At IHMVCU We've always been here for you.

You are and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial health and we are here.

IHMVCU as a proud supporter of WQPT.

Public affairs programing on WQPT is brought to you by the Singh Group at Merrill, serving the wealth management needs of clients in the region for over 35 years.

A war against diversity, equity and inclusion.

And getting your college career funded in the cities.

The FAFSA forms are ready, and the roll out for student financial aid appears to be less chaotic than last year.

We'll look at what students and parents must still be prepared to do.

That's still ahead.

But first, DEI Over the past decade, we've seen schools, government and corporate America try to tear down barriers that have left some people out of career paths.

But diversity, equity and inclusion programs have been attacked as quota systems.

That gives some people an unfair advantage to some.

It's a simple argument two wrongs don't make a right.

Iowa has taken steps to dismantle DEI programs, especially at its three public universities.

We talked with the DEI specialist, Corey Holloway.

You've been involved in DEI initiatives for a number of years.

Yes.

And you've been at the forefront of kind of pushing forward equality in the workplace.

And we've talked about equality in education.

And throughout society.

Are you surprised a little bit about the blowback that's being.

Well, that's occurring over the last two years.

Yeah.

Jim, I'm not surprised by the blowback because we're talking about initiatives addressing systematic, change.

Right.

So it's going to come with some resistance.

This work is, addressing current power structures and traditional norms, which can make some people feel uncomfortable, but it's in that uncomfortableness that there's opportunity of growth.

What I'm most surprised about is all the misrepresentation of what this work means.

It doesn't mean, favoritism.

It's not about placing blame.

It's it's saying that there's real barriers that people face.

And what can we do to address those?

To create spaces for everyone to live, thrive, within the workplace or even within our communities.

One of the biggest arguments, of course, and have you heard it time and again, is that you're overlooking people who may be better qualified for a job or a position.

Yeah, in order to meet quotas.

Sure.

Yeah.

That's one of the big misunderstandings of this work.

And that's not the kind of work that I want to do.

I don't think work should just be given to someone just because they're from the will to protect the classes.

What we're seeing is that people are being left over who are qualified.

People who do have, the ability to do jobs, above and beyond what's being asked them to be able to go and do.

And, they're not getting those opportunities.

They're not getting into the rooms where they can make, their talent be shown and known to within the organization, even even within our community.

So it's not about taking something from one group and giving it to another is understanding that there's, barriers that need to be removed.

So that way folks can have an equitable shot at, different opportunities that are available out there.

You're seeing in the state of Iowa, in particular, a dismantling of Dei initiatives.

Yeah, particularly in the public schools.

Yeah.

And the colleges.

What kind of impact do you think that is having?

Yeah.

So the Iowa has these committees that are looking to align, workforce development with, curriculum, which that could be promising.

But if we're leaving out Dei in the process, we are, leaving out, our underrepresented groups.

Right?

And they are part of the equation.

They're not a separate piece.

They're tied directly to workforce.

So, for example, somebody coming from a low income community who don't, who doesn't have access to these resources.

Dei efforts help bridge those gaps so that they can go on to be a productive citizen in the state of Iowa, and contribute to the society as a whole.

Is this something that just the term dei of becomes like this label that's bad and that you're still going to be able to do, let's say, the same work but under a different title or just different nomenclature.

Yeah.

That's a really good question too.

This work isn't new, right?

We're calling it I now, before it was the civil rights movement.

Before that we had, abolitionists looking to who saw that there's inequities happening in within, in society.

And then how do we address that?

So, to be honest, is through resiliency and innovation that this work can continue to go on.

When we take the opportunity to see how impactful diverse teams are in the workplace, inclusive environments allow folks to bring them whole selves to work and not feel like they have to put on this facade or something like that for instructors or whatever the case, for their, employers, whatever the case may be.

We can see the true change in impact, when and when organizations make it a part of their, the fabric of what they do and not just some separate initiative, because initiatives can go away, but who you are, can change positively when we are looking to make lasting change for, folks in our.

Communities.

It really has to be a part of the fiber of your business or your or your school.

And did you notice during your work as a facilitator, have you seen improvements?

Yeah, absolutely.

So there has been progress.

I would not say that I couldn't sit up here and tell you that there has been progress.

There has been progress.

