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Empower Rural Iowa - Growing Task Force Minutes - November 2021

Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative
Growing Rural Iowa Task Force Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, November 16
10 – 11 AM


1.    Roll Call:  
Lt. Governor Gregg    Sandy Ehrig    Stacy Besch    Whitney Baethke
Ron Reischl        Jenae Jenison    Link Kroeger    Travis Toliver
Jenna Ramsey        Jason Neises    Caleb Knutson    Tina Bakehouse
James Hoelscher    Sharon Stroh    Rob Denson    Shannon Landauer
Stephanie Fromm    Gary Taylor

2.    Approve Minutes from September 15 & October 11, 2021:
Minutes had been previously distributed for review. Rob Denson motioned to approve, and Jason Neises seconded.  Motion carried.

3.    Welcoming Remarks from Lt .Gov. Gregg:
Provided overview of agenda and information on the in-person Investing Task Force meeting to be held tomorrow at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake.

4.    Remarks by Co-Chair Sandy Ehrig:
Discussed success of the Leadership Exchange and Bootcamp and thanked all members who had taken part and who had helped with planning, mentoring, and facilitating.  Introduced James to provide a fuller overview.

5.    Rural Leadership Exchange & Bootcamp Recap – James Hoelscher:
Thanked the team who helped make the events come together.  There were 120 individuals at the Exchange, and many stayed for the Bootcamp the next day.  Fourteen communities took part with 3-5 members per team.  All were assigned a mentor to work with them during the Bootcamp and who will continue to meet long term, at least 3 times per year.  Members gave an overview of a topic such as recruiting, then teams would work with mentor on that topic.  Discussed about 8 different aspects.  Feedback from participants has been strong and we will use input to tweak the program.  Next year we may hold the Bootcamp on the first day with the Exchange on the second.  

Comments:  Tina – very empowering coaching leaders to tell their stories.  A lot of good energy, hope storytelling stays as a component.  LG – it was great to see so many TF members leading conversations.  Would like feedback – what would we do differently next year?  James – looking at a huddle to bring some of attendees back together so ensure what we were thinking of is what attendees got.  For next year we could have up to 14 teams to be ready to help facilitate next year.  

6.    Panel on Initiatives from Statewide Organizations:
Looking at how some state organizations are looking at workforce and recruitment
Joe Murphy, Iowa Business Council:
IBC represents states largest companies. Economic Development is important to Iowa and it is important that the larger businesses are involved. A healthy company is a growing company and Iowa currently is not doing well, only seeing a growth rate of 4.5% which is lower than much of the country. They are focusing on population growth and federal immigration reform and building a marketing strategy to attract new diverse Iowans partnering with Iowa Workforce Development.  Shared an infographic on Demographics and Diversity.

Comments:  Linc - In addition to get people to move to the state we have to keep people here and retain HS graduates.  Joe - One of the ways we think we can focus on that is working with K-12 on exposing them to opportunities for careers in member businesses. The just launched a mini-grant program on work-based learning with the Iowa Dept. of Education. 

Nicole Crain, ABI:  

Shared a presentation with members providing an overview of the Association (see PPT for details).  ABI primarily represents manufacturers and suppliers and has 1,500 members many in rural Iowa.  Currently initiatives they are focusing on include: helping members with DEI training educating on Manufacturing 4.0 innovation opportunities; workforce issues and refugees; and child care issues.  Also, this year is the 40th anniversary of Leadership Iowa.

James:  Does ABI meet with similar state organizations?  Nicole:  Yes, we share best practices, many look to Iowa as a leader working on manufacturing 4.0 and childcare.  

7.    Grant & Program Updates:, Public Comment, Wrap up & Next Steps:
Liesl provided an overview of the grant programs and thanked members who are part of the review panel. All programs are now open and due by December 1.  These include:
•    Rural Innovation Grant Program – Provides up to $200,000 in grants supporting creative, non-traditional ideas that focus on current issues and challenges faced by rural communities associated with the themes of community investment, growth and connection.
•    Rural Housing Assessment Grant Program – Provides up to $100,000 to support the use of publicly available online information through the “Profile of Iowa” tool and rural community efforts to interpret this hard data with supplemental information, as well as to implement through changes to development codes, local ordinances and housing incentives specific to their community needs in partnership with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
•    Rural Child Care Market Study Grant Program – Provides up to $100,000 to support the use of data and analysis by rural communities to determine the specific needs and solutions for their area. In partnership with First Children’s Finance, funding from the program will empower communities to assess their current child care market environment and develop strategies.
•    Rural Return Program – Provides up to $100,000 to support creative programming that attracts new residents to move and/or work in rural communities. Grant funding will support the development and implementation of incentive programs. 

8.    Public Comments: None
9.    Next Steps:  
Reminder of the December 15th meeting in Oskaloosa with will be a joint meeting with the IRDC.
10.    Adjourn
 

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