Next on close up, it was an area of Des Moines known for its industrial buildings and scrap yards. An update on the transformation at what's now known as the market District help for hunger. Local food banks, seeing more clients than they have in decades. The new facility built to feed the rising demand. And finally *** sanctioned sport girls high school wrestling starts its first season this month by the coach of the Des Moines team says it's about time Girls got *** league of their own. This is Iowa's news leader, this is K. C. C. I ate news close up. Good morning and welcome to close up. I'm scott carpenter. New developments in Des Moines. East Village have exploded over the last 20 years now. The city wants to see that same kind of growth just to the south and what's known as the Market District. The plan is to take an area full of industrial municipal buildings and turn it into *** neighborhood with new businesses and housing. K. C. C. I. S Todd Nagel talked with developers about why this turnaround is *** decade long project. This is what the market district looked like back before 2020. The red outline is the area that for purposes, our development agreement with the city of des Moines is defined as the market district. You can see along the river somme mid american energy buildings, more mid american energy buildings that are no longer there over here was *** scrapyard no longer there. I'll give you *** view now of what we're, what we see today. We've begun the process of demolition of some of the buildings and the development and, and the construction of the surface improvements. This is East Market Street where we're in the process of this is Elm Street and second where we've located bio swells all along the street, new lighting of course underneath um new storm water etcetera. The city began moving out of their, their space in october is nearly complete. Um We expect to be demolishing at least one of the city buildings in the next few months and then the remainder over over the next two years and then the completion of the streets and the infrastructure, the infra Structure that was in the market district before we started was very very old. Maybe nonfunctional and maybe in some cases just not adequate to the job. Well, there's 21 ST segments that will have all new infrastructure that includes roads, new lighting, new underground sewer, sewer, storm and, and water will be new technology in the area. So currently there's little of any high speed fiber there and there will be multiple multiple providers that will be in the area. The electrical and gas grid will be all new and that's paid by the developer for the entire area. Currently, there's *** storm water basin that the city has. Well, they're going to expand it to include this entire area. This will ultimately be *** destination for new bike trail going basically from the Red bridge over the Des Moines River past the police station and passed the historic train depot, we're gonna sell unused city property and that will be about $10 million more if if we're slow in purchasing it. *** lot of new infrastructure that will be added added to the city, improved stormwater control to reduce flooding. So the studies that we've looked at, particularly at the intersection of South East sixth and East Market, the flooding is gonna go down the potential in 100 year flood. That that level is going to be significantly lower than what it is right now. The challenge is the developers of multi family and their their challenge to reconcile construction costs and the higher interest rates with the current rental rates that they can get in Des Moines. Um I think that they're gonna see the construction costs are beginning to see construction costs go down, but those higher interest rates are going to be there for some time. We don't know how long for sure, but they are going to impact decision making until we can see uh growth in rental rates. And frankly, as long as the city buildings are still standing, it just, it just hurts the aesthetics of the area *** little bit. Just makes it *** little harder uh for developers to use their imagination on what the area is gonna look like. So that is what we have to say. Um I encourage you to take *** look at the website, will be updating that in the future. Well, uh it won't happen as fast as any of us want. First of all, you got to make that clear, but as it happens, So let me just, for example, similar but much larger area in Denver took 20 plus years to really come to full fruition. I hope, I hope our timeline is more like 10 years because it's *** smaller area, but it takes *** while, developers say the first new building could go up next year at the earliest. The pandemic and inflation have slowed construction down. Developers say the market district will one day help generate millions of dollars in tax revenue for the city, paul Hayes with jsc property says the district will create *** $36 million tax base, generating around $1.2 million in tax revenue each year. Well, food insecurity, *** new food pantry opens in Des Moines to help people put *** meal on their table. The numbers that show more help will be needed. It's *** historic year for high school sports here from the new coach of the Des Moines girls wrestling team about this inaugural season. Welcome back to close up the Des Moines area. Religious Council says the need for food assistance is the highest it's seen in its 46 year history thursday it opened *** new food pantry on the city's south side located near Army Post Road and Shafi Road. The pantry is right at demark headquarters, Kcc Eyes Nicole tam spoke with their ceo about why this location was so badly needed. This is one of the biggest zip codes for need in our community and being able to add another resource in this zip code for folks to be able to access to have to meet their food needs is really important, especially with what we're seeing with the need. Right now we had an 86% increase in august over last august it was an all time busiest august we've ever had. We're expecting the same from what we're seeing in september so coming into these holiday months just to be able to have this resource here is huge for the community and I know the closest pantry from this location is more than three miles away. Three miles doesn't sound like *** lot when you're driving, but talk about the impact just having something closer than having to drive further. Yeah, folks are dealing with so many different issues whether it be transportation, housing costs and they're having to make all these different choices between what they can afford, so to have *** location that's as close to them as possible, trying to meet people where they're at, we're right on *** main bus line here