Blog

Before we look ahead to 2017, the end of the year is a good time to reflect on all that happened in the previous 12 months. Several Iowa West Foundation initiatives were launched and expanded upon while a number of large grants with potential for significant impact were awarded in 2016. Let’s take a look […]

Council Bluffs’ Lewis Central and Avoca-Hancock-Shelby-Tenant-Walnut (AHST-W) to join (Council Bluffs, Iowa) An Iowa West Foundation education initiative that addresses barriers to college access and success in higher education will expand to two additional high schools in Pottawattamie County this year. Council Bluffs’ Lewis Central and AHST-W school boards recently voted to join the Pottawattamie Promise program, […]

Every morning without fail, Jeannie Grim-Ford wakes up and makes two lists. Both are “to-do” lists, however, one is a “have to” and the other is a “want to.” For the Council Bluffs resident who prefers the term “recycled teenager” to “senior citizen,” energy is finite. So dishes “have to” get done, along with clearing the kitchen […]

Raise Me to Read will be a Community-Wide Effort (Council Bluffs, IA) A local early literacy initiative launched in Council Bluffs on Oct. 27th, in conjunction with a community-wide shared reading experience held in locations throughout the city. Raise Me to Read is a collaborative effort amongst schools, nonprofits, businesses, and families. Its goal is for […]

(Council Bluffs, IA) The Iowa West Foundation Board of Directors recently approved nearly $5 million in grant and initiative funding to 21 non-profit organizations and government entities in southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska. Education was a major theme for the final grant cycle of 2016, with $1.5 million awarded to the Council Bluffs Community School District […]

In preparing for this year’s annual report, it became clear that there were a number of major projects started in 2015 that are still in the works (at the Mid-America Center, the Riverfront, and West Broadway to name a few). Because the work on these transformational efforts is ongoing, our images primarily consist of renderings. […]

Recently, the Iowa West Foundation’s Grants Team took a look at a piece of reporting that we know is a pain point for a number of our grantees. The process in question relates to the financial reporting we require as part of closing out a grant or requesting a disbursement from the Foundation. If you […]

Growing up, summers meant surviving 100 degree days, wishing for a swimming pool but making due with a sprinkler, riding bikes with the air rushing through my hair, running after ice cream trucks, and catching lightening bugs. My notion of carefree summers came to a screeching halt when my then kindergartener came home from her […]

(Council Bluffs, IA) The Iowa West Foundation Board of Directors recently approved more than $5 million in grants and initiatives funding to 19 nonprofit organizations and government entities in southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska. Among the recipients was the City of Council Bluffs, which received a $100,000 grant for the city’s newly unveiled “UN” image campaign, […]