Rameen: Coming up on City Spotlight, we are talking Mattoon.

In the first segment, we'll talk with Ed Dowd, Executive Director of the Mattoon Chamber of Commerce.

We'll talk about Mattoon in motion, plus new economic developments in downtown Mattoon and at the Cross County Mall, and a look ahead to 2019 in Mattoon.

Then we'll talk higher education with Lake Land College President Dr. Josh Bullock, about Lake Land's new strategic plan, and physical changes for Lake Land College.

We are focusing on the latest going on in Mattoon, here on City Spotlight.

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And welcome to another edition of City Spotlight.

We're back in the studio of WEIU after a handful of on-location episodes, and today we are talking Mattoon.

And we welcome back to the program for this first segment Ed Dowd, he's the Executive Director of the Mattoon Chamber of Commerce.

Great to see you again, Ed.

Ed: Always a pleasure.

Always a pleasure to talk about Mattoon, a lot of great things happening.

Rameen: Excellent.

We are taping here two weeks before Christmas, so early "Happy Holidays" to you.

Ed: Yes.

Well thank you.

"Happy Holidays" to you too.

Rameen: Excellent.

We ...

There's a lot of stuff that just recently has transpired in Mattoon, so we're gonna talk about that here off the bat.

But first, let's talk Mattoon in Motion, tell us about that please.

Ed: Yes.

Yeah, Mattoon in Motion's been going on little over a year now.

It's just a way for the entire community ... We have 80 community members who are passionate about how are we gonna help Mattoon progress into the future, and we've done a lot of things, lot of things going on.

We have a program, that I think you're gonna talk about a little bit, with Lake Land College and LSC Communications, which is going to be Quad Graphics.

They've got a program where if you go through a nine week course, or not ... yeah, nine week course, you can guarantee a job out at Lake Land.

We are ... need these, we need the people to be able to get jobs and we need to fill the jobs that are currently existing.

Another thing with Mattoon in Motion, we secured a Peace Corps fellow through the Peace Corps program, his name is Carlos Ortega.

He's doing a great job, he's helping us with economic development, and he's also helping us with ... We have an innovation center, and I know you ... we talked a little bit about that.

We're looking to have a place where people can go, kinda like an incubator, where start up businesses, even mom-and-pop's who are at home and just need a place to go to have a business address, to be able to go when the kids are in bed and do their work, and talk to clients and things.

So it's going to be a 24/7 access center, it's going to be at the mall, Rural King has been gracious about donating the space, so it's real exciting.

It's ...

There's a lot of parts in motion for it, it's going to be a very exciting thing.

So a lot of good stuff with Mattoon in Motion.

Rameen: Yes, and we're gonna reference the mall 'cause there's quite a bit on the horizon for the mall, now and moving forward obviously.

Ed: Absolutely.

Rameen: Sounds like a one kind of ...

I have never heard of one of these before, this is a very unique thing for Mattoon to have there, and obviously in the mall.

Ed: Yes.

Yeah, there is ... there are some incubators ...

There are some places like this in Champaign, Decatur, there are innovation centers where start up businesses can collaborate and work together, but we're hoping to really be the one south of Champaign, going south ... We're gonna be the one that's going to generate the support and try to get the young entrepreneurs to stay in our community and grow and build their businesses there.

The unique thing about ours is the mall has always had some areas that just haven't been able to be filled, and this is one of those areas that's been vacant for about eight years now, and this is a space that Rural King, since they bought the mall, has said, "You know, we're gonna give back to community.

We're gonna let you guys use this space, utilize it, for this incubator, for these start up businesses."

So it's just a great partnership, and we're very excited about it.

Rameen: Stay right there at the Cross County Mall.

Ed: Yes.

Rameen: Today is a Tuesday.

Yesterday, Monday, December 10th, Scotty's Brewhouse opened in the mall.

Tell us about Scotty's Brew.

Ed: Yeah, Scotty's Brewhouse, it's a craft brewery ...

I mean, a craft brewhouse, and they have ...

I was saying they have 30 different beers on tap, it's gonna be huge.

It's a ... Great food, they have ... it's even kid friendly, but they have food from hamburgers on up to steaks and things like that.

