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How can short-term certificates launch your career in the high-demand trades? On this episode of The Catalyst podcast, host Amy Lasack sits down with Becky Bodish from the Four Mounds Foundation to discuss the unique partnership with Northeast Iowa Community College and the City of Dubuque.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- How hands-on workspace labs prepare students for careers in building construction, trim carpentry and cabinet making.
- How the “earn-and-learn” model lets you earn money while completing college credentials.
- How student restoration projects directly support housing and community needs across Dubuque.
Ready to build your future? Visit nicc.edu/cpc to explore Career Pathway Certificates.
Creators and Guests
Host
Amy Lasack
NICC Vice President of Business and Community Solutions
Designer
Ashley Konzen
NICC Design Coordinator
Guest
Becky Bodish
Program Manager, Four Mounds
Producer
Tessa Hill
NICC Marketing and Communications Specialist
Producer
Travis Hunt
NICC Learning Management System Administrator
What is The Catalyst?
Explore the people, programs and partnerships that make Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) more than a campus. From student success stories to behind-the-scenes of athletics, innovation and industry collaboration, each episode answers the question: What’s happening at NICC? Energetic, informative and always evolving, this is your inside look at the impact of community-driven education.
Welcome to The Catalyst, an exciting and insightful podcast produced by Northeast Iowa Community College. I'm your host, Lasack. Together, we'll explore the people, programs, and partnerships that make Northeast Iowa Community College unique. From student success stories to behind the scenes info about athletics, innovation and industry collaboration, each episode dives deeper into your community's college. Get ready for an inside look at the impact of community driven education at NICC.
Amy Lasack:Hello and welcome. Today we're talking about a unique partnership between NICC and Four Mounds Foundation that combines hands on learning and workforce training, and even some historic preservation. Students are building real skills in construction, carpentry, and cabinet making all on the grounds of Four Mounds historic 60 acre estate as well as some in the community, which we'll learn a little bit about well. So joining me to talk about all that comes together is Becky Bodish, program manager with the Four Mounds Foundation. Becky, welcome.
Becky Bodish:Thanks, Amy. Glad to be here.
Amy Lasack:We're so excited to have you here, but first, there might be some folks who aren't familiar with Mounds Foundation. Can you tell us a little bit about what is Four Mounds?
Becky Bodish:Sure. So 4 Mounds is the last remaining gentleman's farm in Iowa. It's a 60 acre site located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River, And it's also home of a nonprofit foundation, which started in 1987. The property was donated to the city of Dubuque. And at that time, the city didn't have the the funding to maintain the buildings on-site.
Becky Bodish:There were 17 historic buildings. And that's when the foundation was formed. The fam some descendants of the family who lived here came back and started Cormark and started programming right away with youth. It was the YES program, Youth Empowerment Services. And they worked with high school students from the alternative high school at the time in the community and Hillcrest daily services, kids that lived in the residential facility there.
Becky Bodish:And then programming transitioned into what is now the HEART partnership. HEART stands for Housing Education and Rehabilitation Training. And that is a partnership that takes place with some core partners. One is NICC, Dubuque Community School District, Four Mounds and Dupaco has been a long standing partner in those programs as well.
Amy Lasack:That's great. I know I have had a chance to go out and visit the property. It is a beautiful property that if you haven't seen it in Dubuque, I would definitely recommend taking a look at that. But then the to learn the history of it is really interesting too, and the role that training and skill development has always been a part of that. Can you talk a little bit about why that has been important for 4 Mounds?
Becky Bodish:Sure. So you having been at the site, you can understand that when you come to the top of the lane, it's like you're entering a different world. Yeah. Our long standing motto has always been restoring place, restoring people, and we believe that the site in and of itself is restorative.
Amy Lasack:You're so right. When you pull into the property, you do feel like you're in a different different area. It does not feel like you're in Dubuque anymore.
Becky Bodish:Yeah. It definitely is. It's kind of a magical place. We've heard, from from folks that are here and students especially. And the students we work with are young adults who are at or still dropping out of high school or young adult or high school students or young adults with barriers to employment.
