Category: After Action Report - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

Earth Day is Every Day Fair-After Action Report

5/27/2026

Earth Day is Every Day Fair After Action Report

Environmental Forum

Our 7th Annual Earth Day is Every Day Fair went off without a hitch at the Farmers Market in Davenport. The weather was perfect. All 20 tabling organizations were able to attend. The music was great and everyone had a wonderful time! Thanks to our sponsors, WVIK, Living Lands and Waters, and the Freight House Farmers Market for their support.

Lori McCollum (she/her)

Is AI coming for your job? After Action Report

5/17/2026

Is AI coming for your job? After Action Report

Quad Cities Civic Conversations (QCCC)

On May 8th, Quad Citians gathered in Rock Island to listen to Alan Garfield, professor emeritus of digital art and design at the University of Dubuque, speak about how AI is affecting the work force. Alan presented data and offered insights on this topic. The audience was very engaged and asked many questions during the Q&A session that followed the talk. This was the 5th in the Quad Cities Civic Conversations series, which are offered quarterly.

Allison Ambrose

Opposition to power plant After Action Report

4/12/2026

Opposition to power plant After Action Report
IUC public meeting in Davenport

Concerned Citizens of Scott County

Members of the PACG Environmental Forum have been attending meetings and support this group in their opposition to the Natural Gas Power Plant proposed for Scott County. The following is an update on the meeting.

On Monday, April 6th , the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) held a public informational meeting on the Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO) application to build a 240 megawatt peaker natural gas plant just outside Maysville in Scott County’s Hickory Grove Township. Peaker plants are designed to fill in when energy capacity is strained. PACG’s Environmental Forum has been attending meetings of the Scott County Board of Supervisors (BOS), those of the Concerned Citizens of Scott County, a group opposed to this plant, as well as this IUC meeting.

This proposal would place the plant on land zoned for agricultural preservation, and the BOS voted unanimously to deny the permit for the plant to proceed after considerable opposition. CIPCO then asked the IUC to overrule this denial. Approximately 135 people attended the IUC hearing, with comments that were both pro and con. Most of the comments in favor of the plant were about job growth, even though these plants typically employ only 6-7 staff. Local citizens expressed concerns about use of this highly rated agricultural land for industrial purposes They also questioned why CIPSO has an option to acquire 90 acres when the plant would only use about 30, leading to questions about the potential for expansion in the future. A
local firefighter expressed concerns about the potential for “incidents” and the fact that nearby fire departments are staffed by volunteers with inadequate equipment to manage an “incident”. They also failed to report that the closest school is John Glenn, which is within 3 miles of the plant, instead reporting that the closest schools are in Eldridge, about 5 miles away. Some residents expressed concerns about decreased property values after the plant is built.

Other concerns were noted about pollution. CIPCO staff showed graphs that predict minimal levels of pollution. However, one PACG member researched this and found that their modeling was based on 15-year-old data. Current data show that peaker plants emit considerably more pollutants than regular natural gas plants because they come on and off-line intermittently. According to the American Lung Association, the Quad Cities air ranks poorly, 43 rd worse in the nation, especially for particulates, which these plants produce. To learn more, we recommend reading the report from Jonathan Turner on the WVIK website. If you’d like to express your opinion to the IUC you can access their website (https://iuc.iowa.gov), on the docket titled:
Generating Certificate – Scott County, IA, # GCU-2026-0001).

Lori McCollum

Power plant meeting in Davenport After Action Report

4/12/2026

Opposition to power plant After Action Report
IUC public meeting in Davenport

Concerned Citizens of Scott County

Members of the PACG Environmental Forum have been attending meetings and support this group in their opposition to the Natural Gas Power Plant proposed for Scott County. Read our statement at the PACG blog post here.

Lori McCollum

QC Civic Conversation on Immigration - After Action Report

2/21/2026

**QC Civic Conversation with Peter Kvisto on Immigration Fact, Fiction, and Solutions - After Action Report**

Over 80 people attended the 4th Quad Cities Civic Conversation event, co-sponsored by PACG, One Human Family, Quad Cities Interfaith and Iowa Citizens Action Network. Dr. Peter Kivisto, retired Augustana professor of Social Thought, informed the audience about various facts about immigration and immigrants in our country, revealing the contributions that the immigrant population brings to the country. He also discussed the needs and challenges for positive legislation and policy going forward. A question and answer session ended the event. The audience was very engaged and learn a lot about the state of immigration today.

If you missed the event, you can view it at Vince Thomas’ YouTube channel where he posts for Community News & Views which airs on Public Access TV Channel 11 Mediacom in the Quad Cities area of Rock Island-Moline, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. Here is a link to the video: Pete Kivisto, Sociologist on Immigration Fact, Fiction and Solutions.