One exciting thing, they're gonna have a patio out in front of the mall during the summer.

They have an awning and it's gonna be ... so there's gonna be seating outside, so that's something unique to the ... that the mall will have.

Very exciting, very energetic, very exciting opportunity for Scotty's Brewhouse.

Rameen: The start of some hopefully great things coming to the mall.

Ed: Absolutely.

Rameen: That opened yesterday, and they also have a location in Champaign, so they're ... they have a footprint in central Illinois.

Ed: Yes, they do.

And then, in the next few months, I think it's March that they're planning on actually moving the Rural King store out to the mall, so that'll be another traffic draw, and it's very exciting that Rural King is not only investing in the mall as an owner, they're investing it as a retailer.

So that's gonna be an easy way ... easier way for them to attract other retailers, because they're gonna say, "Wow, you're willing to invest in the mall.

Why don't we invest in the mall?"

So I think they're ... you're gonna be seeing it filling up very quickly, so we're very excited about that.

Rameen: As in our next segment, talking with Dr. Josh Bullock, you and Dr. Bullock were on an episode around this time last year and we were just finding out about the changes to the mall and Rural King moving over.

Sometimes things take a little time to happen, but now we're gonna see a lot of changes to the mall in 2019.

Ed: Absolutely.

Rameen: You and a lot of residents in Mattoon have to be extremely excited about that.

Ed: Oh, very excited, because as you know a lot of malls are declining, where ours is starting over.

It's gonna be thriving, so we're just thrilled of what's gonna occur in the next few ... in the next eyra.

There's gonna be a lot of changes at the mall, we're very excited about it.

Rameen: And so, Rural King's main area will be over in the former Sears portion of the mall.

Ed: Correct, correct.

Rameen: All right, very good.

There are some other changes that recently happened over in that neck of the woods.

Also yesterday, Monday, December 10th, an announcement on ... the Taco Bell will be moving closer to the interstate.

Ed: Yeah.

Taco Bell decided that they think that they'd have better luck, possibly, closer to the interstate where they'd get more interstate traffic.

Plus their location is a little tricky to get into, it ... their drive through is a little tricky, but what that's gonna do is open up more opportunities for other restaurants, small restaurants, fast food restaurants, to open up.

So we're very excited about those possibilities too.

To have one ... And they're gonna have a lot of customers once Rural King moves out there, Scotty's, and other potential retailers, so I don't think it's gonna stay empty long, I think it'll be filled up very quickly.

Rameen: Probably ... You can't miss that location, right there with all those roads as you enter the mall.

Ed: Absolutely.

Rameen: Also, a building that was of a former business there by the interstate, we now have Rent X. Ed: Yes, Rent X. Yeah, used to be Aaron's, and Aaron's was more for the consumer, they had the TV's, the beds, the furniture, things like that, where Rent X is more for the industry.

So if you need ... if industry's need a big piece of equipment or something like that, they're going to be the ones who are going to offer those things to rent.

So it's just a little bit of a change, more from .

.. not employee, more from small consumers to large consumers, so it's ... but it's similar concept, yes.

Rameen: Exciting stuff happening over near the interstate, so let's move on over toward downtown Mattoon.

We have some exciting things happening there, tell us about the changes to the Sears Hometown store, please.

Ed: Yeah.

Sears Hometown, the young owners, Tanner Kroening, they decided that they were having a little bit of struggles with getting product in timely manners with Sears having their issues, so they were taking four to six week lead times, and some people ...

If you need a dishwasher you don't need it four weeks from now, you need it today.

So what they decided is hey, we're gonna start our own and we're gonna ...

They've already got partnerships with a lot of the major ... the LG's, the Whirlpool's, the Samsung's.

So they've already got relationships built, and by early next year they're gonna have their own shop and they're gonna be selling their own goods through their own company, so they can control more of the inventory and get it to the people faster.

So the ... very young family, very energetic, and we're very excited for them.

Rameen: And that Hometown store just opened about three years ago, so it's good to hear that it will still be there, maybe with a different name and everything.

Ed: Yeah, it's good to see when businesses are leaving, some new businesses are coming in or existing businesses are taking back over, so it's not like we're having empty store fronts, which is great.

