(subtle music) - [Announcer] Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home & Crematory have been serving Quad City families and veterans since 1889.

Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Homes are located in Rock Island, Milan and Reynolds, and are proud supporters of WQPT.

- [Announcer] At IHMVCU, we've always been here for you.

You are and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial and physical health, and we are here.

IHMVCU is a proud supporter of WQPT.

- [Announcer] Alternatives is proud supporter of WQPT and has been serving our community for 40 years.

Alternatives provides professional guidance to maintain the independence and quality of life for older adults and adults with disabilities.

- A first hand account of the humanitarian crisis faced by Ukrainians from a Davenport man who's lived there, and are employees really in the driver's seat when it comes to jobs in the cities?

(upbeat music) Iowa's looking at its employment issues in a new way.

It could mean better job training, but it could also mean shorter safety net for the unemployed.

We'll talk about that, but first, on the run to save their lives.

Millions of Ukrainians have fled their homeland seeking safety from the Russian invasion that is now more than 50 days old.

Many went to Poland.

Others went to other border countries like Romania.

That's where a Davenport native has been on the ground for the group Kontakt Mission, which has links to a Bettendorf Church.

We talked with Jon Gainer about what he's seen in that region of Eastern Europe.

Well Jon, you're talking to us right now from Davenport.

You are back from Eastern Europe.

What have you seen there 'cause you were in Romania.

You were setting up refugee camps.

You're seeing these Ukrainians basically flee for their lives, with perhaps just the clothes on their back.

- Yeah, that's absolutely right.

In fact, it was almost surprising to us how they fled and what they came with.

They literally are coming with a small childrens' backpack, and that's a child's belongings.

Some of them had some smaller type, roller-type suitcases, but they really come with nothing, and you come to the realization that the people that are coming to these camps are never going back to where they left because, even if they do go back to the same area after the war is over, what they left will not be there.

And so truly heartbreaking.

- Absolutely.

And then what do you see when you look 'em in the eye?

I mean, I would think there's just this blankness because you have to be in a daze.

It's just so, I can't even picture it.

It has to be devastating.

- Yeah, there's, it's almost I would say, a lostness, and then there is also some strife within themselves, difficulties getting along with other people sometimes, just because of the stress of the situation, but then after they get a first night's sleep, 'cause a lot of them have been traveling for weeks on end to get there.

Once they get that first couple good night's sleep and they can relax and they can be fed and cared for and loved, then there's just a feeling of immense relief and immense gratitude.

- Well, it seems like that, you know, especially if you're bringing children with you, I mean, there's that anxiety, but I think the children almost seem to rebound quicker in some ways and start to enjoy their surroundings quicker when they feel that sense of safety.

- Yeah, absolutely.

I think, you know for the kids especially if they're younger kids, it's an adventure.

When we brought one little girl, she was seven years old.

We brought her into the containers that we're using for housing.

She was like, "Oh wow, it's so wonderful."

And so, we were just kind of chuckling about it.

The teenagers are the ones that are having the hardest time with it because they have understanding of what's going on.

They have understanding of what they're losing.

It's not some fun adventure for them, but they also don't have the maturity to know what to do with those feelings, and so, they're really the ones that are probably suffering the most.

- Tell me about your organization.

It's called Kontakt Mission.

You basically have been based as the Director of Eastern European operations.

What is it that you do and how do you do it?

- Well, our main goal of Kontakt Mission is to bring missionaries and church planters into Europe.

Europe is the least Christian continent in the world, and that seems hard for us to believe, but this Kontakt Mission serves to bring the gospel to the people of Europe, and that's what I was doing when I was in Ukraine, and also, that's what we're doing in Romania.

Now, sometimes, spreading the gospel to people, the good news, is more of serving their physical needs, and so the war has really brought that to our doorstep, and Kontakt Mission had massive networks set up across Europe, and so we were made for this time and this place.

- For 11 years, you were in Ukraine.

The community, and help me if I get it wrong, Kremenchug, which is Southeast of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine along a river.

We were talking about how it's similar to the Quad Cities.

Tell me about your experience in Ukraine, beautiful country, beautiful people?

