Event ID: 723997
Event Started: 5/21/2007 2:15:17 PM ET
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Good afternoon this is Gary Gonzalez with [ indiscernible ]
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Thank you.
Hello good afternoon. Welcome to the regional innovation grants utilizing the national EME.
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Ericka?
Hi. Good afternoon, this is actually Nancy Williams in the office of national response. I would like to welcome everyone today on the newly announced innovation grants. We are excited about having the opportunity to have these available. I would like to give a brief introduction of our presenters. We have national response administrator, we have E coo cantor, we also have Mindy [ inaudible ] and I will also be presenting with the two of them today. We have leaders from [ indiscernible ] Iowa. They will share their experiences and results. Kimberly [ indiscernible ] is with them and she is an executive director from the [ indiscernible ] And [ indiscernible ] from the [ inaudible ]
Today ease session will provide a general overview of the grants. You will learn what the requirements and the grants are and the expected outcome and how to apply and you will then learn from the knew ton Iowa team and their lessens learned.
I am pleased to introduce the next administrator.
Thank you [ indiscernible ] I am pleased to talk about the regional innovations grant. [ indiscernible ] 1603 change five. These utilize the national leg of grant funds -- [ Speaker/audio not clear ] And work force investment boards to initiate a corm hence I believe and -- comprehensible road to follow. We believe this will help candidates on the economical shocks in the system.
You are probably familiar with the ET initiative. The wired or work force development realizes the challenges of global competition on the companies, research, government, andante trip news and they can come together to create an advantage. We find a frame work that allows the leadership groups, complete assessment of the of the [null], ets. -- assets. It began in -- [ Speaker/audio not clear ]
Each region was given $15 million through each period to develop the strategies. In April of 2006 a second generation was initiated and these regions were originally given $100 in the [ inaudible ] -- $100,000 in the grants. We have recently been given $500,000 for this plan and they will be getting an additional $4.5 million.
There is a third generation of the wired regions. They are closed and the new regions will be heinous knownsed shortly.
-- announced shortly.
The intended outcome is a complete transform tiff -- transformative. This will limit the time of education and agreement. This will provide for the better outcome for the workers and businesses.
I will go back to Nancy.
Thank you E coo. Again, I would like to -- Ericka I would like to mention that they would -- [ Speaker/audio not clear ]
Program manager for the [ inaudible ] grant Mindy.
Thank you Nancy.
Regional innovation grants are limited with the grant work resources in the development of the comprehensive strategic plan based on the wired frame work with the current and [ inaudible ] economic event. ETA offer strategic planning solution that will greatly enhance the national emergency grants. The national emergency grants have the time limited focuses on the services and expansion for the event. We consider [ inaudible ] proactive and that is work on the key players and the strategies on the infrastructure, counter development and investment. We have seen the communities taken response for the areas shown. These are areas that took timely planning and this was for the workers and work forces and while the others were less inclusive in trying to recover economically.
ETA encourages to apply for a rig before the national security grant. If there is a -- [ Speaker/audio not clear ] It's important that the -- it's important that the effective worker has the access to the services that's why we want you to initiate early interventions services. You may apply for the [ indiscernible ] and [ indiscernible ] simultaneously. I think our slide is a little ahead.
Go back.
Lastly the [ indiscernible ] grants are going to apply for the national emergency grants they have to immediate meet the guidelines and criteria in the 1603 for the national emergency grants. Therefore it is possible that an organization may be awarded a rig and may not qualify for a grant.
Who is eligible for the rigs. Well state work force or multiple agencies are [ inaudible ] However if there is a consortium of the local [ inaudible ] there must be an identity for the local rig.
I am going to go through the general application requirements and then I will hand over to Nancy. There are prerequisites for the plans. Some of them will be developed before and some of them after the application. There must be an unaccepted event or disaster that takes place.
