If WTVP was a runaway horse in the last year, John Wieland says he’s ready to turn over the reins. The 64-year-old chairman of the station’s board of directors is confident that newly named CEO Jenn Gordon will corral the steed and convince the community that WTVP really isn’t a wild nag but a thoroughbred.
Smiling, Wieland relaxes in a casual meeting room in the back of MH Equipment off Allen Road and reflects on relinquishing the attention.
John Wieland says his ‘15 minutes in the sun is quickly coming to an end’ as the face of WTVP’s transition.
“My 15 minutes in the sun is quickly coming to an end,” says Wieland, who explains some of the mostly private actions that have taken place since September, when WTVP President Lesley Matuszak and finance director Lin McLaughlin resigned, and Matuszak committed suicide. Weeks later, previous board chair Andrew Rand said there had been “questionable, improper and unauthorized” spending, and the board cut the budget 30%, laid off nine employees and shut down its Peoria magazine (which was a big factor in an $870,000 shortfall, according to an internal audit released later).
By February — while investigations continued by the Peoria Police Dept., the Illinois Attorney General’s office, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — most of the board resigned and new board members were seated.
Learning experience
“When I came on the scene I was at the lowest level of incompetence,” he says. “I didn’t know what I didn’t know.”
Wieland says he got involved after he and a group of friends that meets every month to share thoughts and challenge each other to be better, discussed the station’s woes.
“It came up — this disaster — that CPB was going to withhold funds and the rumor to shut it down. I wasn’t a frequent user of WTVP before, [and] I didn’t know Leslie. I did not know Andrew. I did know Helen [Barrick], who I’d worked with 40 years ago at Peat Marwick, and her husband Bill was on my board at MH Equipment.
“Anyway, my friends and I talked about if we could create something to provide a financial runway and give the community a fresh board.”
Wieland shared the thought with Dr. Andy Chiou, and he “made the introductions around Thanksgiving, I think,” Wieland recalls. “I met with Andrew and their executive committee and threw out this idea. They talked with their board [and] they thought it sounded like a decent plan. I didn’t pick the people who would stay or leave. We did have to come up with new board members.
“Throughout the whole deal, I sent out emails to the 7,000 or so people on the [station’s] list. We had a ‘litmus test’ — ‘Are you fully committed to fulfilling the mission of WTVP, which is to provide educational, scientific, entertainment and cultural content?’ ”
New life
Asked about criticism that former board members were insiders and the new board is, too, Wieland disagrees.
“I didn’t know who six of the new board members were. A lot of people on the board didn’t know each other,” he says. “I guess we’re insiders from this standpoint: We’re committed to the mission of WTVP.”
Wieland says the search for board members went beyond a handful of local power brokers.
“After the litmus test, we wanted to get people of different ethnicities, from outside Peoria, from Galesburg, Bloomington, and we’re still looking.”
Wieland says he’s read several books about Lincoln, including Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals,” and he appreciates a variety of voices. Especially for public broadcasting, that’s fitting. After all, as the public media marketing consultants Market Enginuity says, “If one were to combine the average statistics for PBS viewers on a national level, they would likely find a married, homeowning woman who is in her 30s or 40s and has at least one child under the age of 11.”
Weiland says, “Could another board have gotten on top of it sooner? Sure. Could another board get on it later? Sure.”
Right people
Asked whether the diversity of the board could improve since at least 13 of its 19 members have exclusively voted in Republican primaries, according to election records, Wieland says, “I didn’t know who’s in what party.
“It’s a good question; maybe it’s worth balancing it that way. Optics don’t have to be true to be people’s reality.
“To be honest, I don’t care if someone’s Republican, Independent or Democrat, whether they’re Christian or from the Jewish community or wherever. We would not let someone use this station for some kind of political, religious or social platform. Are such things OK? Sure. But that’s not the mission of WTVP.
“I’m so apolitical,” he adds. “Politics isn’t the answer; it’s a change of the human heart. Politics doesn’t do that.”
WTVP has been and will be even-handed, he says.
“WTVP has not strayed too far Left or Right, [and] we’re not going to the Left or the Right. We want our kids to learn their 1-2-3s and their A-B-C’s, and see good programs like Ken Burns does. [So] I’m not going to say we need a Democrat.”
Private runway
Back to the financial “runway” to return WTVP to fiscal stability, a key factor is a foundation’s pledge of $1.2 million, up to $3 million, to supplement area contributions and CPB funding (on the condition there is CPB funding). But the name of the foundation wasn’t disclosed. Wieland has a foundation, His First Foundation, which has donated to institutions such as Dream Center of Peoria, Peoria Christian School, and Unlimited Grace Media, at Grace Presbyterian Church.
