Since its inception, the Iowa West Foundation’s grant program has awarded more than $400 million to improve the quality of life in our region. The following Grants at Work stories highlight some of these grants and show the impact they make on our community.
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Iowa Legal Aid: Eviction Diversion Help Desk From Crisis to Solution: Iowa Legal Aid’s Impact on Eviction Rates Have you ever been so shocked by a statistic that it drove you to make a change? Erin Planalp, an attorney with Iowa Legal Aid, was immediately alarmed when she learned Pottawattamie County had the greatest increase […]
What is a Housing First approach? If a person is hungry, you don’t ask them to purchase pots and pans and then learn how to cook. You feed them first, and then begin to address the root causes that led to hunger. Similarly, “Housing First” is a strategy rooted in the belief that all people […]
Veteran and Wife Rebuild Their Future with Habitat for Humanity Homeowner Repair Program Habitat Humanity of Council Bluffs • Homeowners Repair Program “I’ve always been hardworking and never wanted to take handouts or take advantage of programs. I was leery of possibly having to use Habitat at the time, but I’m proud […]
Sometimes one person is all it takes to get the ball rolling. Or in this case, the needle threading. Terri Ann Fetz on Shenandoah was frustrated. With more people wearing masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her world grew quieter. As a member of the deaf community, she relies on her ability to read lips. […]
STARS scholar’s schedule aligns perfectly for CEO in the right place at the right time The morning of Nov. 20th, 2019 held nothing out of the ordinary according to Pete Tulipana’s calendar. As the President and CEO of the Iowa West Foundation, he was scheduled to give his annual presentation to the Council Bluffs Chamber’s […]
Five-year-old Samantha and her mom don’t get to spend much time together. Recovery from alcohol addiction and an ongoing custody battle make it difficult, if not impossible. And it weighs on 29-year-old Abby Poitier’s mind. So you can imagine how when the single mother talks about the time she treated her only daughter to a […]
Milk. Water. Coffee. Ketchup. Salad dressing. Cottage cheese. Yogurt. What do all these foods and drinks have in common? They all come in plastic containers – containers that can be recycled. This is evidenced by the number of plastic items that have been dropped off at the new Pottawattamie County recycling center in Oakland since […]
“Art in the Park” is an Iowa West Foundation initiative to replace weathered park identification signs at six community parks. The project is being coordinated by the Council Bluffs Parks, Recreation, and Public Property Department with assistance from the City Public Art Commission. These signs, all created by area artists, were developed with public input […]
It’s a beautiful spring Friday afternoon in March and teenagers across the metro are pouring out of their respective high schools’ front doors. One would assume they’d rather be anywhere else than stuck inside for another minute. Not Kellen Rief of Council Bluffs. The 16-year-old Lewis Central sophomore can’t wait to get back inside, to […]
Normal. It’s exactly what 6-year-old Sebastiano Fidone’s life seems like when you first meet him. The Kindergartener is engrossed in a game on his Kindle where he’s trying to outrun the bad guys. “Awww, man. He ate me,” he laments before going back to munching on a Lunchable and sipping a blue Gatorade. A Ninja […]