There has to be a commitment to provide state and government AOIA for the training funds. And third the commitment of the core of the [ inaudible ] of the impacted workers. As we stated earlier it's important that the effective workers have access to the services while you are developing your strategic plan.
Next, there needs to be a clear understanding of the wired principles and concepts in your application and they should be moving into the application narrative. If you are not familiar with the wired then I highly suggest that you go on the wired website that is presented on the slide. It shows a lot of the wired implementation plans and the conception work and detail. There should be a demonstrated understanding and land bark of your re -- landmark of your region and that should be very clear in your application. You must show evidence of support from the work force, key player, employers, and etc. In order to provide a region wide economic division and strategy.
Nancy?
Thank you Mindy. The next few slides will allow use of the funds, grant expectations, outcomes and award specifics.
The allow able use of the funds may include but are not limited to the [ inaudible ] net works for the [ inaudible ] strategy, such as groups and organizations, access mapping, such as documenting resources and regions, [ inaudible ] roles and responsibilities of the key partners or an MOU. It will also include that funds are available to conduct swat analysis. You are identifying your strengths weaknesses, and your [ inaudible ] What are the strong economic areas?
What are the opportunities that the [ inaudible ] needs. What are the potential [ inaudible ] in your area. Funds can be use to provide the resources and structures on the place in the events. There is a describe and putting it -- distribution and putting it in place.
There is also a implementation guide for the planning. The plan should address the bullets and the key goals and the wire transformation process. , key strategies and connectivity, the government around how it will -- and how it will operate, a time frame, how it is implemented, performance may performance -- performance matrix. It will also identify the roles of the partners in each role ole and activity. Some of the general information will. About the awards. They are limited. An administer tiff cost -- cost will be negotiated on a case by case basis. The basic grant application and submission for the region innovation whereabouts are -- grants are similar to the [ inaudible ] are submitted. It's for the electronic application system. Those of you who are familiar with this process it's the same way the AEG's are submitted.
You need to identify the coordinator if you are unfamiliar with these.
Applications are taken on a roling and -- rolling and continual basis and there is no end of them at the current time. A notice of the ward is expected to occur less than 60 days. The standard application forms will apply. The SS424 and 424A. The project synopsis form will need to be completed and the data form and the project operation systems and the narrative. It should be limited to 10 pages and it should include the specifications in the slide.
And finally the project narrative should include the assessment of the marketing impacts, collaboration plan and role of the core leadership group, proposed and actual leverage resources, [ inaudible ] provided to the eligible workers propose outcome and impacts, to provide a description and type of planning activity to be provided.
With that I would like to turn it over to the Newton Iowa team, the city of Newton Iowa received the first grant to assist the city and their key partners and is designed in the development of a strategic plan that foe cusses on the -- focuses on the development for the economy. You will learn how these leaders to help the [ inaudible ]
With that I would like to turn it over to Kim.
Kim?
Thanks Nancy.
Hello everyone. I am the executive director of the Newton development corporation. With me today is [ inaudible ] weedy who is a member of the council. Our story takes place about a year ago. On may 10th the whirlpool organization had acquired the may tag course, a -- corporation announced that they would be closing all of the facilities by October of 2007. May tag was a small company in the [ inaudible ] They employed almost 3900 in Newton and was our largest employer. Obviously receiving that announcement it took the community by shock in a certain respect, but with moments of understanding what the [ inaudible ] of the organizations within the region and the state met that same day and committed to the creation of the Newton transformation council. The Newton transformation council is not for any organization. It's an umbrella organization. It's an original intent and [ inaudible ] intent to leverage the private -- leverage private resources across the country to help us formulate the proactive strategy that Nancy and Mindy and Ericka talk about. It's the growth -- growth of pos growth and [ inaudible ] We couldn't control the decision that whirlpool made, but we could control the outcome. Our outcome was to develop strategies that would prepare the workers that were impacted to this decision would respond to the existing companies that were always going to be effected. This in fact lead to the whirlpool's decision. The numbers and the structure for which we have allowed this to happen is under the guide of the transformation of counsel. We have listed numerous stakeholders. There are several on -- [ inaudible ] and many many more stakeholders who are participating. They include the city of Newton. It would be a key factor for those folks looking at Newton for a model. They have been a specific organization for the when I will pool -- whirlpool corporation. They had to make sure this transformation happened. Des Moines college has the regional institution and the state of Iowa, and the work force development, state departments, the any ton corporation -- Newton corporation which is my organization, and became broader, we also have the Jasper county original re -- organizational l transformation.