What's what I'm seeing is just as the lack of understanding of what this work is hoping to, do for folks in our society.

So, when I'm facilitating, it's just there's a lot of curiosity.

If you're somebody who has it been a part of of these conversations?

And for me, it's providing a space to then say like, hey, this is a safe space to have a conversation.

Let's talk about what this stuff actually means.

And not just, some of the things that get polarized and taken out of context of what is hoping to accomplish and do.

So it's creating spaces to have these conversations to make the changes that we need, not just for the people who are being affected, but for the people who they will work alongside and live alongside.

Let's let's start from the beginning and define what Dei really means.

Yeah.

So Dei is it's lumped together.

But there's three separate words.

This diversity, which is like the make up of your people.

And then you have equity, which I explain a little bit earlier.

So equity is let's say for example, I have a diesel car, I have a battery car.

Right.

They take their different needs that they need that, that those vehicles need to perform and operate at the best of their abilities.

If I try to give you a car gas, it's not going to work.

And so like, hey, it's not going to work as well as the car that needs the gas, right.

So and then so equity is providing what people need not take not taking something away is to say, hey, these this group of people need to, just be able to show off their talents and be able to show, that they can bring great quality work to the work in place, be a part, be a part of great building teams, stronger teams.

And then inclusion is ensuring that the voices are heard.

Right.

So, and when businesses take advantage of that, you are able to capture new markets, you're able to understand how, a product could be, better used in a different, community when someone is, has speak from that experience of how it can have an impact on them.

So there's three separate things, but put together, and talks, nationally and locally as well too.

I wonder, though sometimes, are you worried that you're preaching to the choir with some of these, businesses in particular, that they already are in the mindset of improving the culture of their business?

Yeah.

But there's others that that are just resistant to it.

Yeah.

So the that's a really good question go too.

So there's, there's people who like.

Yeah, we get it I understand diversity piece like there's different people who look different to me in our side.

The inclusion piece of making sure that being heard what where the struggle come is that equity piece and and, I'm a part I'm a Dei director for Sherm as well too.

And their CEO recently came out and had a conversation about is how, CEOs or in key stakeholders are struggling with that equity piece and what that looks like.

And from my first, from my, experience is come from lacking a lack of understanding of what the equity piece means.

And, with not being able to understand that we're seeing like, oh, we're not just we don't want to just quota stuff, we don't just want to give stuff that people who aren't, qualified for, position and things of that nature.

So it's, it's taking the time to better understand that for them to say, oh, that's what that means.

This is how I move and operate that within my organization.

Is a little disconcerting to you, because I think the latest large company was Walmart announcing that it was dismantling or.

Yeah, turning its back in some ways against its de, programs.

there's been a lot of progress made and so we risk losing a lot of that progress that we have made, in our society.

So, the, the, the numbers are out there that talk about the how important the impact of a diverse team is to that workspace, how inclusive environments attract top talent to an organization.

Right.

These when we so we walk these these initiative backs.

It's not just a moral issue.

It's a practical one as well because we know the the positive impact that these, initiatives can have on a workspace or even within our communities.

Tell me a little bit about QC narratives, because it's such an important that you're involved in.

It seems to be such an important, aspect, to this, for young people in this area.

Yeah.

QC narratives is awesome.

I got asked to be a part of the board, I think about two years ago.

And now if you don't know who it is, QC narrative is it's an organization that serves, young adults so that right after high school age, to about that 26, 27 age, is the community is that they're targeted market.

And they have resources that provide life coaching for them because surprisingly enough or not, gen like, you don't always have it figured out right after high school, right?

So this program is here to help them with some life coaching.

Help them.

Like what does it take to, to, you know, go from a job to a career?

It provides, creative opportunities as well, too.

They have a great spoken word program that they're doing, and the students are involved with setting up these events.

And, I would encourage you to come down to one of their open mics and hear their stories.

Kitchen area provides voices for, these young adults right here in the community.

And they're doing some awesome things there.

So what are you hoping that it does accomplish?

Like I said, I mean, you're planting seeds.

Yeah.

What do you hope grows from it?

What I hope grows from this is that there are people who understand you.

There's people who care and people want who people who genuinely want to see you do well as an individual without wanting something back from you.

Right.

So, you need help.