Allison Ambrose

Our Water, Our Future - After Action Report

11/25/2025

Our Water, Our Future - After Action Report

St. Ambrose University and PACG Environmental Forum

This event was coordinated by Iowa's Food and Water Watch, with three speakers from the University of Iowa. They gave an excellent presentation regarding their research of Iowa's rivers in Polk County. Concerns were noted about agricultural pollutants and their impact on human health, recreation and the economy. Suggestions were made of things we all can do to help with this issue.

Lori McCollum

20th Anniversary Gala After Action Report October 21, 2025

10/21/2025

20th Anniversary Gala! After Action Report
Sunday, October 19th

Close to 150 people joined us at the Rock Island Holiday Inn to celebrate PACG's 20th Anniversary Sunday evening. Everyone had a wonderful time and enjoyed a good meal together. We offered special thanks to founding members and others who have been involved over the years, as well as to newcomers and everyone else who joined us.

Regrettably, cofounder Cathy Bolkcom was unable to join us. Cofounder Alta Price gave an interesting account of how she and Cathy came together in 2005 at a school board meeting that resulted in the banning of The Misfits, a middle school book with a tertiary gay character. From there, Alta and Cath went on to encourage others to band together and take action to promote the common good of all. Progressive Action for the Common Good arose from those initial meetings.

Caroline Vernon updated our former historical slideshow to include our more recent events. Her slides played during Social Hour which is when we were serenaded by our favorite musician, Chris Dunn.

Allison Ambrose led our PACG Trivia game. Guests competed as tables to answer questions about PACG’s history. The questions ranged in difficulty, and everyone had fun. The winning table received Whitey’s gift certificates.

Ed Tibbets, who claims that public speaking is not his forte, nevertheless gave a memorable and very relevant speech about the importance of continuing to uphold our right to free speech and other freedoms against the onslaught of increasing attacks against them.

Unfortunately, we were not able to show our film, I Am the Future: Standing on the Shoulders of the Past, due to technical issues. Our past president, Glenda Guster, spearheaded this project documenting local citizens who were involved in the civil rights movement. We're very grateful for the work and generosity of Lora Adams at WQPT, who upgraded it to a more professional format. We encourage you to watch the film.

We would like to thank Shanda Burrage for the beautiful table decorations. Caroline also painted the little rocks that were on every table. We appreciate the work that Taylor and Dakota Vernon did taking photos throughout our event. We hope to have images available to share with you soon.

We have written a blog post called 20th Anniversary Gala Documents which you can see here. You can view our Social Hour and Program presentations, our speakers’ remarks, our program booklet, pictures (which we will continue to add), and much more at the link.

Thank you to those who have been part of or supported PACG over the past 20 years. We look forward to continuing working for the common good of all!

Caryn Unsicker (she,her)

QC Electric Vehicle Rally September 24, 2025 After Action Report

9/22/2025

QC Electric Vehicle Rally - After Action Report

Freight House Farmers Market
Davenport, IA

Environmental Forum

The PACG Environmental Forum hosted the QC Electric Vehicle (EV) Rally at the Farmers Market on Sunday, September 14, 2025. This event was part of the nationwide National Drive Electric Month celebration. Four electric vehicle (EV) dealers and some EV owners were on site to answer questions from visitors and network with each other. One of the EV owners came from Macomb, IL to join our event. The participants made new friends and enjoyed sharing their experiences with each other.

Susan Leuthauser (she/her)

PACG Die-In PACG History

8/26/2025

PACG Trivia Contest!

Anniversary Planning Committee

As part of our upcoming 20th Anniversary Gala the evening of Sunday, October 19th, we will be playing PACG Trivia. To give you all a head start (as well as a nostalgic look back at some of our past events), we will have regular Progressive Action Update (PAU) posts about a past event, action or concern.

Here's the next in this series:

Question: What was the PACG Die In and why did we organize that?

Answer: Our Health Care Reform Forum and Campaign for Better Health Care (CBHC) wanted to bring attention to the fact that Health Care is a Moral Value. People die if they don't have access to quality, affordable healthcare.

Read our Die In announcement email here for more details on the event.

Watch our Die In video here.

Read our planning email here.

Read some of the aftermath of our event in an After Action Report email here.

Defending the Rule of Law After Action Report

8/14/2025

The Importance of Defending the Rule of Law Luncheon - After Action Report

Fifty-nine people attended the Importance of Defending the Rule of Law luncheon event at WIU's Riverfront Hall on Friday, August 8th, to hear Professor Sally Frank, Drake University Law School, explain in layman's terms how our rule of law is under attack and why it is important to recognize this and do what we can now to preserve our Democracy. Attendees asked many pertinent questions afterwards.

This event was part of the Quad Cities Civic Conversations series initiated by One Human Family and co-sponsored by Progressive Action for the Common Good, Iowa Citizen Action Network, and Quad Cities Interfaith. There will be pertinent events every three months, so watch for them in this Progressive Action Update and elsewhere.

Caryn Unsicker (she/her)