Which is great.

Rameen: Physically it will still be there.

Ed: Absolutely.

Rameen: Tell us about a couple other things.

We have a frozen yogurt store.

Ed: Yes, Culture Frozen Yogurt, and it's kind of funny, the ... That same family who owns the Sears Hometown, his wife actually, [Hailey 00:08:55] Kroening, she's the owner of it and it ... they ... formerly was in Effingham, and the business owners decided to close up business.

They were retiring, and so they said, "Why don't we move this to Mattoon?

We don't really have a frozen yogurt."

So it's very exciting, and it's right there next to K.C.

Summers on ... off of 19th Street.

Very exciting, they have a lot of great delectable delights, so check it out.

Rameen: Can't miss the ... that area over there, K.C.

Summers, lot of shiny buildings over there.

Ed: Yes, yes.

Rameen: Tell us about the Mattoon Flower Shop also.

Ed: Yeah.

Mattoon Flower Shop, they used to be in a really tricky location.

They were off the beaten path, off of Marshall Avenue, and it was hard to get to them and hard to see them.

It was an older building that actually was having trouble because there was a coal mine under it, and part of their greenhouse actually sank, so they said, "We need to get more front facing, more open to the public."

So now they are downtown Mattoon, right next to the former Book Nook, and a beautiful building, if you get a chance you gotta check it out.

And they're very excited ... Again, another young couple, it's great to see young people investing in the community.

A young couple and they're really working hard to make ... to help improve downtown, so it's very exciting.

Rameen: A couple minutes left here with you, Ed, I appreciate your time today.

Let's talk about expanding Justrite Manufacturing, there off County Road 100 North.

Ed: Yeah, 1000 North.

Yeah, Justrite Manufacturing, they had a small warehouse where they were holding their goods and services and shipping from, it was about 75,000 square feet.

They are expanding so much they bought their two biggest competitors nationwide, and they said, "We need more space," so they're actually purchasing another existing building next to them that is 175,000 square feet.

So it's great to see a local business expanding their footprint, and they're gonna be taking over that warehouse, so very exciting and very exciting news.

Rameen: We've touched upon many things that have just recently happened and/or will carry over into ... taking place in 2019.

We also have LSC Communications, formerly R.R.

Donnelley's, big changes potentially coming for them in 2019.

Ed: Correct.

They're ...

They got bought out by Quad Graphics, which they were the two ... R.R.

Donnelley's and Quad Graphics were, again, two big competitors, and they bought them out.

LSC the company will no longer exist, it'll be part of Quad Graphics, so they are gonna be Quad Graphics and ...

But there is no change, they plan on staying as far as I know, and they plan on continuing the efforts with Mattoon in Motion with the students at Lake Land College and getting them jobs and things.

So that's a great company, they're doing great things out there, so we ... we're very happy to see that it sounds like they're gonna stay, so very good.

Rameen: Roughly nearly 700 employees, major employer in Mattoon.

Ed: Correct.

Rameen: Ed, we're seeing all kinds of things moving forward, whether it be near the interstate, the mall, downtown Mattoon is continuing to grow.

From you perspective, Chamber Director and Mattoon ... future is very bright for Mattoon moving forward into the new year.

Ed: Yes, I'm so excited about the new year.

Like I said, downtown is ... As we've talked about, we visited downtown a few segments ago, and there's, even since you've been there, we've had five or six new businesses coming.

We have a lot of ... we had ... just had our downtown celebrate Christmas, where we had dozens of lighted floats, we had our Trunk-or-Treat downtown, just a lot of exciting things happening in Mattoon.

Ed: I am sure that the mall, people are going to be very surprised by all the growth that's gonna be happening there, so there's so many exciting things happening, I can't say enough about how excited I am for our community.

Rameen: I look forward to catching up with you, maybe sooner than a year from now, Ed.

There's a lot going on, obviously, with the mall and continuing economic development in Mattoon.

Ed Dowd, Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce.

Pleasure seeing you again, Ed.

Ed: Always a pleasure, thank you so much.

Rameen: Thank you so much.

Ed: All right.