with *** number of additional services that you can get. There's *** workforce development office *** Wic clinic ST Vincent DePaul social services, just *** number of different things, we're kind of calling it *** care corridor where if folks come and make one stop and be able to get *** number of services. We think that's really important for them. Really eliminate that transportation barrier. How rewarding is it to meet people and know that your organization is helping and make an impact in their lives. Because I know there's *** lot of stigma attached sometimes to seeking help, especially, I think it's important that we do everything we can to make sure everyone kind of gets on an equal footing with having their human needs met across our community. Uh, we don't look at it as doing any kind of heroic work. This is work that needs to be done and we're here to do it. No one should feel bad about having *** food need things happen. We're in *** weird economy right now After COVID and then everything that's resulted since help is here for those who need it. And everyone is welcome at our pantries should never feel bad about having to come. That's why we exist. So we did kind of *** soft launch *** week ago with this pantry. It's really ramped up quickly. We've already had three folks come in this morning and we don't even open till 11. So that tells you *** little bit about how how much the need is and how quickly folks are trying to find places to get those needs met. We need help kind of across the board, whether you can volunteer your time, if you have money to make *** donation, we purchase *** lot of the food that's going out at our pantries. If you're able to do *** food drive with your neighborhood, your place of work, your faith community food drives are really helpful. There's *** lot of information on our website about the kinds of things we need out of *** food drive and get in touch with us and we can give you some more information about that as well. But really anyway, that folks can help if you want to do some volunteering in our warehouse and volunteering in our office, there's *** number of ways that, that we need help as well. You can check out our website at demark united dot org. You can call our office at 2776969. We're happy to talk to you and let you know what the options are and we'll take any help we can get. Well, Mark says it's all *** record number of people turning to their food pantries for help. Last month, over 20,000 people used one of their 15 partner food pantry sites, Nearly 2000 of those people used *** demarche pantry for the first time. Now, when you see these numbers, that shouldn't be too surprising. Look at the chart Shows the increase of people using *** demarche food pantry over the last year January and February. Saw *** very small increase in clients. But by May Demarche was seeing an increase of over 60% from the year before and last month, that number jumped to over 80%. And the growing need for food assistance means Denmark could use some help as well. Volunteers in the pantry are needed for their day to day operations as well as packaged food for to go for its 15 partner pantry sites. For more information, go to Denmark's website. That's demarche united dot org. Next on close up many 911 calls. Don't require *** police officer to respond the Des Moines program that's been sending mental health help too many of those callers. And the first season of the girls state wrestling begins in about *** month. Next meet the woman leading Des Moines teams. It's *** historic year for girls high school sports here in Iowa. With the first season for girls wrestling, more than 100 schools across the state started *** program Des Moines schools among them. Casey's beau Bowman talked with the head coach for the Des Moines girls wrestling program. Samantha Bush. My role is head coach for the district. It's *** district wide coaching position. So I'm over east high hoover Lincoln north and Roosevelt. I mean this is the first year of like girls wrestling being sanctioned in Iowa. How cool is that? How exciting is that for you. Um it's really exciting, especially six years ago I was wrestling on an all boys team in high school. We didn't have our own state or anything and now we have our own sport and I think it's really exciting. It's really cool and I'm really excited to help grow the wrestling and get back to the sport. This is the first time that girls are going to have their own sports separate from the boys. Why is it important to do that? Um I think it's important just um it's gonna sound *** little off but female empowerment, I believe that's really good when you're getting beat on, especially in wrestling you get beat up *** lot. It's *** little mentally draining especially if you're getting beat up on by your crush or *** high school boy. It's just kind of it's rough and I think it's it's good to know have separated sports and so girls have that same opportunity as boys. What's practice gonna look like. It's gonna be the first, probably all female practice at the high school level. I'm not quite sure what practices are gonna be like yet. We still have to coordinate with the boys team and the aid and all the other schools as well. But I'm hoping to at least practice with each school at least once *** week and be able to rotate through the schools and be able to get to know all the athletes from all the different schools. What do you need to do to, you know, have *** state champion from Des Moines here. *** lot of hard work, *** lot of dedication just being able to get on the mat and wrestle honestly getting our technique And everything set up and then we'll have more sex success. I started wrestling when I was about 15 years old. I was *** sophomore in high school. I went out for the boys wrestling team. I made it, there was only, I think five wrestler On the team. So I was in the starting lineup. I wrestled three years on the varsity boys team. My senior year, I was actually captain of the wrestling team where we had, we actually had numbers. Um, my senior, I think there was *** team of 30. Um it was me and my sister. We were the only two females on the team that year. Um I went on, I was *** three time freestyle state champ in Utah. And then I also took folk style western regionals, I think two or three years in *** row, took second freestyle west regionals and also second women's Greco. I was also uh, third place at reno World, which is an all american tournament. And then after high school, I was signed to college, I was the second female in Utah designed to wrestle collegiately. I wrestled at Macmurray College for my first three years. I was *** three year starter. They're also team captain for three years. Uh that schools shut down. So