I am going to change it over to Dane that weedy now. I she is going to talk about the process that is taking place and is leading us to this point.
Thanks Kim.
Hello everyone. I am a member of the transformation council and the [ inaudible ] league of the aunt per knew we are committy.
They were task on how to move this community forward. They brought in David burl. He came to Newton in July of 2006, and then he came on September 20th and 21st. He met with the high school students. On the 21st he facilitated a rally that I attended. When it was announced that they wanted the city of Newton to be a part of it. By the end of that rally, we had we had created a vision statement and we had about a half dozen bullet points that needed today be worked on. Right now on the screen there is a vision statement for the 300 people that attended the vision rally. Those of those attend events were -- attendants were asked to sign up if there was an issue they wanted raised.
There were team leads that would support the community vision. The picture you see there is a team lead meeting. We had those on Monday nights for several months to keep abreast of each action that was being worked on. The goal is to help turn a a good community into a great community, make changes within the community and improve the quality of life for our [ inaudible ] We have several action teams and that is to foy focus on the [ inaudible ] on that business. We have a connect youth to the division team. We have want to make sure they are involved in the transformation. We want them to come back to Newton when they get out of college. We have 3E's that is standarding for the use of the government. They are focuses on those to be sure they are in line on that.
Promote [ inaudible ] That is just that. We have a embrace by proclamation and they have the unanimous to adopt our vision. The educational team is our newest team that is chartered they are working with the school to make sure it is a reality.
What Dane that shared with you is to bring the community together and to get out what we wanted the community to start building on. We are net working individuals to develop the strategies that we need to work on. The transformation council new we were going to need new statements. And senator grassily and hour kin brought with us the assistant secretaries and the [ inaudible ] September 14th when Emily Dar rag go and her staff visited with us in the transformation council to learn about our efforts at that point we shared our story. At that point we realized their were similar things with the wired councils and the approach. We identified at that point that we needed assistance in planning and putting that regional strategic plan together. We needed those resources. So with the combination of the department of labor and sharing their wire principles and inviting us to the wired conferences and issue understanding how important the learning issues would be. The department of labor asked us to apply for the regional innovation grants. Our grant applications covers many of the items that Nancy talked about, resource mapping to understand the regional assets and what they are, to do a social mapping, and one of the things we recognize to have a strong corporation of May tag for [ inaudible ] years we didn't have to go to the resources. To move this forward, we need to understand the social net works that are out there and who the key players are and how we engage them. We also need to understand our educational system and that talent developmental component. It also calls for a swat analysis to know and make sure we are training our work forces to align to those we want for the region and we have and the ones we want to recruit. We did submit proposals to the parties. We are trying to get councils to help project manage this. By the end of February, 2008, we would have a complete regional and strategic plan to involve strategies to move us forward in the response of May tag throughout the region and to make it more of a global economy. We have the connection to that transformation council and website. There is a capability on our website to submit questions. If you would like to submit those to our website we will be happy to answer those.
I would like to share those who are going through the similar circumstances, there is a lot that we have accomplished throughout the year, and sometimes when you look back at the story, it looks a little overwhelming to see what you have done. It is interesting to look at the stakeholders to leverage resources for the loss of a company and the disaster. I think that is Newton story and the regional results and we are focused on moving forward. With that I will turn it back over to Nancy.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you Kim.