How can we assist you so that you can go on to be the productive citizens citizen that you want to be?

How can we help you grow and be a better whatever it is that you're trying to achieve?

So we start if we can plant the seeds that there's people here to help, not just to for a personal gain, but just to help, you become whatever it is that you're hoping to accomplish as an individual.

So, with the right seeds planted and getting the right message, especially when you're hearing a lot of that negative stuff, just know that there's people there to do care about you as an individual.

And how does somebody get involved?

You can go to QC narratives that com and you could there's events that are coming up.

I think we have a fundraiser coming up here soon.

I'll come down to one of the open mics that happened down at the O's, Java Cafe over in Rock Island.

And great, great work that these, these young students that work, the students.

But great work that these young adults, put in, put effort into being able to display their art and hear their voices.

So we've been talking about, dei a little bit about the past and the current state of it.

What do you see for the future?

I mean, do you think that, like you said, the work will go on, but perhaps in a different fashion?

Sure.

So the work, like I said, the work is never going to go away as long as you have different people living and working with different backgrounds and lived experiences, there going to be, conflicts that happen right?

But if we find a way to address things civilly, find ways to have understanding, and with my work is I try to get to a place of understanding, empathy.

You say, Jim, you have a different lived experience than I do, than I have from you.

So how do we, take our lived experiences in the workplace at work and thrive, together?

That's never going to change.

It's just we're always going to the Quad Cities as a as a place.

We have a lot of refugees and immigrants coming to our area.

So that's going to bring different experiences that people may not have.

Familiarity, familiarity with.

So it gives the opportunity to, to learn, from folks in how their talents and their potential can be a positive thing, not something to be feared.

What do you say to the critics?

I mean, they're there.

And let's be honest, we're going to hear, I think, more of it in the coming year.

Oh, yeah.

On the Iowa side.

Yeah.

To the critics, I would say, they see this as this radical thing, but, dei is about, equity for opportunities, about equity for opportunities and, resources may be available to you no matter what zip code you come from, the color of your skin.

Any protected class that goes for veterans and people with disabilities as well to, actually go look into the work and not just listen to if you, echo chambers can be on both sides.

Right?

So, like, you talk about preaching to the choir earlier.

So if you're only hearing people telling you all these negative things, go look at the positive impact that the has had within, organizations, within communities, if you see stronger teams, better representation, inclusive environments, attracting people to that organization, it's kind of really hard to to speak out against those positive impacts that are happening for, people who are willing to embrace it.

You're still very optimistic.

Yeah.

I mean, I can just tell you, I mean, you're excited about the programs that you work on, and you seem optimistic about the future.

Yeah.

So if we get to the point where you give up, then, you know, then the work has one less person who's willing to to do it right.

I never said at any point in this interview that it's going to be easy or is an easy thing to do.

I'm, I'm optimistic because I know that there's people who care.

I know there's people who care about this work.

I know there's people who who are seeking understanding to want to know more about this work.

So we have opportunities for them to learn, grow and thrive as well.

To, for them to say, okay, I get it, I understand it now.

How can I implement it?

Right?

So, I would be optimist because it's, it's I care about doing the work and that's what matters most to me.

And the work is critically important.

Absolutely is very important because it's not going away.

It may maybe be attacked from many different angles, but it'll still be there.

There are still be people who need help.

If we want to see our society grow and flourish, we need to make sure we're not leaving people behind, because they are contributors to our economy, contributors to our workforces.

Die facilitator and diversity manager Corey Holloway, we hope you're enjoying the Christmas weekend and the days leading up to New Year's, and we have some great ideas for events that could let you enjoy the season a little bit more.

Thanks to visit Quad Cities.

Ask anyone.

FAFSA was a disaster last year.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is a lifeline for millions of students and their parents.

Last year's rollout of a streamlined process had good intentions but bad execution by the Department of Education.

It resulted in a mess, with students unsure of college plans and colleges making decisions very late in the process.

This year appears to be different so far.

We talked with Western Illinois University, Quad Cities associate director of admissions Cassie Daley about Fafsa and your preparation for the 2025 2026 school year.

The president signed the new Fafsa Deadline Act to make sure that the ball got rolling this year.

How important is it that the Department of Education gets Fafsa right this year?

Super important.

Last year was such a mess.