- Yeah, I would say that, when I used to talk about Ukraine, when we first got there I would say, "The people are beautiful; the city is not."

A lot of gray buildings, not a lot of beauty in that area, garbage everywhere, that kinda thing, but we arrived in 2009.

Since 2014, as Ukraine has grown closer to the West, it has become more and more and more beautiful, and now Kremenchug feels like home to me, when we go home, and as far as the people go they're like Midwestern people.

They are, if anybody should care about the Ukrainians, it's Midwestern people because they're just like us in a lot of ways, and their kindness and their generosity.

You will never meet somebody more welcoming than a Ukrainian.

- Well, and when you look at the pictures that are happening and the devastation in some of these major communities in Ukraine, and being a Christian and, you know, love one another, be kind to one another, and you see the devastation, it is heartbreaking especially I would think for somebody who was in contact for more than a decade with people that were living there.

- Yeah, I personally, you know, every time I look at these pictures, when I hear of a friend being killed, when I see children being shot, it breaks my heart.

To be honest, I feel a lot of anger about it, not unlike the Ukrainians, but, you know, feeling anger is a natural part of our humanity.

The question is, what are we gonna do with our anger?

What are we gonna do with our sadness?

And we can get downtrodden and we can throw our hands up, and we can say, I'm not going to do anything about this, and we can kind of wallow in that sorrow, but I don't think that's the right move.

I think the right course of action, the reaction to those feelings is action, and so, that's why Kontakt Mission is doing what they're doing.

I'm staying as busy as humanly possible, doing whatever I can find to do that's gonna help the Ukraine right now.

- The other point is, there is the local connection with the Bettendorf Church that you're associated with as well.

I mean, if somebody wants to help out, I mean, what are you telling people?

I mean, usually, they're looking for cash only because if you can spend the money there, it helps the economy as well as the people.

- Yeah, I mean, the money issue is a question of efficiency too.

If we can buy an item there, even in Romania or Eastern Europe, or better even yet, in Ukraine, certainly we get the most bang for our buck.

If we're buying things here in the United States, we have issues with moving the materials over there, and there are some things that we can buy here that are really helpful that they may not have, things like body armor.

Of course, there are lots of government restrictions on sending those things over.

So as far as people partnering with them there's kind of three things that we're asking people to do.

First, we don't want people to get worn out of the Ukrainian crisis and forget about it.

I was amazed that the crisis had only been going on for 30 days, and the 15-minute news cycle ran out, and we were talking about one rich celebrity slapping another rich celebrity.

I don't want people to stop talking about Ukraine.

I wanna keep it top of mind.

This is gonna be a longterm battle.

This is gonna be a longterm fight, and so we need to continually keep them in our thoughts and prayers, and continually support them physically, financially.

Secondly, so we want people to talk about it on social media.

Secondly, we want people to get their workplaces involved.

There is tremendous opportunity with the businesses and the blessings that Americans have received to serve others, and we can do that through our businesses.

I know personally from business experience, you know, I might be able to give $50 individually, but a business can give $500, and it's really ll the same for them and they get the tax credit and everything else because Kontakt Mission is a tax deductible donation.

And then lastly we wanna talk to the media.

We want to keep it top of mind for Americans, and talking to shows like yours are so immensely valuable.

So, you know, please communicate to those who have the power to rally communities, what's going on in Ukraine and that it matters because it truly does.

Millions of people are being displaced and tens of thousands are dying, and so, we need to make sure that it doesn't get swept under the rug.

- What is your hope?

I mean, do you have plans to return?

Are you gonna be able to coordinate efforts here?

What are our plans for the coming weeks and months?

- So for the time being I'm gonna be coordinating plans here, talking with different media outlets, making sure people are aware of what's going on, that it's staying, like I said, top of mind, that we don't get media fatigue, if you will.

And so I'll be doing that for the next month or so then I'll be returning to Romania, at which point, once I'm in Romania, then we'll be shuttling refugees from the border down to Potash where our camp is located.

And then there is a possibility that it will be helpful for me to go into Ukraine and go back to Kremenchug, and so I may be doing that also.

