I think we have a period where we will all have to adjust."
"We are seeing patterns change for people out of necessity. "Districts that felt it was coming years down the road are suddenly doing it (online, long-distance learning)," Moreland said. As the fallout from the pandemic becomes clearer, she said these times might inform districts' willingness to grow the educational tech they have at their disposal. ICAD continues working toward growing the educational technology industry in the area, she added. "We need to pay attention to them and listen and see where we can assist and support them," Moreland said. She said their work during the recovery will be to support these businesses as they rebuild. ICAD has identified these industries as the source of economic growth for the area. Local businesses ranging from giant manufacturers to small retailers have taken a big hit as consumer behavior changes heading the guidance of the CDC. "We will have to keep an eye on that as we try to recover from this," Moreland said. That outpaced the 55,966 claims the state received in the prior week and the 40,952 claims it received the week before that - both records at the time. In the pre-coronavirus era, the single-week record in Iowa was 14,201. Iowa received a record 67,334 unemployment claims at the beginning of April, the Des Moines Register reported. However since the first COVID-19 case in March, the number of Iowans applying for unemployment has skyrocketed. When the state begins loosening public health restrictions, Moreland said two trends that must be managed well are unemployment and recovering local industries.īefore the pandemic, Iowa was boasted an extremely low unemployment rate. "Oftentimes, we are the conveners helping to connect all the dots so we can sustain the restaurant or farmer or food-producing company," Moreland said. She pointed to the work ICAD's Tom Banta was doing to bring food companies together through efforts like Field to Family to better understand demand and better manage supply. Outbreaks among workers in plants elsewhere impact the availability of goods locally, she said.
"How do we help employers protect their workforce and stay open?" "The biggest challenge is workforce safety right now," Moreland said. ICAD had already shifted to thinking about how it can help support and sustain the area's large interstate commerce companies: P&G, ACT and Pearson to name a few, amid the outbreak. "The circumstances we are facing now will require us to almost - not reinvent our work - but look differently at how we might support businesses and our economy moving forward in a creative way," Moreland said. In an interview with the Press-Citizen, Moreland said the road ahead for ICAD will be determined in large part by the pandemic situation facing not only the region, but the globe. Nolte announced his departure in December 2019, the organization in the meantime named then-Vice President Kate Moreland interim president,įinding a replacement for a long-running president amid a caucus season and pandemic was a tall order, one that came to an end Monday when Lee Hermiston of The Gazette first reported that Moreland would be the new president, according to a letter to investors, clients and partners. After 13 years at the helm, there was some question about who would replace Mark Nolte as president of the Iowa City Area Development Group.