Becky Bodish:And the programs take place through a mentorship model, and we address more than just workforce training. We address the whole person. We're addressing barriers while they're here. And it's just a really good place to do that. Students are immersed in nature, which is a big deal while they're learning the skills on authentic projects.
Becky Bodish:Some of that work takes place on the historic buildings on-site. And as you mentioned earlier, some of it takes place through renovation projects in neighborhoods in Dubuque.
Amy Lasack:Yeah. Can you talk about that a little bit? Because you did mention that the Heart program has several different entities that works with Four Mounds. It's a real collaborative effort, which I know allows the students to do unique things off of the historic site. So can you talk a little bit about the collaboration and what that means for the students?
Becky Bodish:Yeah. It definitely is a collaborative effort. And so for the high school program, which, working with high school students, we're actually coming up on our fortieth anniversary. So that's Oh, wow. Exciting.
Becky Bodish:And it's what everything else, that we do has been modeled after. So students in high school, that had been identified at risk of dropping out of high school, are, the heart program is an option for them. And so once they're enrolled in the heart program, they spend half a day on one of our construction sites and half a day in the classroom. So they're working towards graduation. So they're getting credit for some of their high school classes on the job site.
Becky Bodish:For example, they get credit for carpentry math and they get elective credit. They also can get some PE credit working on a construction site and they are doing everything. We typically start by taking a house down to the studs. They're doing complete gut renovations and they go through the whole process of rebuilding that home, starting with the studs and the framing. And in 2019, that's when we partnered with NICC for adult programming.
Becky Bodish:So we started with construction modeled after that high school youth program. And the reason we modeled it after that is because we know the program is successful. So our high school program, all of the students that are in that program are students that have an IEP or an individualized education plan, which means they've been they're entitled for special education services because they've been identified with some type of disability, whether it's academic, social emotional, behavioral. They have an IEP. And for students with special needs, the national graduation rate hovers between sixty five and seventy percent.
Becky Bodish:And for students without special needs, the graduation rate is around ninety, eighty nine, ninety percent. But for students in the heart program, the graduation rate is ninety two percent. When the program worked, and we see it every day. We see the transformation that takes place. They're not just rebuilding a home.
Becky Bodish:They're they're part of a family. And we hear that from students continuously that are in the program. Soon as they get into that house, they know they're part of a team and part of a family. They're learning so much more than construction skills. You know, they're learning team building and how to collaborate with each other.
Becky Bodish:They're learning communication skills. And so when we started our adult programming, we modeled it after that youth model. We started with construction. And then, so the construction program is large scale. They learn things like framing and putting in windows and flooring and things of that nature.
Becky Bodish:But as we as we moved along and we had we had done that for a couple of years with NICC, and and that model works in a very unique way as well. So students enroll at NICC, but they're hired as employees at Four Mounds, which is another really important component of programming because we are working with young adults that often have barriers to employment, being able to leave their current jobs is difficult Mhmm. To receive advanced training or do something different in life. So having paid paid training helps them to lead the low wage workforce and get skills and credentials so that they can do something different.
Amy Lasack:So many good things that you just said there too about the fact that in the classroom, they're learning a lot, not just, you know, the technical construction skills, but learning how to work together, learning how to communicate, being able to, figure out the problems and work together to get those solutions. But then on top of it for the adult learners too, being able to get that training and still provide and be able to pay bills and do things that they need to do so that they don't have to stop their lives to upgrade their skills. That's fantastic.
Becky Bodish:Sure. Yeah, it is. And another component, they get financial literacy training through Dupaco that's available to all of the students. So it really is a holistic really is a holistic approach and it's and it works. So we have I'll talk just a little bit more about another program.
Becky Bodish:So students that were in the construction program, we had some students that wanted to do more and learn more about other areas of construction. And so that's when we started partnered again and with NICC to start cabinet making and joinery, which is another short term certificate pathway. And on that pathway, students learn the finished side of carpentry. So they're learning the basics of cabinet making. They're learning about different types of wood and joinery and they don't leave cabinet makers by any stretch of the imagination but they leave with a foundation, foundational knowledge where they could go into an entry level position.