- Tell me a little bit about Europe right now.

'Cause I mean, I think Europe is just kind of, and I don't know this firsthand of course, but there was so many lessons that were learned after World War Two and you almost have a feeling that the Europeans feel this invasion of Ukraine.

It impacts whether you're in Spain or you're in France you may not even be near Ukraine, but it's almost like a personal assault upon all of Europe.

- Yeah, well, I mean, think about this, those eastern states where the battle is raging right now is 10 hours from Poland.

So that would be like a war going on in Alabama right now.

Would that matter to Iowa?

It certainly would matter to Iowa.

And so there's first the closeness of Europe, a lot of Americans don't realize how close everything is.

And then secondly, there's all the threats that are being uttered against other NATO states that are in Eastern Europe that are near Ukraine.

Even non NATO states like Finland and Estonia, or excuse me, and Moldova.

And they realize that this is probably not going to stop with just Ukraine or just some eastern states, the resources that Putin has extended and the length of which he is gone is not going to be satisfied by taking a few bombed out port cities.

It's going to go a lot further and so a lot of Europeans see it as who's next.

- I think it's also a string that people kind of look at, like as you said, these bombed out port cities, or a capital city of Kyiv which is more into the heartland area.

I was talking to one economics professor who was saying, you know, Ukraine is gonna be devastated for years if not decades, even the farm fields where there may be munitions that are undetonated, there's so many issues all throughout the entire country that it's gonna take a long time for them to rebuild or salvage their lives.

- Yeah, and this is gonna have a great effect on World Economics.

I mean we have to keep in mind that Ukraine has the largest quantity of black soil on Earth.

They have some of the greatest quantities of minerals that we use for things like electric vehicles.

And so they have a strategically valuable area and if they cannot produce their exports, a lot of Europe is gonna be hurting.

I mean they call Ukraine the breadbasket of Europe.

And so you can imagine if we were to take out the Midwest, if there was some sort of conflict in the Midwest, and we were not producing all the valuable resources that the Midwest produces, what would that do to people living in New York?

Well, it would have drastic consequences.

And so we're gonna be feeling it here in the United States, and certainly we're gonna be feeling it in Europe.

- Jon Gainer, Eastern European Director for Kontakt Mission.

Now for more information you can contact Bettendorf Christian Church to find ways to help with the organization, or go to the website gokmusa.org.

Once again, gokmusa.org.

As we head into May, Lora Adams wants you to head to some great events in our area.

So here's Lora, Out & About.

- [Lora] This is out and about for April 29th through May 5th.

Holocaust survivor Rodi Glass speaks at Augustana College, May 2nd at 7:00pm.

The Geneseo Artwalk is back April 30th from 10:00 to 2:00.

And the Hennepin Canal State Park holds an Arbor Day Festival the 30th beginning at 10:00.

Lincoln Shool is the location for The Magical Red Carpet Tea Party the 30th from noon to 3:00.

The East Moline-Silvis Kiwanis Spring Flea Market takes place at the Rock Island County Fairgrounds May 1st from 8:00 to 3:00.

Orient High School holds a Daddy Daughter Dance May 2nd at 2:00.

The Geneseo Moose Lodge holds the Kiwanis Spring Chicken Fest May 1st at 4:00.

Onstage Just Desserts a musical bakeoff and Grace For President are presented at Circa 21.

Little Women the Broadway Musical takes the stage at Galvin Fine Arts April 29th and 30th.

The Messiah is performed at Centennial Hall by the Handel oratorial society May 1st at 3:00.

LP Ans The Vinyl perform at Genosea Library the 29th at 10:00 am.

The Clinton Symphony concludes its season with a concert at Clinton High School April 30th at 7:00.

Kashena Sampsons performs at Bishop Hill Creative Commons the 29th at 7:00, and Tomfoolery On Treemont present the comedy of Michael Myers on the 1st at 8:00.

And auditions for A Raisin in the Sun at Playcrafters Barn Theater takes place April 30th and May 1st.

For more information visit wqbt.org.

(gentle upbeat music) - Thank you Lora.