Rameen: And coming up next here on City Spotlight, we'll continue this episode on Mattoon.

We'll talk about all the latest going on at Lake Land College with the President of Lake Land College, Dr. Josh Bullock.

Rameen: But first, let's take a look at some of the upcoming activities going on in Mattoon.

[music plays] And we're back here on City Spotlight, this episode on Mattoon.

We're gonna change gears now and we're gonna talk about Lake Land College and we welcome back to the program the President of Lake Land College, Dr. Josh Bullock.

Josh: Rameen, thank you for having me.

Rameen: Pleasure to have you on.

It's become an annual thing, interview you here near the end of year, we're taping this two weeks before Christmas.

Josh: Yes.

Rameen: Happy early holidays to you.

Josh: You as well.

Rameen: Very good.

A lot going on at Lake Land recently and look forward to catching up on 2018, and maybe a peek into what might be happening in 2019.

You had a couple things transpire over the summer.

A brand new strategic plan, three-year strategic plan, in place at Lake Land, it was in July that it was implemented.

Tell us about that please.

Josh: Yes.

We're really excited about the new strategic plan.

We are focusing on two key focus areas, because one of the things we know about strategic planning is when you have a hundred priorities, you have no priorities, so we really wanted to develop a plan that the entire community could wrap themselves around and embrace.

It involves two primary areas.

The first is Guided Pathways, which is initiative that started by the Gates Foundation and the American Association of Community Colleges, and it's really about providing academic pathways that have all the wrap around services in those pathways to help student succeed.

So imagine a world where a student comes in, they might have an interest in manufacturing, so they start out in a meta major around technology and manufacturing.

You have chances to explore career opportunities and programs, and you actually funnel them down to the courses that they need in the areas that they find of interest, so say manufacturing.

You provide deterministic scheduling for those students, so that when a student starts a program they know that if I stick with this program I will get all the classes I need to complete that program, and provides a little more structure.

It also provides the bookends of making sure that you're addressing all of those high school needs, as well as the backend of helping them find employment or transferability to a four-year institution, so we're pretty excited about that focus area.

The second is on data analytics, and much like Amazon and every other organization out there, we all need to do a better job of utilizing data to help our students succeed.

As educational institutions, we have a wealth of data but we're not always great about using that data on an individualized basis for students, to help them become successful or more successful.

And so, we're really hoping that we can get data systems in place to allow us to extract the appropriate types of information so that every single individual student, we can have data on that student to make sure that we tailor plans for those students and help them succeed.

Rameen: It is a numbers game out there, so very [crosstalk], so look forward to seeing how that pans out over the next couple years.

Some big physical changes coming to Lake Land here, especially one of the big buildings there on Lake Land, the Luther Student Center.

Tell us about the Capital Campaign please.

Josh: We're really excited.

We worked last year with our Board of Trustees on an eight-year Capital Campaign, and that's to allow us to not only retrofit and update some of our existing buildings, but really add new physical space that we've needed for a while.

So the one we're very proud of is the Luther Student Center addition, we are adding nearly 20,000 square feet to that building, and it's a project that's been in the works for 20 years.

So in order to make that happen the administration had to move out of that building, and so we renovated our childcare into our new Board and Administrations Center, and we'll be completely renovating the existing Luther Student Center as well as putting an addition on.

All of that will be really on-stop student services space, so counseling, admissions, student life, the police department, the book store, all of these different areas that touch students, financial aid, will all be in one location now versus being spread across campus.

Along with that, part of the eight-year plan, we are looking at building an additional building in Effingham next to the Kluthe Center.

Hopefully not only will that provide programming space for us, but it will house the Effingham Regional Career Academy, which has been a fantastic partnership.

We're looking at additional storage space on campus, constructing some space to move our Center for Business and Industry out of our current facility on Richmond into a facility on campus.

That will allow us not only to bring individuals to campus for training, but the ability to share equipment and space and materials.

So a lot of good, physical changes happening on campus to try to continue to be relevant to our community.

Rameen: You listed the couple of places there, whether it be on campus or in Effingham, but I'm seeing this available ... expanding available storage space, that means Lake Land's growing.