Now we have Riched the Q and A session, portion of this session and we have received lots of good questions and we are in this officer compiling those questions we want you to keep them coming in. I have two questions coming in and they are specifically for Newton and I want to put those out there for you Kim, I guess you will respond to them. Then we, we will turn it over to Mindy who will go through some of the questions that we have responses to here.
The first question for Newton is: How big of a region did Newton propose and how did they define their region.
Thanks Nancy, I would answer that that we are still in the process of defining the region. The asset mapping will be the key component on nailing down that region. I mentioned in our -- membership slide that we are [ inaudible ] We also recognize that we did data collection and understand what that is telling us. That may change by the time we are done with our strategic plan, because we want to be driven by the data and where we are most executive. Right now -- comp pet tiff -- competitive.
Thank you very much. We have more in for you. The next question for Newton is what is the involvement for the local or state work force investment board on the Newton council?
I would answer that by saying that Newton was a little bit unique that we didn't have a local [ inaudible ] Because of our proximity to Des Moines there was a state capital capital. We reached out to the resource development, staff, and leaders and continued to incorporate the local office and that is co-located for the offices on the Newton council and the Newton development corporation. They have been key players and we have involved that leadership, it is the city of Newton that was the applicant because of the configuration of the web and the work force around Des Moines.
Okay. This is a follow up question: Has the Newton transformation council over come any barriers for the practices of the areas that may be experiencing major occurrence. I think that any time you are try to reach out to numerous stakeholders you are always challenged with past relationship or perhaps not an understanding of goals and alignments. We were able to whether I shall establish -- were able to establish a resource management source. It's a key part of the work to reach out to the stakeholders and understand where they are how it aligns and what they are doing. That is a lot doing one-on-one relationship building and aligning the resources to the vision statement and understanding how that would serve their goals and region goals on making the vision come alive. There is a lot of community organizing and relationship building.
Right that makes sense.
We have questions about the actual lay off of whirlpool. Specifically they were wanting to know how many workers were let go by whirlpool. When the announcement took place on May 10, there were short of 2000 employees in Newton who were May tag and essentially whirlpool employees. They were equally divided between the corporate staff and plant staff. And then the transition of those out of the organization almost began immediately and will continue throughout October of 2007.
Okay.
There this question is about the closing of the may tag store regardless of your efforts. Newton on the 2000 cent sus was 15,500. To this point the answer has been no. Again I will go to the fact that we have impacted regionally. There is alternative manufacturing and financial services employers in the region that many individuals have chosen to go and seek employment from. That has allowed the population to seem and remain stable and the housing market remains strong. It's hasn't changed too much from the previous years. We have been able to stabilize a great deal of this and how to focus on the future and how they can participate. They find work in the region and how to continue in the region. We have a fair amount of individuals who are taking this opportunity to start their own businesses. There are very innovative businesses.
Is there a union in the May tag process or what was there process if there was.
We have received those funds as well. The union has been participating and reaching out. One of the code leagues on the 3E's and a G he is actually on the community development person for the DAW. We have been conscious of including them and developing the strategies and to reach out to those who have been impacted.
We have a couple of more for you Newton and we will let you have a break and then we will turn it over to the folks here in the office.
Did any training of the workers take place simultaneously on the planning phase.
We have had a couple of different approaches to the training one of those was a career transition center was set up in our community college which is in the campus of the May tag corporation was. The transition center is up and running and still is providing various forms of training from getting your resume ready to go seek additional employment and fast track training employment and the career transition center has been a key component for the transformation council and they work with them to start several different job fairs some of those are for employers in Newton and some of those are boarder and inviting company aprocess the region and from other states. So also in addition to that work, Iowa work force development is on the communication on the plans and working with the employ employees who are going to be impacted in October to start with their process of getting their resumes red ready to get the skill assessments done and to start thinking about what their next steps are. We have started work with our on site on the community college facility which is a smart start training and that is a training for the small business developments have developed. We have started that with the employees and given them the right training to move forward quickly.