Wieland says keeping the pledge private is a matter of putting the focus on WTVP, not a donor. “It’s not about a foundation,” he says, “It’s about WTVP. I want the focus not to be on the foundation. I want it to be about WTVP.
“I’ve been on TV a lot [but] it’s not about me, the board, the foundation or Jenn Gordon,” he continues. “I bought MH Equipment when it had about 50 employees; now it’s about 1,100. But, again, it’s not about me; it’s about the enterprise.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where most of this came from,” he adds. “In a couple of years, people will be able to look at the 990 (federal tax form for charities, which are public).”
As far as getting a new CEO, Wieland says the board’s search was methodical, but the process wasn’t open and the public wasn’t told. More than 70 people applied, the governance committee (Wieland and Vice Chair Andy Chiou) was joined by others including board members Barrick and Heather Acerra to conduct due diligence on 11 applicants, talk to 5 and interview 3 again.
“Could it have been done better? Of course,” Wieland says. “I did not know [Jenn] except we served on a common board at Grace Presbyterian Church. At the end of the day, we were lucky.”
Meanwhile, Wieling says he feels fortunate to be able to step back some.
“I’m comfortable being in the public; I’m comfortable not being in the public,” he says. “This probably is my last interview.”
Even if he’s out of the limelight, he says, he’ll follow how WTVP is doing.
“I do care if they’re committed to making this a family-friendly station for generations to come, committed to fulfilling the mission of WTVP.”
The post ‘Mission’ is the key priority for WTVP appeared first on The Community Word.
WTVP-TV 47 said it received dozens of applications to its announcement that it sought a new CEO, formed a search committee, crafted criteria for assessing people’s qualifications, and narrowed the field to three finalists.
JENN GORDON
By unanimous vote by the search committee and the full board, 42-year-old Peoria native Jenn Gordon was named CEO of the region’s public television station on March 21.
Probably best known to readers as the executive director of ArtsPartners of Central Illinois from 2015 to 2022, Gordon was executive administrator at Peoria’s Grace Presbyterian Church until starting at WTVP on April 22.
Recently, she took time to answer a few questions before a scheduled phone call with Paula Kerger, president of the nation’s Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
Q: At this point, do you anticipate your approach to the public to be reassuring the community or challenging them?
A: Maybe some of both. The first piece will be to restore confidence, I guess. Anyone who donates money to any type of nonprofit organization, if there’s a breach of trust [or] mismanagement of funds, you do need reassurance moving forward that things are going to be different. I want members who’ve been supporting the station and gotten us through this critical time [to know] their donations will be going toward exactly what we say they’re going toward.
The second piece is going to be a challenging component, to challenge the community to re-engage and rediscover what we have … the critical resources offered. From Day 1 with public broadcasting, this vision of commercial-free, quality content [shows] we’re not just building consumers of media; we’re building learners from media.
Q: Do you have a sense of what WTVP and the public should expect from the investigation and audit by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting?
A: I’m hoping — everyone is hoping — that it will be totally transparent, just to be able to structure a clean slate to move forward and still be eligible for (CPB) funding. There’s still a criminal investigation going on. It’s in the best interest of WTVP to have (outside observers).
Q: In March, WTVP sought feedback online and the board felt there were positives as far as general satisfaction. But wasn’t it rather unscientific, sort of reaching out to viewers Channel 47 already has instead of the public throughout the 20 or so counties the station serves — those who may not watch or donate?
A: That survey was a first step. We have to get a better pulse of viewers and supporters, and then we need to go way beyond that because (the station) is designed to be a community resource. I want to get a snapshot of what our engagement is like with (the public). Where are there gaps?
Q: As CEO, will you have to deal with some perceptions that the former board was made up of insiders who’ve been replaced by a different group of insiders?
A: First, a CEO has very limited influence on that; you inherit it. Nothing about this last year for WTVP has been normal. But before I ever thought about this opportunity, I was relieved to see the emergence of a new board; it was a fresh start.
I was glad to see a diverse group — women and different neighborhoods and facets [on the board]. You want to aim to be a board representative of the community you serve. Hopefully we can all move forward with a lot of positivity.
The post Who’s watching WTVP — who’s not? appeared first on The Community Word.
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Housing and labor groups say Illinois can spur the development of about 1,100 new units of affordable rentals each year by creating a state tax credit that mimics the long-standing federal tax credit.
The federal government’s tax credit for affordable housing development, created in 1986, has funded development of an estimated 3.7 million affordable housing units nationwide. It’s usually a key piece of a developer’s funding stack.
The federal tax credit “has proven to be a tool that works well,” said Allison Clements, executive director of the Illinois Housing Council, “but it often leaves a gap in (the developer’s) financing.”
