Over $300,000 in Grants Awarded at Celebration of Community Event
CFNEIA
November 6, 2017
Nearly 300 people attended the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa’s annual Celebration of Community event on Friday, November 3 in Cedar Falls where the Foundation announced special grants totaling over $300,000.
“There is so much good happening in our communities and we are excited we get to celebrate the work we do together with our partners,” said Kaye Englin, CFNEIA president and CEO. “The nonprofit projects selected for these special grants are critical pieces in making the Cedar Valley and beyond a great place to live.”
Hawkeye Community College received a $200,000 grant for its new Adult Learning Center building project, currently under construction in downtown Waterloo. The new Adult Learning Center will combine the programs and services offered at the current Metro Center and Martin Luther King Jr. Center and allow space to expand programs in the three-story, 45,000 square foot building. With the grant, the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa will name the Registration and Community Connections Suite of the new facility.
“My word tonight was ‘wow.’ We are just so grateful for this award,” said Jay Nardini, chair of the Hawkeye Community College board of trustees. “The $200,000 for our Adult Learning Center will go towards helping adults receiving their education there, those getting their high school diploma, and particularly those who are learning English as a second language. The facility will include a daycare and bus service will be provided. It’s going to be a wonderful facility in the heart of downtown Waterloo.”
Boys and Girls Clubs of the Cedar Valley received a $50,000 grant for its Together We Can campaign. The grant is a matching gift grant and will be used to encourage others to give to the endowment building portion of the campaign to help offset future operational costs associated with expanded facilities including a new teen center in Waterloo and updates to its current Lime Street Clubhouse. The Community Foundation will match gifts, dollar for dollar up to $50,000, to the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Cedar Valley Youth Development Fund, a fund of CFNEIA. Gifts to the fund are eligible for the Endow Iowa 25% state tax credit.
Another $50,000 was granted to Try Pie from the Gary, Becky, Eric and Elizabeth Bertch Family Fund held with the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa. This grant made by the Bertch family from their
Also announced at the event were the winners of the Good Things Happening photo contest was a four-week contest in September that encouraged people to submit photos of the good things they saw happening in Black Hawk County.
