1528 Third Avenue.