At a time when “we’re seeing a crisis in affordable housing,” Clements said, and federal funding from COVID-era programs is about to expire, “it’s important to provide a permanent replacement so we don’t see a drop in the production of affordable housing.”
Clements and others, including labor officials and state legislators, are gathering in Springfield today to urge the General Assembly to vote for Senate and House bills that create a state tax credit that helps close the gap.
Illinois is about 289,000 units short of the affordable rentals needed statewide, according to Housing Action Illinois. That is, for every 100 households making 30% or less of the average income, there are 36 affordable rental homes.
About 44% of that deficit is Chicago’s. The city is behind by about 126,000 units, the group estimates.
The shortage creates a barrier to employment, Mark Denzler, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, said in a statement emailed to Crain’s. “To ensure the continued strength of Illinois’ manufacturing sector,” Denzler wrote, “we must invest in our workforce. As housing costs continue to climb, it is essential that the state look for innovative ways to increase affordable housing.”
Twenty-five other states have state tax credits that are modeled after the federal credit, Clements said. Creating a similar credit in Illinois would, among other things, help the state compete for workers.
The groups are pushing for the Build Illinois Homes Act now in order to get the tax credit included in next year’s state budget. While the credit would not require any new state expenditure, it entails a loss of revenue, in the form of taxes not collected because of the credits taken by developers. Typically, developers sell the tax credits to investors in exchange for funds that build the project.
Clements said the credit would cost the state about $20 million a year in revenue for the first six-year period of credits. That’s equal to about 0.3% of the $52.7 billion budget Gov. J.B. Pritzker proposed in February.
It's enough to fund development of 1,150 affordable units each year, Clements said.
Tax credits are not issued until a project is completed, Clements said, a standard that prevents a developer’s investors from feasting on tax breaks without providing a useful result.
If Springfield approves the credit, the first funding year would be 2025. Clements said about a quarter of the funding would go to Chicago projects and three-quarters to the rest of the state.
Among others scheduled to appear at the Springfield press conference this morning are the lead sponsors of the Build Illinois Homes legislation, Sen. Robert Peters, whose South Side district encompasses several areas where new affordable housing is sorely needed, and Rep. Dee Avelar, representing a swath of the Southwest suburbs where a fast-moving housing development scene threatens to crowd out lower-income renters.
The spelling of Mark Denzler's last name has been corrected in this story.
DANVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) -- Students at Mark Denman Elementary school in Danville got to take part in career day Friday. It's part of their AVID program to help kids find more opportunities.
It's college and career Advancement Via Individual Determination Day also known as AVID Day. And Mark Denman Elementary School's motto is empowering students to live a life full of possibility.
Second-grade teacher Heidi Crane said the event helps kids realize that when they are responsible and organized, they can accomplish their dreams.
Crane said that before COVID, the school would have guests come in to talk about their careers.
"(We) had a full day with like 30 to 40 presenters and we shuffled around the school and we went to different rooms" Crane said. "Now, this is like our fourth or fifth Friday. We tried making it a little bit more calmer."
She said students have been finding new careers each month that they're interested in.
Two fourth-graders, Juhana Garcia Ramirez and Jahciyus Walker said their dream is to work in the news. They added that their school has reporters called technical communicators.
"I love doing that and talking to the whole entire school about the school things," Garcia Ramirez added.
Different groups share daily school announcements to help keep students on the right track. And it's one way they're creating new opportunities for their students. Mark Denman elementary does career day every 4th Friday of the month.
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See that valedictorian over there? Someday his furnace will give out, and he’ll have to call someone who took career and technical education courses as opposed to getting a four-year college degree.
“That furnace technician is not only a skilled trade, it’s a technical trade,” said Eric Hill, executive director of Skills USA Illinois, an organization overseeing CTE. “Everything is becoming computerized. The students are really developing critical skill sets, and that’s going to propel them into the future.
“Right now, some students coming into kindergarten, the job they will take someday doesn’t even exist right now. So how do we better prepare them? It’s career and technical education all the way.”
CTE teachers are meeting in Springfield.
A student officer in the group, Seth Daniels of Carbondale, has his eye on a nuclear engineering career, fueled by not only a degree, but by CTE and perhaps some time in the Navy.
Daniels says a classmate “is significantly more adept at using the 3-D modeling program and has a better intuition of how engineering works. He just has a better intuition of that than I do, and he is in a lower math class than I am.”
SPRINGFIELD (WGEM) - Nearly 414,000 middle school, high school and community college students across Illinois took courses in career and technical education (CTE) during the 2022-2023 school year, according to the Illinois Association for Career and Technical Education (IACTE). The organization aims to continue growing CTE throughout the state.