What is total employment?

Well, it's defined as that point when everyone who's employable is employed.

And with the jobless rates in Iowa and Illinois hovering near 3%, have we reached that point?

In Iowa the state may change the rules when it comes to long term unemployed as it makes it a larger mission to retrain its workforce.

And we talked with the Director of the Iowa Workforce Development Agency, Beth Townsend, from her home, in Des Moines.

And we were talking about the fact that the fact that you're talking to me working from home kind of underlines what the new economy is like.

- Absolutely Jim.

We are just like other employers, we wanna make sure that we're providing as many benefits and incentives to people to work at Iowa Workforce Development and so a hybrid working model is one of those.

- So getting back to the original question, are workers in the driver's seat now?

Because it seems like we've got this whole great resignation as it's being called, people are looking for better paying jobs or for more flexible hours, or for even better respect in the workplace.

- Oh, I think they're absolutely in the driver's seat as evidenced by all of the national signals we've been seeing the quit rate is very, very high.

Wages have continued to rise.

Employers are changing the way that they do their work.

They're providing more options to people in terms of going to these four day work weeks, or working from home, or a hybrid method.

So employees are absolutely in the driver's seat.

- Especially skilled employees, is that not correct?

- Well, that's always been the case Jim.

Even pre pandemic we had a skills gap such that individuals who have jobs in occupations that require more than a high school diploma have always had many more options than anyone else, and that remains true.

We're still in the skills gap.

- We have really seen a great push for apprenticeships and trade school, and education along those lines.

The community colleges have been offering so many courses as well.

It seems like more people need to take control of their lives and to make use of those options.

- Well, now's the time.

I mean, and what I love about some of the things that we're doing with some new initiatives is we're helping people who file for unemployment recently, to find new opportunities and to reach for those occupations or jobs that they might have thought were out of their reach.

Because employers are willing to train on the job.

So if now is the time, if you have an interest in changing occupations or upskilling there are programs available, there are employers who are willing to train you while you work.

I mean, this is the time to really figure out a good career path - And what is generally the career path people should be looking at?

Because we've got Amazon who is building an automated warehouse in the Quad Cities, we have you know, manufacturing jobs that are available in certain areas, but also the service industry always seems to need people and as we said, skilled trades.

- Absolutely, plus IT and healthcare.

I mean healthcare is in really kind of a crisis mode in terms of their workforce, because those individuals worked probably harder than anybody else through the pandemic, which is saying something because there were a lot of people who worked very hard but certainly no one more than our health care.

So we're seeing some burnout and just people who are looking for other options.

So now's the time.

I don't care what industry you're in, or what industry you're looking to get into.

- I think it is interesting when you point out the burnout factor, in so many different career paths people went through this pandemic in a very stressful situation.

They're coming out of it basically changed people.

- That's right.

I mean, we saw a lot of people who changed occupations as a result of the pandemic.

But we've also seen a lot of people going back to you know, we've seen a good increase in leisure and hospitality jobs, they're up 13,000 jobs over the last year.

So that's a good sign because we know that we need individuals who work in those industries to get back to work, manufacturing is up over 6000 jobs in the same timeframe, and retail is up, so people are are getting out of their houses they're going back to living a more normal life and that takes people to support that.

- It is interesting that you do bring up let's say the leisure hospitality being you know, whether it's restaurants or perhaps hotels, or if you're talking about retail sales, sometimes those are the lower income or even tip based jobs.

Are we seeing wages increase in those areas for those people that are interested in those fields?

- The larger growth we have seen in wages has been in retail and hospitality.

And I have to push back a little bit on you Jim, or my friend Jessica Ducker will probably give me a call.

But you know occupations and retail and hospitality in the restaurant are a great pathway for long term, good careers.

I mean, you need management skills, you know we have culinary arts, all of our community colleges have culinary art programs.

So it's a misnomer to think that these are just jobs that are low skilled low wage with no growth for opportunities.

That's just not the case in our restaurant and hospitality jobs.

- And as you pointed out the jobs are plentiful.

I mean, the area of hospitality and retail is such a big sector in the entire economy.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

And they provide great career opportunities for anybody who's interested in those occupations.

