Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa Grants $453,491 to Local Organizations

CFNEIA

June 22, 2022

The Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa (CFNEIA) held its spring 2022 grant awards celebration at the Waterloo Center for the Arts on June 22, announcing the distribution of 31 grants totaling $453,491 to organizations serving Black Hawk County.

“We are proud to be able to support these grant recipients through the generosity of visionary donors, and we are honored to be a small part of the impacts these nonprofit organizations make in Black Hawk County,” said Kaye Englin, CFNEIA President and CEO. “They are truly incredible examples of taking action to make our community a great place for everyone.”

The total grant amount awarded includes $421,000 in funding from CFNEIA’s unrestricted funds designated to improving Black Hawk County and $32,491 in Uplift Grants. Uplift Grants are a new, one-year discretionary grant opportunity awarded on a competitive basis to improve life for residents of Black Hawk County. Requests can be for operations, programming, materials, equipment and capital projects for trees for Waterloo as well as chamber and opera music.

Grant recipient organization, what the grant will fund and grant amount is listed below by funding area. The three projects marked by an asterisk have been awarded Uplift Grants.

Arts & Culture

• *Cedar Valley Chamber Music, 2022 Cedar Valley Chamber Music (CVCM) Festival, $7,320
• Grout Museum District, General Operating Support, $18,000
• North End Cultural Center, Inc., NECC Summer Programming, $20,000
• Waterloo Community Playhouse/Black Hawk Children’s Theatre, Waterloo Community Playhouse/Black Hawk Children’s Season of Re-Energizing, $20,000
• Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra, Operational Support, $17,500
• *Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra, Wcfsymphony concert with Northern Iowa Symphony & Megan Grey, mezzo soprano, $7,333

Community Betterment

• Cedar Valley Bicycle Collective, Improving Our Community Through Cycling, $5,000
• *Link Christian Development, Walnut Neighborhood Tree Planting Phase 2, $17,838

Education & Youth Development

• Boys and Girls Clubs of the Cedar Valley, Project Learn, $20,000
• Cedar Valley Preschool and Child Care Center, Building Bright Futures VII, $15,000
• Communities in Schools of Mid-America, Inc., Student Supports in Waterloo Middle Schools by Communities in Schools of Mid-America, $7,500
• EMBARC, Community-Based Support for Refugee and Immigrant Students in Iowa (CBS-RIS), $25,000
• Grin and Grow, Quality Child Care for the Working Poor and At-Risk Families, $25,000
• Hawkeye Community College Foundation, WE Build Waterloo, $20,000
• Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates (iJAG), iJAG: Creating Inclusive Career Pathways for Underserved Waterloo Youth, $10,000
• Leader Valley Foundation, Leader in Me, $10,000
• The Job Foundation, Financial Stewardship Mentorship Program, $7,500

Health

• Allen College, Allen College Engagement – Salvation Army Partnership (ACE-SAP) Free Clinic, $20,000
• Black Hawk-Grundy Mental Health Center, Technology to Expand Access to Mental Health Services, $10,000
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Black Hawk County, Services for People with Mental Illness, their Families, Partners and Friends, $5,500
• SuccessLink, SuccessLink, $20,000
• Vision To Learn, Vision To Learn – Improving Access to Vision Care for Students in Waterloo, $13,500

Human Service

• Amani Community Services, I Believe Leadership Academy, $5,000
• Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Immigration Legal Services, $20,000
• Cedar Valley GearHeads Ministry, GearHeads Ministry, $12,500
• Iowa Food Bank Association, SNAP Outreach, $5,000
• Iowa Legal Aid, Civil Legal Services to Stabilize Low-Income Black Hawk County Residents, $20,000
• Jesse Cosby Center, Jesse Cosby Center Community Development Project, $15,000
• One City United, One City Momentum, $19,000
• Riverview Center, Crisis Response Program, $10,000
• Salvation Army – Waterloo, The Salvation Army Nonreligious Operating Expenses, $25,000

Grants are awarded through CFNEIA’s competitive grant process. Decisions on grant awards are determined by CFNEIA’s grant distribution committee, which consists of volunteers from Black Hawk County. Committee members include: Nancy Beenblossom, Stacie Brass, Ken Cutts, Kaye Englin, Susan Entriken, Andrew Finnegan, Anesa Kajtazovic, Chawne Paige, Jeff Seamans, Eashaan Vajpeyi, Sherman Wise and ReShonda Young.

Grants are awarded for general operating support or projects in the program areas of arts and culture, community betterment, education and youth development, environment and animal welfare, health and human service. Grant applicants must be a 501(c)(3) designated organization or government entity serving Black Hawk County in order to be considered for funding. The Fall 2022 grant cycle opens July 10 and has an application deadline of October 1. The grant guidelines and application can be found at www.cfneia.org/bhcgrants.