“Career and Technical Education is everything that we do, or we hope to do, as adults. Everything we do as an adult is a career,” said IACTE Executive Director Chris Merrill.
From welding, to auto shop, nursing courses, cooking classes, coding and even mechanical engineering, CTE can be anything.
Carbondale High School junior Seth Daniels is currently taking a mechanical engineering and drafting class.
“We use 3D modeling to work on different projects,” Daniels said.
He said right now, his class is designing, modeling and building a device that automatically picks up and sorts nails and screws in different sizes.
In addition to his CTE class work, Daniels is also a student officer for SkillsUSA Illinois. It’s an organization dedicated to preparing the next generation of skilled workers.
“By partnering with our high school programs, we connect them with employers that are looking to hire students right out of high school and even sometimes while they’re in high school. So we really act as that kind of connective tissue between the employer network and the needs that our employers have and our schools that are doing all this great training and educating,” said SkillsUSA Illinois Executive Director Eric Hill.
He said for every job requiring a four-year degree, there are seven jobs requiring a two-year degree or certification.
“We see students at 17-years-old getting jobs as welders, as a service technician, in the health care industry through SkillsUSA and our apprenticeship program, and they’re on a trajectory that the sky’s the limit for them,” Hill said.
He said expanding CTE can help Illinois fill the gap as it faces a workforce shortage.
State lawmakers are also looking to expand CTE. A bipartisan bill would allow students to substitute their foreign language requirement with courses in career and technical education. High School students starting ninth grade in 2028 must take two years of a foreign language to graduate. The bill would allow them to substitute it for CTE courses.
Copyright 2024 WGEM. All rights reserved.
Trent R. Nelson speaks with Executive Director Eric Hill of SkillsUSA Illinois regarding what the organization wishes to do provide the community of Illinois with, why job training is so important, upcoming events and so much more!
Share and subscribe, and ensure that your neighbors and loved ones have the gift of knowledge. You can find new episodes on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts!
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Joey McLaughlin talks with SkillsUSA Illinois Executive Director Eric Hill about the SkillsUSA lobby day this week at the Illinois State Capitol.
SPRINGFIELD (WGEM) - Illinois students taking career and technical education (CTE) courses descended on Springfield Wednesday asking lawmakers for their support.
Their visit comes after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker proposed an additional $10.3 million for CTE in his fiscal year 2025 budget.
The student visitors are with the group SkillsUSA. It’s a nationwide student organization that connects CTE students with career opportunities.
“We support about 130 different career opportunities. Anything from manufacturing, to construction, health care, carpentry, cosmetology, robotics, public safety. You name it, we’ve a career field that we support,” said SkillsUSA Illinois Executive Director Eric Hill.
According to the Illinois Association for Career and Technical Education, nearly 414,000 middle school, high school and college students in the state took a CTE course during the 2022-2023 school year.
Hill said SkillsUSA Illinois serves about 10,000 students.
Joselyn Raudalez and Ally Coker are two SkillsUSA members. They are both seniors at Argo Community High School in Summit. They spent Wednesday talking to Illinois state lawmakers.
“It’s definitely a new experience,” Coker, a welding student, said. “Being able to actually meet with legislators is huge for me because I turned 18 in October so I’m a registered voter.”
Their message to legislators was simple. They want support for CTE programs.
“I’m glad CTE exists because if not, most kids wouldn’t have what they want to do for a career. Not just graphic communications, but in general like welding, woods, photography. Most kids wouldn’t have those opportunities if CTE didn’t exist,” Raudalez, a graphic design student, said.
As lawmakers look at how to support CTE into the future, Hill believes it’s important to remember these courses are teaching kids skills that go beyond the classroom.
“Although it may not be a math test score or an English score that’s going on our Illinois school report card, I would argue that the career and technical education that are students are getting, they’re not just teaching that technical skill set but they’re also getting that leadership skill set out of it,” Hill said.
In addition Pritzker’s proposal to spend more on CTE, a bipartisan group of lawmakers support legislation allowing high students to substitute their two-year foreign language requirement for CTE courses. The foreign language requirement takes effect for students beginning ninth grade in the 2028-2029 school year.
Copyright 2024 WGEM. All rights reserved.
Trent R. Nelson speaks with Executive Director Eric Hill of SkillsUSA Illinois and Trinity Muszynski regarding what the organization wishes to do provide the community of Illinois with, why job training is so important, recaps of past events as well as additional information on upcoming events and so much more!
Share and subscribe, and ensure that your neighbors and loved ones have the gift of knowledge. You can find new episodes on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts!