The Department of Children and Family Services is expected to move into the east half later this month. The new office is about 35 percent larger than the old one. The former office simply became too small for the staff. The IETC concept combines employment assistance programs into one office to make it easier for people to get help. In all, there are desks for about 30 employees in the new office, Niewohner said.
Visitors park on the upper deck while employees park in a sheltered lot beneath the building.
The IETC is comprised of the Illinois Department of Employment Security staff, the Job Training Partnership Act office and liaison staff from the Area Agency on Aging, John Wood Community College, Operation ABLE, Green Thumb, Office of Rehabilitation Services, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and the Small Business Development Center of Western Illinois University. Niewohner said the best aspect of the new office isn't that it's out of the basement and there are windows, but that it is so close to other providers. DCFS will be next door and the state's Department of Human Services is in an office at 300 Maine. People seeking employment will be able to walk next door or across the street for other government programs. City Planner Chuck Bevelheimer said state officials were considering a site near 48th and State, but a concerted effort by the city and the Historic Quincy Business District convinced them to stay downtown.