There is a question, but this ties in on the training. Do they use the career clusters or inter -- intergrating with the no child left behind. Right now they are in their norming forming stage and haven't looked at the methodologies yet. No child left behind which is a huge impact on the college and the institutions are a part of their work, but they are just now getting started so there is no determination on what they will start with right away.
Now now, I am going to turn it over to Mindy.
I am going to go through the questions. There are a few of these that we don't know the answers to, but we hope we can get those answers to you shortly if we don't answer it directly on this webinar.
Can an existing wired region apply for this funding and then a similar question does your [ inaudible ] in order to apply for the rig.
If you are actually sitting in a wired region, the 26 wired region that you have today it would be our expectation that you would not apply for the regional innovation grant. They have a [ inaudible ] strategy and you need to get connected to that and get to the core leadership. We will not be awarding grants for the -- [ inaudible ] rigs in the wired regions.
Okay.
Someone asked to clarify the comment to having a rig without a national emergency grant. Regional innovation grants are for the strategic planning and the national emergency grants have guidelines attached to it in order to apply and not every -- first of all for the disaster grants we prefer that the states come in and the other thing is that for the national emergency greats like for the criterias and the dislocated worker funds need to be [ inaudible ] Those are not in the regional innovation grants. That [ inaudible ] from applying from them today. If you have a significant location that could trigger a regional innovation grant and that criteria is particularly -- particularly because we are allowing the local [ inaudible ] and those to apply, those don't exist for the rigs. So you could as I said before you could apply and qualify for the rig but not for the national emergency grant.
Another question is that can a state agency develop for the work force developmental areas. That would be a yes. We do have a cap of the regional innovation grants that is two -- $250 million. The administrative will be a part of the million dollars you could not get that in access of the million dollars. Please clarify if the dislocation would be for funding or for the rig.
You really have to have a pending dislocation such as the example in Newton or an existing right today dislocation. It's not that regions -- there has to be something sold -- solid evidence -- evidence in place that there is something coming or something happening now for the rig.
Another question is what is a significant event in term offense members losing their jobs. We have a several types of questions similar like that.
We don't have a firm requirement of 50 or workers you have to make a compelling case on how this economic event has impacted your region. We will look at that number for the rational of the location.
I think 50 worker ifs the industry is probably a good benchmark that we will start from. If you make a compelling case we will consider less or certainly more. Somebody asked about the sowny work place. We have a the [ inaudible ] impact for the NAG's and there is rural areas that is not the 50 worker locations but there is a significant impact on the community that they qualify for a [ inaudible ] and that's the case for the [ inaudible ] as well.
Are the [ inaudible ] eligible for the grants. Well the region innovation grants [ inaudible ] we will get back to you on that. We will planning to put up all of the questions and answers on the website. For the quicker answer if you left your contact information, we can get back to you as soon as possible. How can American Indians join a regional wired. I am assuming that is being a part of the existing wired grants. We have all of the information on where the wired regions are and the locations on that I would suggest that you look at the -- suggest that you look at the website that I mentioned earlier. You can also call your work force agency or your local work force investment boards.
Okay.
The next question is how could the regular requirements -- rig is awarded on a disaster and could the state and local funds be [ inaudible ] to create the jobs. I think this is -- I think is actually, I think I need a die sec tiff plan. When we talk about the resources that's not necessarily to create temporary jobs if you were to provide other types of foreign and attempts for the workers that would be fine, but we don't expect temporary jobs based on the disaster.
Next. The local areas apply for the rigs on the national disasters. This would be contrary to the rig regulations.
We are not talk agon 't the guidelines right now we are talk act the regional innovation grants. We do expect that the states apply for the national emergency grants. They are defining a region and that can come in. It's a different animal in lots of ways.