It left all of us, all of us institutions kind of behind the eight ball, trying to play catch up.

Students were starting school.

They didn't have their award letters of their packages ready because everything was so delayed.

Having it done early is a huge game changer because students can know sooner what they qualify for, what their costs are going to be, and then they can make those decisions sooner to be able to compare apples to apples.

So it's huge.

It's going to I think it's going to be a lot better for students this year to have that information early.

And then also, for institutions to be able to better leverage, you know, what they have to offer.

Do you worry?

I want to talk about the future and the present, but let's talk about the past a little bit longer.

There are so many obstacles, to going to secondary schools, colleges or trade schools.

Do you worry that this was just one more thing that kept people, maybe some kids, going, okay, I can't deal with this.

I'm not going to go, further.

My education.

Yeah.

I mean, it's frustrating.

It's it's another hurdle.

It was another barrier of, you know, not only having to navigate, where do I want to go to school and do I want to go on to school?

But then, oh, let's throw this other barrier in the way of not being able to get the Fafsa done, or if they did the Fafsa, but they needed to make changes, and it took so long for those changes to be made, that it just adds another layer of frustration that, students need to have, especially first generation students that maybe didn't have a parent or a support person at home to help them navigate the whole, the whole system.

So and how did it impact universities and colleges?

I mean, take it from the other point of view is that you guys were flying blind as well.

For sure.

It was tough because, you know, student students would get maybe award letters, packages that said, oh, you know, we think you're going to qualify for this amount, but nobody wants to go on, maybe or make a decision on it.

And I think, so that it was a struggle.

Students just needed to have that information sooner.

What do you suggesting to parents and students now this year?

When when it comes.

Let's start with Fafsa as well as other financial aid, but but starting with the Fafsa form.

Doing it early.

The, the good change that was made in Fafsa several years ago was they go off what's called prior prior year.

So it used to be, yeah, the Fafsa would open up, but then you'd have to wait for you to get your tax returns right.

That such a thing.

So it's good because now they go on two years prior.

So you're looking at 2023 tax information.

Which you.

Have in which you know.

Yeah, exactly.

And the Fafsa form has been shortened in terms of the number of questions are asking.

So it takes a lot, less time to get through.

I mean, I remember the first time I did it for my own son, I was like, wait, did I do something wrong?

This only took like 15 minutes to get through.

And they can you can also connect your, your tax information if you filed electronically to the Fafsa form.

And so doing it early is even easier because it's not going to take as much time.

But the earlier that it's done, the earlier that information gets out to schools, the earlier the schools can package those things and send out information about what a student qualifies.

For, you can understand that some parents might have some trepidation because of last year.

You know, you trying to tell people, okay, that was last year.

This is this year.

I mean, not that all the problems are gone, but the great majority are.

Yes.

So letting them know that it's open early, get in, get your stuff done.

So if there is any glitches because they may happen.

I mean, it's the federal government.

We, you know, colleges don't have control over, you know, what happens there.

But the earlier that things are done, if there's changes that need to be made, then there's so much more time versus, you know, last year we got cut out of about 3 or 4 months.

Right?

A critical months, critical months.

Yes.

Let's talk about the Western way.

Yeah.

Tell me your universities have to be creative in a way of getting students in the door, but also keeping them in the door.

So help me out here.

So the Western Way was created as an initiative for, for Western to let students know that if they qualify for, you know, state federal aid and they also qualify for our merit based we their Western commitment or transfer commitment.

But then there's still a gap of, cost tuition, tuition and direct V cost gap.

That was not met then.

It's Western's way of saying, hey, we're going to we're going to come in and we're going to fill that particular amount.

If you qualify for state and federal aid, if you qualify for the merit based Western commitment or transfer commitment, and then your combined, household income with zero assets is $81,000 or less.

So it's a way for Western to say, here's how we can help a little bit for families that are in that particular, financial situation.

And how effective has it been?

It's been very effective.

I think, for a lot of our students, it's very beneficial for like our transfer students because the gap is a little bit larger.

Because the transfer commitment scholarship is it's a great scholarship, but it's a little bit less than our freshman commitment scholarship.

So there is a little bit more of a gap there for those that are transfer students.

But, it's it's been a great option for our students that, that fall into that category.