- Let's flip the coin for a moment.

What are you saying to employers now?

I mean, the ones that are desperate to find workers.

- Well, what we're saying to employers is, you know, you kind of need to reevaluate number one, how you're recruiting.

You may need to update your recruiting methods.

So just posting jobs on a website or in the newspapers probably not gonna do it.

We also were talking to them about listening to their employees, making some changes in terms of how the work gets done.

I think we've seen a lot of as I mentioned earlier, we've seen a lot of employers who have gone to four day workweeks or who have changed up the way they do their shifts to make it easier for people to work when they're available to work.

- How critically important is it for Illinois and Iowa to increase its daycare availability?

Because that's what we're seeing so often in the work field as well.

Are parents that are just struggling to find daycare sometimes or at least affordable daycare.

- Well, I can't speak to Illinois Jim but what I can tell you in Iowa is that Governor Reynolds has invested over $480 million in the last two years in child care.

We just a few weeks ago issued $37 million in grants to expand and increase the number of slots available all over the state, we're gonna have another grant coming here shortly.

So we are in Iowa making a big investment in expanding the available childcare and creating it where we have childcare deserts.

- Workforce development is really, really focusing right now on the retraining aspect of your agency's work.

What are you offering right now that perhaps wasn't offered five years ago when somebody might thought I don't need them anymore?

- So we're focused on the reemployment aspects.

So when we have stood up on January 9th, the reemployment case management system, so the first week that you file for unemployment we're reaching out to you, we're scheduling you with appointments to come in and see us to talk about, you know, what you want to do, what kind of job you're looking for.

Let's get that resume updated.

Let's make sure your interview skills are up to date.

We offer all kinds of classes.

We've had 1000s and 1000s of 1000s of Iowans take advantage.

And then also help you find that job you're looking for and we're constantly getting feedback from people saying, I had no idea that I could get a job that's gonna pay me $24 an hour.

I had no idea that I could get a job in this particular industry which is kind of always been a dream for me.

So we're working really hard to make those connections between those great jobs employers have and the people that are looking for work right now.

- What about those that are the long term unemployed, the state of Iowa is working to get people jobs and get off of public assistance.

That's a critical role that you're now playing as well.

- It is and Jim for a long time we've always worked with people who have barriers to employment.

I mean, life happens.

And you know whether you have a criminal record or you've had a disability, or you've had to take time off work for whatever reason, whatever difficulties you've had in working in the past, we can help you overcome that and help you find a job that's going to say you know, that give gives you another opportunity or a new opportunity to second act in your life and now's the time to do that.

- We've been pointing out that basically employment is almost back to pre pandemic levels at around the 3% level, what is total employment to you?

Because there are gonna be people that are unable to get a job.

So are we really close to total employment?

- Well, I think that's almost a false or a red herring Jim.

I would say you know, what is full employment?

What I will tell you is that when we have over 90,000 available jobs posted on Iowaworks.gov I don't care what the unemployment rate is.

We're not at full employment because we clearly have a lot more jobs that need filled.

Right now we have been around 55 56,000 Iowans that are unemployed, and that doesn't include people who've dropped out of the labor force altogether.

So I think it's a combination of getting people back into the workforce, making them aware of opportunities, helping to fill those available jobs to employers and having you know, having a better balance between the number of unemployed and the number of open jobs, and we're just really out of work right now.

- Beth Townsend, Director of the Iowa Workforce Development Agency.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device and streaming on your computer.

Thanks for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues on The Cities.

(subtle music) - [Announcer] Wheelan Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory had been serving Quad City families and veterans since 1889.

Wheelan Presley Funeral Homes are located in Rock Island, Milan and Reynolds, and are proud supporters of WQPT.

- [Announcer] At IHMVCU we've always been here for you.

You are and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial and physical health, and we are here.

IHMVCU is a proud supporter of WQPT.

- [Announcer] Alternatives is a proud supporter of WQPT and has been serving our community for 40 years.

Alternatives provides professional guidance to maintain independence and quality of life for older adults and adults with disabilities.