Becky Bodish:And so we track students that had been through the construction and cabinet making as well as students who work on-site on another pathway, the transitional employment pathway at hormones. We track those students and the average income for students coming into those programs is around $13,000 annually. And for students, once they're employed after gaining one of those certificates or the training here on-site, that jumps to $40,000 annually. And it's important to note that that's typically in an entry level position with benefits that they have not had in the past and room for advancement. So we know these programs are working as well.
Amy Lasack:That that really does say so much. And at how tell me again how long the program is.
Becky Bodish:So for construction, it takes about three months, the the certificate program, the Career Pathway Certificate, and cabinet making is about the same. Cabinet making is about a seventy hour training total. So there's a classroom component to both of them where they get some certifications. In construction, they're getting they're getting OSHA certification, glider certification, silica safety, first aid, CPR. And then they go to the hands on portion of their trading, which is which is the pay component.
Amy Lasack:Any idea over the years how many students you've seen come through the program? Yes.
Becky Bodish:So so between the construction and cabinet making and then our transitional employment pathway at Four Mounds, we've served the last I reported, I think it was over two hundred two hundred students. And we have another program, a pathway as well. I wanna say it's probably around 250 students total.
Amy Lasack:That's incredible. So many lives impacted. Are there any particular success stories or things that you remember over the years that stick out to you and really tell the story of how this might impact someone?
Becky Bodish:Sure. So the partnership has evolved over the years and what we've seen, so we'll get students referred to work on the transitional employment pathway at Four Bounds. And that program, for that one, it's not directly tied to a certificate at NICC. And in that program, we say it tickets, people ask how long that one takes, and we say as long as it takes. Because we're usually working with young adults that had some pretty significant barriers.
Becky Bodish:However, students that have been on the transitional employment pathway will often refer them to a program at NACC. So while they're working here on that pathway, they may also stop to do the construction certificate or do the cabinet making certificate. We recently had a young woman graduate who was also taking classes in business administration at MICC. So we do collaborate on that pathway as well. And one success story of now, very recently, a young man, Isaac, he came to Four Mounds.
Becky Bodish:He moved here from Chicago a couple of years ago. He was dropped off at a local it's called the Manassas House. It's a house for for men an apartment kind of a co op where they they live together for men. In Dubio, he had two changes of folding and one month's rent when he was dropped off. And we had a student at the time who was also living there and told him about the program at Four Mounds.
Becky Bodish:So he came to the transitional employment pathway, and while here learned he really liked doing construction. And we got him on the Career Pathways certificate through an ICC, and he also did cabinet making while also working to get his high school diploma through NICC. So he worked really hard. He was here for just about two years, and he's to work on his high set through an ICC, but he was recently hired at Grooming Construction and doing really well. He's doing really well.
Becky Bodish:In May, he went to Chicago to pick up his younger brother on the day he graduated high school. His younger brother was living in a hotel with seven siblings and his mom. And he brought him back to Dubuque the same day he graduated high school and he's currently in the program himself. Oh, wow. So we're seeing, seeing true transformation on just a lot of changes in not only skill sets for the kids that are coming into the programs, but mindset.
Becky Bodish:Oh, for sure.
Amy Lasack:And making such I a big mean, there is just a difference you made in one family and sharing that from one brother to another. That's fantastic. I love that.
Becky Bodish:Yeah. And Isaac took his role. Isaac is the oldest. He was the first one in the family here. And he took his role very seriously.
Becky Bodish:He knew he was a role model, and he's doing this for his younger brothers and sisters.
Amy Lasack:So Oh, fantastic.
Becky Bodish:Who else comes from the family, but, yeah, it's
Amy Lasack:been a
Becky Bodish:great experience.
Amy Lasack:What what if someone is listening right now and they're thinking for themselves or they have a friend or a family member that they feel like this might be the right next step for them? What would you recommend they do next?
Becky Bodish:So if someone is interested in, any of the pathways, whether it's construction or cabinet making, or the transitional employment pathway, they can reach out to Four Mounds. They can talk to myself or our social worker, Kanye Madison. And, so they can just call Four Mounds for that. Or if they're specifically interested in the certificate pathways, they can reach out to Amy Henson at NICC.