And to have that extra little, little push to get them over the hump so they're not having to borrow as much money, or, you know, for some students it is a complete game changer.

Tell me also about the map grants.

The state of Illinois has got far more of a commitment to such a critical, grant money system that, as you remember, during those those years where, funding was, suspended in so many different ways, that really impacted, is it nice now that the map grant has got major investment by the state of Illinois?

It is nice.

And that's another reason when you're asking, like, what parents shouldn't need to know is that's another reason why it's important for students that are in the state of Illinois to apply for Fafsa early because Map is great.

But when Map runs out, Map runs out.

So if you, you know, qualified for Map, but you applied after Map funds ran out, then you you're not even though you're eligible, you don't receive those because your Fafsa wasn't in that time.

Yeah.

So I mean, it is critical to make the deadlines and be way ahead.

Yes.

Every state, has different Fafsa deadlines now, federal Pell Grant, those federal grants, there's not a deadline for those, but a lot of states have state deadlines.

And so it's important for, you know, whether you're in Illinois or you're in Iowa or you're in Ohio, you need to know kind of what those state deadlines are.

So you don't miss out on funds.

Western Illinois, Quad Cities, known for nontraditional students and for veterans.

Actually, the whole western Illinois university system.

Yeah.

How important is it, for them to, look at Western as a possibility to further an education?

Yeah.

I think a lot of it is cost.

We have, you know, a great education system.

We have great classes, we have great majors.

But we're also at a price point that nontraditional students are able to, you know, make it affordable.

There are scholarships that we offer for students coming in in nontraditional students.

They may have started at another college or university.

May have stopped out for a while.

Are ready to come back and finish that degree.

They could be, you know, they could still be eligible for scholarships.

Our admissions policies are very veteran friendly.

They're very nontraditional student friendly.

And so we've kind of made some, some steps towards that.

Our veterans can apply for free.

They can fill our admissions application for free.

Our nontraditional students, we have a new admissions policy, for students that if they, you know, have never been to post-secondary education, maybe they graduated from high school, went into the workforce.

And now they're ready to come back.

And it's ten years later, 20 years later, they can apply to Western, and we're not going to go back and look at high school performance in terms of GPA.

We're going to, look at, okay, you have been out of school for a number of years.

You have been successful in the workforce.

And just please, we'd like to admit you and let you get started on your degree.

Well, and falling admissions at schools such as Western is not new.

But but it seems to be stabilizing a bit right now, which is.

Is that the best we could hope for at this moment?

Yes.

We're on we're still on that enrollment cliff of, you know, 20, 25.

So in terms of the birth of years, for students in that area.

The graduation years for high school students.

Yeah.

So now we are at that that moment, we were graduating larger classes because we had those larger classes coming in.

But then what's coming up behind it that we're starting is those the smaller, the smaller classes.

So we've got bigger classes going out, smaller classes coming in.

But that ship is starting to right itself.

It'll still be a couple more years, though, before it kind of fully stabilizes in terms of graduating and graduating alums.

But it still underlines.

I know that you'd like to underline the fact that a college education is still so important to advance a career.

Correct.

I think that a lot of, you know, there's a lot of things that are important, whether, you know, you go into the trade or you do some sort of post-secondary education training.

But for a college degree, a lot of employers, they want a student to have that four year bachelor's degree.

Sometimes it's that entry level point, especially when it's so competitive out there, to be able to walk in with a bachelor's degree, maybe have some specialized classes or, you know, some, you know, additional minors that went on with your bachelor's degree.

So you can kind of have a, you know, diversify yourself and field.

You can go into.

Our thanks to Western Illinois University, Quad Cities associate director of Admissions Cassie Daley.

And you can always get more information about Western Illinois University financial aid in admissions by going to the website wiu.edu next week on the city's Democrats stay in control in Springfield, but Republican plans to raise their voices as a loyal opposition.

We talk with Democratic Senator Mike Halpin and Republican House Minority Leader Tony McCombie as they prepare for the upcoming start of the legislative session.

That's next week on the city's 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 city's.

At IHMVCU We've always been here for you.

You are and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial health and we are here.

IHMVCU is a proud supporter of WQPT.

Public affairs programing on WQPT is brought to you by the Singh Group at Merrill, serving the wealth management needs of clients in the region for over 35 years.