I transferred here to Des Moines. I wrestled my senior at Grandview where I competed in 2020 at the U 20 three's, took second and was *** world team alternate as someone who has been in that position where you were *** girl wrestling on *** boys team, Why is that tough? It's tough there *** lot stronger, *** lot bigger even though we weigh the same, they just have more muscles and it's just, it's kind of tough. We have to be more uh, technically sound than the boards. We can't just power our way through them. So I think, um, it's more difficult um, in the sense of having to be able to be more detail orientated in our wrestling and how are we gonna bring some of that detailed oriented stuff. *** lot of fundamentals, I believe fundamentals and the basics really win matches. There's really no need for high points flashing moves. *** lot of throws or anything. They are very great and they're good to have in your back pocket. But I believe fundamentals and basics when wrestling matches awesome. Anything else you want to say to maybe some girls who are thinking about going out for wrestling, if you're thinking about it, come out and try it, It's really fun. It seems really tough and it will be practices can get *** little intense, but it's very rewarding and it's great for self confidence and self defense as well. Well, Samantha bushes, the girl's head wrestling coach for all Des Moines high school. She will rotate to each school to work with the girls on the team. Assistant coaches will be assigned to the hoover north wrestling program as well as east Lincoln and Roosevelt. Now the girls wrestling season starts october 31st. That's when the teams can hold their first practice. The first wrestling meets can be held starting november 14th. Super regional competitions take place on january 27th at four different sites. Iowa's first girls state wrestling tournament will take place february 2nd and third at Extreme Arena in Coralville. Girls wrestling has grown in popularity over the past few years. According to the Des Moines register, more than 1000 girls took part in the sport last year compare that with 67 girls who wrestled just six years earlier And it's not just Iowa high schools that are starting their own women's wrestling program. The University of Iowa announced last November that they were starting *** women's wrestling program, hiring Callista China's head coach helped lead the United States to 17 World Championship medals as well as four Olympic medals when she was *** wrestler. There are currently 15 student athletes on the Hot Guy Women's roster. All great stuff. Next on close up, *** new program launched three months ago to help 911 callers with mental health needs an update on how well it's working. Welcome back to close up two months ago, we told you about *** new project launched by des Moines Police and broad lines Medical Center. It's called Crisis Advocate. Sorry, I wasn't sorry, I'm joking. I choked that away. Welcome back to close up. Two months ago we told you about *** newly new project launched by des Moines Police and broad lines Medical Center. It's called crisis advocacy response effort or care. The project is designed to have mental health experts respond to behavioral health crisis calls. K C C I S Nicole tam shows us how care is working so far. I'm excited to have this roll out. Um, we know that um, with COVID, we're seeing *** lot of increase in mental health. Um, and then also with Children, especially um, having that isolation, we know that it's um, it's causing problems and we just want to be there to be able to help on an average day. I know we we saw about like 78 calls within the care team in *** month, but day to day about how many calls do the care team. Um, we're averaging probably about 13 to 15 calls *** day. Is that enough to people on the team or three people on the team. Um, so far it seems to be. But as we continue to see these increases, we realize that probably between the 11 a.m. To 10 p.m. Time frame is where we're seeing *** lot of our calls kick up. So we're probably going to have to add more and just overall we may not see it in the community of what equals to the magazines but just highlight what what is the importance besides what we've already discussed. This program in place for the um I think you know having child specific clinicians available I think is huge. Um So that you know like we had discussed before just that low to moderate severity um Being able to get those resources in place. I think just for the community to have someone to reach out to when and they just don't know what to do is really the importance of it. Yeah for sure anything else you think people should know about this? It's definitely good progress and hopefully get more resources. Yes absolutely. Um The main thing is you know in crisis 911 is your go to um you can get *** dispatch officer that way our care clinicians dispatched out to you. Um You can also use the non emergent line Um which is 2834811. Um and then there's also 988 available. Um either way you will get to you know the right person and one last question what are some top questions or increase you get that providers are responding to? Um You know it's really it's all over the place. Um We respond to uh maybe *** welfare check. Someone has not shown up for dialysis. So they have responded to that Um Here recently there was an elderly woman that wandered away from her nursing facility. Um She wanted tasty tacos so the team had found her and got her back to her facility and and set up with everyone. But yeah she was just out and about looking for tacos. I mean in *** way it's almost like you folks just provides reassurance sometimes for people who might be very worried about their health. Absolutely absolutely. Um And it you know of course it's mental health related. Um So any time that we hear that aspect of it that's gonna be you know what gets the team dispatched out And um I really excited about having the dispatch person in the 911 cost center as well just being able to provide those services. Maybe it's someone that's new to the mental health arena. Um But you know just being able to have that extra you know person available to him I think is very important. Here's how the care program works. The mental health worker from broad lines is assigned to Des Moines dispatch. That worker helps screen 911 callers to see who might need mental health assistance. *** team of two clinicians is then deployed to help with low risk calls. The care team is available seven days *** week. From eight AM until 6:30 p.m. Thank you so much for joining us for K. C. C. I ate news close up. We hope you enjoyed the program and we hope to see you back here next sunday. Same time until then, have *** great week.