The next one is about performance expectation. Will there be performance expectations taking place on the grant of the national and regional invasion -- innovations. There is an expectation plan for the resources and developmental strategies as as far as the common measures these are not grants to extend the work capacity of the system, these are purely planning grants for the expectation of the [ inaudible ]
This goes into details on the expectation plan. I [ inaudible ] to go to the website on the conception procedure plan and that is for the generation and and two.
Nancy, do you want to take a question with Newton?
Is Newton on or have they lost connection?
We have been on the whole time, but we lost the connection and we are up and running.
The next question is how is the employees effected. What was the average age of the may tag employees and was the whirlpool workers certified fur -- for T AA.
Did you get all of that?
I don't know that I can answer what the average age would be. I would be shooting in the dark on that one.
It was a full range of folks of 25 year veterans to those who were fresh out of college and this was their first job. They were certified for the T AA assistance, I think it is -- what has somewhat effected their choices of services we have the Des Moines community college which is colocated with the corporate work forces that many of the employees chose to go back to school through the Des Moines area college and they have other partnerships for the four year institutions and many of the folks have started off with the D Mack and go on to the [ inaudible ] colleges as well. And speaking of the employment of the [ inaudible ] nursing and the new trade. The other thing that I would answer to that is that many of them are seeking other training that might take them to a nontraditional relationship but to a business [null],s as well.
What types of resources have been leveraged and by whom.
I can give you a list and it is starting to grow. It's really phenomenal in the part of lay -- department of labor. In having the Iowa state university as part of our transformation of council we have leveraged ED A money that this Iowa university has. They have met with the professors at the Iowa state that is doing research for us and that will do the [ inaudible ] for the asset mapping and they are doing the refunds to pay for that.
We took much of the work that we have shared with you and have also leveraged other grabs and hopefully those pending coming from the SB A and possibly USDA and one of those that is awarded and announced is a resource called the intranet which provides the online resource as well. There is collaborative work and initial strategies we have been able to implement these resources at the federal or local level as well. We are hoping and anticipating that that list will grow as that plan comes together and we can show the private foundations and other organizations that have the resources that we have the plan and this is how we would use their money and this would be a good investment for them.
Okay.
Thank you. I am going to turn it back to Mindy and I will come back to Newton.
We are the pending recipients for the wired [ inaudible ] grants. Can we apply for the rig?
Again if you are a part of the wired region you may not be able to. I would highly encourage you to wait for the [ inaudible ] competition, because if you got the grant we wouldn't be able to fund it and it would be complicated. That is going do -- going to be coming shortly.
If an event takes place in a specific region but not on the wired grant, can they apply. I am confused on this because the regional grant is for a broad strategy. If there is an economic location I would assume that the wired grant would take that into account on the new workers and the new dislocation. There wouldn't need to be a separate planning grant because they are developing a strategy for the region they are developing a plan nor plan for the economic development only.
How is the city of Newton a state work force agency and then we have another one that said are eligible applicants for the work force agencies or can all apply.
They were a demonstration and they were using the demonstration funds and as we road the [ inaudible ] and provided guidance we have written in that only state force agencies and local work force boards apply. That's how they got their grant, as the demonstration.
For the application do they have to go through the grants at the government website.
You don't have to go through there. We are finalizing a document that has a guide on the E system that can outcome you through it. There is Janet's name and number there and she can e-mail you the guide and you can get familiar. If you are not a state you have toe have a pin -- have to have a pin number. We operate a different system from the grants dot gov.
If the funding is given on the rig would that go through the state or do you go through the [ inaudible ]
That's up to you you can go through the state or you can apply as a local [ inaudible ] and or if you apply as the consortium you have to have the grant recipient and that should be the local agent.
Would the continue relocation of this place on the Katrina victims been on the rigs?
