Corridor business organizations address policies at Legislative Launch

Corridor business leaders, lobbyists and politicians gathered on Wednesday, Dec. 6, at the Cedar Ridge Distillery in Swisher for the 2024 sixth annual Legislative Launch, an event held by the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance and Greater Iowa City Inc. Dec. 6 saw a packed house at the Distillery, where the two organizations laid out a list of policies that addressed challenges facing many employers in the state, urging state and federal legislators to take action when the new General Assembly starts in January.

Lawmakers head back to the State Capitol in Des Moines in a few weeks and business leaders would like to see the Iowa Legislature and Iowa’s federal delegation to pass laws which grow, retain and attract a skilled workforce. “Our members and regional partners continue to tell us they need more workers. In the new year, we will once again advocate for policies that address those workforce challenges, particularly those that invest in growing our talent pool,” said Doug Neumann, executive director for the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance. “Our regional employers have lead the way in innovative educational experiences like ‘earn and learn’ programs, work-study and apprenticeships programs. We want to continue to promote and expand those programs.” The list of policies were developed using input from 2,000 of the organizations’ members, partners and community stakeholders and was presented to policymakers and business leaders at the launch. There are six policies the organizations would like federal and state lawmakers to focus on:

• Invest in talent development and regain educational leader status
• Remove barriers to employment and close the opportunity gap
• Enhance community attraction and livability efforts
• Welcome workers from all populations
• Incentivize business growth and invest in business attraction
• Embrace solutions utilizing technology and natural resources

“Our region’s success—and our state’s success—are heavily dependent upon our ability to compete in the global economy, and that starts with growing our workforce population and supporting policies that attract new Iowans” said Nancy Bird, CEO and president of Greater Iowa City, Inc. “We’ll concentrate on workforce population growth policies that address immigration, back more housing stock, provide access to quality and affordable child care, support a competitive and fair tax system and embrace Iowa’s natural resources to encourage more renewable energy sources for business that in turn helps attract and retain younger workers.” Liz Mathis, economic development coordinator for the Hiawatha Economic Development Corporation (HEDCO), said a key effort should be attracting and retaining workers in Iowa, a sentiment echoed by multiple people that evening. “We need more people to work for us,” she said. “We are hoping to see more workplace initiative from the IEDA and governmental offices. This is what Iowa businesses are asking for.” Adam Zabner, state representative for Iowa House District 90, said a prime reason he ran for office was to retain talent and keep young people in Iowa. “We need to make Iowa competitive,” he said. “With young talent in the state, the key is affordable housing. How can they afford to live in the community?” Affordable housing, childcare and inclusiveness were top on the list for Iowa City mayor Bruce Teague, who said wages need to keep up with the cost of living in order to attract and retain the workforce. “Things cost more in our community. Everything goes up except paychecks. We need to make sure everyone can live in this state,” he said. Part of that is to make childcare available, accessible and affordable, he said. “We need to keep the talent here and do everything we can to retain interest in (order for the workforce) to stay in Iowa. We need to ensure the economy remains strong, keeping and retaining great talent and businesses,” said Mr. Teague. ADM and GreenState Credit Union were the event sponsors. To learn more, see the organizations’ comprehensive 2024 state and federal public policy agenda for the ICR corridor region at www.cedarrapids.org or www.greateriowacity.com.