Josh: We are growing, and with everybody ... As we hit the 50-year mark two years ago, we've realized we're running out of storage space.

We ...

Typically as we've renovated buildings, we've taken a lot of storage space and converted it either to classroom space or offices, so .

..

But we are in desperate need of storage space on campus, and we're looking at somewhere around 6,000 square feet of storage space, climate controlled, to store records and other things that are a value to the college.

Rameen: Moving right along to things you're collaborating with.

One of the great things about this program, we get to talk about the collaborations between cities and different organizations.

Tell us about what you're doing with the Effingham Regional Growth Alliance.

Josh: Great program with the Effingham Regional Growth Alliance.

Craig Neilson and I, gosh, this has been about two years ago, we started talking about the need for coding.

Coding is everywhere, and what we know is there'll be about a million unfilled coding jobs in the next five years because it's such a growth industry.

And so, we started meeting with different coding organizations to determine what can we bring to the Effingham area, and we found a great partner in LaunchCode, it's an organization out of St. Louis that was started by the founder of Square, the little device that we use for scanning credit cards and such.

And so, we're one of the exclusive partners with them in the area and we're offering this training.

It's called IT LaunchCode, and it's a short-term, boot camp style training program that will teach individuals, even those who don't have any computer skills or knowledge, how to code and how to be employable, not only for new jobs but for within their own organizations to build their own relevancy within their organization.

Rameen: And this is something that just got going, and it's onto it's next set of classes.

Josh: Absolutely.

The classes start late January of 2019, the next set.

Rameen: You mentioned the Regional Growth Alliance there in Effingham, we had Mr. Neilson on previously here on City Spotlight.

Let's talk about your partnership with LSC Communications, obviously formerly known as R.R.

Donnelley's.

Josh: Yes.

Lake Land College is focused as a community college on making sure that our own local work force ... our employers have the workforce they need to fill their voids, and a number of months ago we started working with LSC Communication as they've begun to expand and grow, and we realized they had a shortage of skilled work force in certain areas.

And so, we partnered with them to develop a manufacturing ... fast track manufacturing type program that allows us to train workers, and the beauty of the program is if the workers or if the students complete the program they are guaranteed a job at LSC Communications.

So what a great way for a student to come in, take a short-term training course, have a skillset that leads to ready employment.

We're talking sustainable jobs here, $16-18 an hour jobs, that's life sustaining work.

And so, we encourage more employers to look at not just Lake Land but there are other community colleges, there are universities, form those partnerships, we're here to help in whatever way that we can.

We know that program has been successful, we look forward to running the next cohort soon.

Rameen: We talked about LSC Communications and some possible changes with Ed Dowd in the previous segment, 700 employees there at LSC Communications.

A couple months ago I was on location in Paris, and talking with Mayor Craig Smith about a new plastics program that you guys are involved with.

So you're in Paris, Illinois, tell us about that please.

Josh: We are ... have built a new plastics program, the only one of its kind within 180 mile radius.

In the area that we're in in Paris, we know that that area is flooded with individual companies that require skilled technicians in plastics manufacturing, and so, when we started to uncover the need we started to work with the Paris Economic Development Corporation, the City of Paris, to find out how we can address this need.

We found some great partners in North American Lighting, in Libman, many of those who work in plastics, and so they've helped us provide equipment, resources, funding.

Eastern Illinois University's been a great partner, not only in helping develop the curriculum for the program but donating equipment, because all of us realize if we can retain these manufacturers in the area and get them the skilled workforce they need, that's going to be better for everybody.

All of us will be more successful if that occurs.

The next class starts in January, we're excited for that.

Again, those technicians will come out and they will have their choice of jobs, because that type of a skillset is in such high demand in our area.

Rameen: And remind folks at home, where that is going to be held specifically in Paris there.

I ... Josh: It's at the old Paris High School.

Rameen: That's right, that's right.

Josh: We are renting lab space as well as classroom space there, and some really cool equipment.

If they have a chance to come out and ... for any of the open houses and just see the equipment operating, it's pretty neat.

Rameen: Great to see the old Paris High School being used for something, Lake Land College there.

I wanna ask you a follow up.