Amy Lasack:Great. Well, Becky, we have a segment on our podcast where we call fact or fiction. I'll read a couple different statements to you, and you let us know if that is fact or fiction from your perspective.
Becky Bodish:Okay.
Amy Lasack:Alright. So the first one is the NICC partnership with Four Mounds Foundation takes place on the historic 60 acre estate in Dubuque. Is that fact or fiction?
Becky Bodish:It's fact, but it also takes place on job sites within, Dubuque City limits as well.
Amy Lasack:Great. How about students in these career pathway certificate programs only complete theoretical classroom instruction, no hands on lab training. Is that fact or fiction?
Becky Bodish:Fiction. Yeah. Lot
Amy Lasack:of it. Right?
Becky Bodish:Yeah. We get them to the hands on component as fast as we can.
Amy Lasack:The building construction and cabinet making certificates feature in earn and learn or get paid while they're learning format. If people were listening, they should know the answer, but how about you let us know for sure?
Becky Bodish:Definitely a fact. It's a very important component of programming. Makes it accessible for students who otherwise wouldn't be able to take take these these trainings.
Amy Lasack:Yeah. Life doesn't stop while training is happening for families.
Becky Bodish:That's a fact. Yes.
Amy Lasack:Absolutely. How about these programs require a four year full time commitment?
Becky Bodish:Absolutely not. They're designed to be short term to get people into the workforce as quickly as possible.
Amy Lasack:You're right. How about the skills learned in cabinet making and trim and carpentry are die directly tied to regional employer needs?
Becky Bodish:Yes. That is a fact. So we work with employers in the area to, determine what what skills, they need from employees.
Amy Lasack:Yeah. I would say we're very fortunate in this area to have very supportive employers for programs just like this. Very, very supportive to interview and hire and provide feedback and support for these types of programs.
Becky Bodish:I would agree.
Amy Lasack:Okay. And the last one, students working on historic restoration projects sometimes leave their mark, such as signing their names on the structural support beams. Is that fact or fiction? Do they do.
Becky Bodish:That's a fact. Not only their names. Sometimes sometimes they leave notes because we all know homes eventually will need repairs or remodels. And so the homeowners that take down the walls maybe fifty years from now will find notes from students who worked on the houses.
Amy Lasack:Oh, how cool. I did not know that that was for sure. I've seen stuff on the Internet when people, remodel bathrooms and they tear down the walls, and the last person that remodeled said, what was wrong with my bathroom? You know? Yeah.
Amy Lasack:So that that's fantastic. Well, Becky, tell us again how people can get ahold of you if they have interest in learning more about Four Mounds or have interest into, moving forward with some sort of training with you.
Becky Bodish:Sure. They can call Four Mounds Foundation at (563) 557-7292. And if they're interested specifically in the certificates, they can reach out to Amy Henson at NICC, The Downtown Campus.
Amy Lasack:Great. And there's also a website that has all our Career Pathway certificates, including the building certificate and the carpentry cabinetry certificate. And you can find that at www.nicc.edubackslashcpc. Well, Becky, thank you so much for joining us on The Catalyst. We really appreciate the conversation that you had with us today about all the great work Four Mounds is doing, and we certainly appreciate the collaboration that you have with NICC.
Becky Bodish:Thanks for inviting me to be on the podcast, Amy. It's always, great to have an opportunity to share about the good things that are happening.
Amy Lasack:And thank you all for listening again. We love these kind of conversations, and collaboration is such a big part of what we do at NICC, and we're lucky to be a part of Northeast Iowa and have all the supports from organization like Four Mounds. We will see you next time on The Catalyst. Thanks for joining us on this episode of The Catalyst. If you enjoyed the conversation, make sure to follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode.
Amy Lasack:Want to learn more about NICC and the many ways we support our students, partners, and community? Visit nicc.edu for more resources and upcoming opportunities. This podcast is produced by Northeast Iowa Community College and hosted by me, Amy Lasack, with executive producer Tessa Hill, producer Travis Hunt, and graphic designer Ashley Konzen.