There would have to be a storm. I would say in the anticipation of the storm, no. But in the relocation and the strategy your regional strategy serving the Katrina victim but everybody within that region. I don't want to say yes, you can get one, it's more that you can apply.
How do the services and the expend which you ares -- expen which you ares work on the concept. I am not sure about the question it's self, but the rig concept is a broader concept. Working with your industries, core leadership group, identifying your assets, developing innovative strategies to provide a regional transformation plan. We believe in the long run those effected workers and those affected in the future will have better outcomes.
Okay.
If an organization is formed to leave the rig effort can the funds be left to help with the staffing and the reorganizations?
If you're propose really has a strong rational on to why you need to perform a separate regulation to [ inaudible ]
It is a possibility. The operational cost of that organization. I would refer you to A27 for the government's and A122 for the [ inaudible ]
Nancy, I am going to continue on for the questions on the Newton. We have a lot of questions here. Great, I am try not to duplicate questions and they are coming in individually and we are printing them off and we are try to make sure that all of them are addressed. I am doing my best not to duplicate the questions. Has an accessment been done to see if the -- [Audio Cutting In and Out] [Audio Cutting In and Out]
Nancy?
Can you hear me?
Yes, I can.
What we are doing is through that ED A much that the -- money that the Iowa state university is looking at. They are looking at the knowledge and the skills of the work force that has been impacted with the loss of whirlpool/May tag and how do -- to do the assessments and technology to do the types of employment that they have not thought about it. And we are try to implement that.
Great, thank you.
How were the services provided prior to the law off.
-- lay off.
They were directed in a way such as the resume Wright, and the career -- resume writing and the career transition center, and the -- those were in the corporate offices and they were the first to lose their job and they lost their job by December of 2006. The other source for the employees is through the local work force and the one stop shop. They are focuses on the -- focusing on the ones out at the plant operation. Those are the ones out at the plant and getting those signed up even though they will not be done until October of 2007. Also we have the stakeholders that try to provide, smart start classes, fast track classes, and one-on-one counseling. That has been targeted at the employees.
Okay. I have a -- I want want to present this as a three part question because it has to deal with the employer in -- employers in the region. Are there any other employers in the region and has the information been gathered concerning the secondary impacts of the May tag closing such as retailers, and local entities that may have been abouted by the closing.
First one about the major employers in their area and they are. I mentioned earlier about the population and whether that stabilized. I think the reason why Newton has a stable population and RO bust housing market. Peel will Windows are 30 minutes from the Newton. 1515 minutes to the east there is a Window and door company called [ indiscernible ] To the north 30 minutes there is listen fox and fishers and there is a John deer and some of the other manufacturing operations such as the general Mills plan. There is a some of manufacturing in the region. In addition it's beneficial that we are 30-miles east of the state capital which is Des Moines which is a large financial services community and there are many of our corporate employees who have found jobs such jobs such as principle, LI insurance, wells far go, and [ inaudible ] and their corporate headquarters there is a lot of beneficial impact there and they are stable and actually growing. The second question about the impact. That is some of the data that Iowa state is working for us. On how they are impacting the companies and the retailers and they are updating that data. The one at the time that didn't seem quite a benefit, but now it is, againplay tag is a large international company. Many of the [ inaudible ] is coming from the outside of the state. There are local companies that are impact and they seen what was going to happen and they have diversified before the announce. Ments.
I have one final question for you.
It says here that there gap for the [ inaudible ] and the due date of the strategic planning. What are you planning during that time to help your region plan.
I guess what I would say is, what we have been doing all along is from the initial announcement, that's assessing immediately the needs of our community and [ inaudible ] and responding as we identify those needs what is beneficial about the rigs and money in that plan is that we can put together a long term strategy and do the data analysis to focus on the long term of the plan. We are not just waiting for that plan, we have to work daily to assess and to respond and that's a lot of what the action tames -- teams are doing right now. They are conduit for the assessment as we put together the strategic plan for the whole region. We are not remaining static, we are looking for the repairing needs for the future.