As my travels through all the different communities here on City Spotlight, and I see Lake Land College in Marshall and Paris, the reaches of the different communities, you're out east.

Why is that important for Lake Land College, to be in these different communities that are 30-45 minutes away from your main campus?

Josh: Sure.

Most people don't understand, we have a 4,000 square mile district, so we cover 15 counties, 53 communities.

And so for us, as community is part of who we are and part of our name as a community college, we really need to be visible in those areas and helping those local areas, whether it's incumbent worker training, whether it's programs for students to gain a specific skillset, or whether it's just adult continuing education type programs.

We need to be in those communities and visible to make sure that there are opportunities across the entire span of our 4,000 square miles.

Rameen: Moving right along here in our final few minutes with you Dr. Bullock, let's re-emphasize the work that you guys are doing with the Illinois Department of Corrections and that agreement.

Josh: We continue to expand our relationship with the Illinois Department of Corrections.

We are now up to 25 facilities that we serve, we have full time staff in those facilities, faculty as well as associate deans, and that work is so valuable.

This year alone we'll educate about 7,500 inmates.

And to put into perspective, for the state of Illinois it costs about $1,400 a year to educate an inmate, versus $22,500 to house them.

So these are individuals that ... We know programming reduces recidivism by nearly half, and so if we can get these individuals educated shortly before release we can get them out into gainful employment where we know those types of positions will hire somebody that has a conviction on their record.

And so, we're hoping that we can continue to do our part to help reduce recidivism, and ultimately benefit the communities we serve, find skilled labor force, and benefit that tax payers.

Rameen: That's something we've talked about, I think your ... couple of previous times on, so it continues to grow.

Very good.

Talk about your new president's webpage.

Josh: We have a great president's webpage, we launched in the fall, and it's not only a way to get information on Lake Land College but if you subscribe to the webpage, or subscribe to emails, you can get monthly emails from me on updates on the college.

There's a form out there to come ask me if you want me to participate in a community event or speak at a community event, I would be happy to do that.

And we also provide a wealth of data for the community, so there's a lot of data that helps outline what our communities are about and how we're comprised.

Rameen: Okay.

Speaking of data, the next thing, Data for Decision Makers.

I believe that's a survey that was taken, a lot of great information was gathered.

I wanna ask you about one of them here in just a second, but tell us about this survey and what'd you wanna gain from it.

Josh: Our goal was really with ... is the breadth of the communities we serve, to truly understand what our demographic base looks like, because it changes all the time, and so we partnered with the University of Illinois extension to compile a comprehensive look at the district that we serve.

And there were some pretty startling data points in that data, one of them that jumps out to me is that over the last 10 years not only have we seen a decline in our overall population in those 15 counties, but the population of individuals 18 and under has declined almost 9% during that period of time.

And that speaks to the labor shortage we have, and it needs to be our goal as communities to try to find ways to get individuals to move into our communities so we can continue to grow that, so that long term we'll have the labor force needed for our employers to be successful here.

Rameen: I have a couple pages here from you on some of the results of that, and one set of results that I maybe ask you about here, you have something about over 50% of the labor force is employed in the areas of manufacturing, healthcare, retail, education.

That's a interesting set of numbers to understand, because you're talking about where people are working.

Josh: Absolutely, and as we have just talked about, many of the programs we have out there are related to manufacturing, because that is such a large portion of who we are as a district.

And healthcare, I know we've talked about our new medical assisting program and how we're expanding that to online and hybrid as well.

That helps drive how we offer programming to not only our communities but to our students, because we need to ensure that what we're offering fits the needs of those communities so that there are jobs available when the graduates complete.

So for us, understanding that picture helps immeasurably to ensure that we're doing what we need to do for our community.

Rameen: All right, very good.

Look forward to catching up with you in 2019, and maybe coming on location with you at the renovated Luther Student Center.

Josh: Absolutely, would love to have you out there.

Rameen: President of Lake Land College, Dr. Josh Bullock.

It's been a pleasure having you on City Spotlight again.

Josh: Thank you Rameen.

Rameen: Thank you so much.

And that'll do it for this episode of City Spotlight on Mattoon, we thank you for watching and we will see you next time.

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