Eastern Iowa Community College District (EICCD) and Black Hawk College (BHC) officials have announced receipt of a $1.56 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The grant will fund the colleges' “Joined by a River” program and came as the result of a joint application submitted by the two colleges.

The focus of “Joined by a River” will be development of a logistics program at the two colleges. That program will be used to train both current and future
employees, as well as provide educational opportunities for area high school students. Logistics is an emerging field encompassing such areas as purchasing,  cheduling, transportation, inventory control, warehousing, safety, supply chain management, electronic data interchange, order processing, packaging and location analysis. 

"With our location on the Mississippi River, along two interstates and near major rail systems, the Quad Cities is a prime location for this type of program," EICCD chancellor Dr. Pat Keir said. "Our research into the program proved to us that employers on both sides of the river are looking for this kind of training." The U.S.  Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity projects the demand for workers in this field will reach as high as 20,000 openings by 2010. Due to the growing number of warehousing and distribution centers in this region, the State of Illinois has identified logistics as a targeted area through the Governor's Critical Skills Shortage Initiative.

In creating the grant proposal, the colleges joined forces with the Quad City Development Group's Logistics Roundtable of 20 area companies, more than 30 K-12 Iowa  and Illinois school districts, the workforce development agencies in both Iowa and Illinois, and the Iowa Department of Economic Development. "It's very unique for two community colleges, located in two different states, to be working together on a project of this size," BHC President Dr. Keith Miller said. "We believe it was the cooperative effort demonstrated by our colleges, as well as local business leaders, that helped draw the attention of the Department of Labor and to secure this grant."

 The proposed project will include
four areas:
• Creating career awareness and preparation in the high school and adult market, including a career academy for students.
• Training for current workers to increase their skills in the logistics area.
• Providing a seamless pathway for a college credit program that will be articulated to four-year programs.
• Serving as a model for other colleges and communities to collaborate to serve local needs.

The model will demonstrate how two community colleges, serving common regional workforce needs but divided by political boundaries and frequently viewed as  competitors, can combine resources and become a uniting force to meet critical job training capacity needs of a region. The goal is for the colleges to work with the community to address a critical training need in a manner that is far more efficient and effective than if each college responded to the need independently.

For more information about logistics training,
call Teresa Brockhage at 563-441-4371 or visit www.eicc.edu.