It sounds like you are being proactive. I will give it to Mindy for the questions and she will give it back to me and then we will turn it over to Gary.
I am confused about the ceiling on the states [ inaudible ] There is a ceiling if a state provides for a [ inaudible ] What I was trying to express before is that the state cannot go over the 250 to capture the administrative and oversight functions of the [ inaudible ] It would have to be within the [ inaudible ] times of the cap of the rig.
Okay.
If you are currently not a part of the wired region can you apply for the rig or anything?
I am going to speak about the rig's today because the [ indiscernible ] have a lot of the guidelines to it. If you are not part of the wired region you may still apply in the event that there is an economic event that [ inaudible ] There is a prerequisite on the attached [ inaudible ]
This wired grant is focused on a particular industry that is not keyed or regioned. We are interested in the [ inaudible ] on the dislocation of the creative plans for the system changed is it possible to apply given this instance.
I would say that is no. We have an extensive strategy. I would suggest that you talk to the [ inaudible ] in your interest or your strategy and add an industry that you want to focus. We cannot have simultaneous strategic plans on the wireless system. We have the to have the interconnected [ inaudible ] plans on the result.
What I said was that I don't know exactly when but the wired three will be announced sometime in the near future, but I am not positive. I would suggest not applying until you hear the results of the region three competitions. And speaking of that do you anticipate a fourth generation of wired.
If you are talking in the same point of the three RD again ration.
-- [ Speaker/audio not clear ]
Could you combine industry lay offs for a significant amount of events?
I would say yes, it doesn't have to be exactly similar to the guidelines, but it could be critical if the [ inaudible ] on the community that you would be able to apply.
One more, I have been told there is one more -- time for one more.
The state applies for the multiple regions are they eligible for more than 250 [ inaudible ] I can't tell you whether it's better to tell you if the state comes in for the grant separately. There is a cap and that is for each region that is for the state and local work force division.
I think I am out of time.
Thank you Mindy. I want to take it back over to the Iowa team. Kim has one more thing to say before she ends the day.
Thank you Nancy, I was thinking about the last question about asking about the gap between of having things happen now and when the plan happens. I would say to everyone how important that visioning process that we went through September of last year and the creation of that vision statement that really is now our guiding principle if you will to understand what things we want to accomplish and that's where the action teams are focusing on and that's where we are working with the stakeholders and the community as a whole to align to. And as we put the data plan together there may have to be tweaks, but that is a key process and don't over look that. Bringing a community and a region together through a visioning process can be power. power. -- powerful. That will move you forward.
We appreciate you allowing us to tell the Newton story.
Thank you very much I am sure that everyone has benefited from your story today. If there is any additional questions that you have or we didn't get to, because contact Sharon [ inaudible ] or you can contact me. Our numbers are listed on the slide on the presentation and I will turn it over to Gary to take it away.
For anyone still with us I want want to tell you about the [ inaudible ] On the success work force [ inaudible ] You can share your ideas and innovations and we encourage information to share. If you would like to submit your content is go to the work force page which is located on the bottom of the slide. As I have mentioned at the beginning of today ease session, we are going to be recording this and they will be present before close of business tomorrow. You can also gain access of the power points. There is also a PDF in which you could have received in e-mail for today ease session, if you didn't see the e-mail or have time to review that just up load it from the work force as well.
You can find the engaging community of practices and you can share ideas and connections, and peers. You can go through the web continue tent -- content echts this is regularring -- registering for the events.
You can also learn more about the work force division by going to -- [ Speaker/Audio Faint & Unclear ]
Mark on your calendars that beyond boundaries on the work force division at Kansas city work convention and that is on the website site as well which is on the slide.
I would like to conclude today ease session and thank you for your time and we look forward to seeing you at future webinars. Thanks everyone. Bye.
[Relay Event Concluded]