June 18, 2021 (DES MOINES) – Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Economic Development Authority today (Friday) announced $400,000 in grant funding awarded to 26 projects that will help grow and revitalize rural communities across the state. Gov. Reynolds said “The Rural Innovation Grant program and the Rural Housing Assessment Grant program help turn innovative ideas into reality for so many small communities across Iowa, paving the way for opportunity and prosperity for generations to come. The Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative continues to bring together stakeholders from all walks of life who are focused on growing our rural communities.”

Iowa Lt. Governor Adam Greg says “We’re building on the success of last year’s launch of these transformative grants with a second round of projects that will serve as models for rural revitalization across the state. The governor and I look forward to seeing the projects that step forward to apply.”

The Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative developed the following grant programs in 2019 for rural communities of fewer than 20,000 people:

• The Rural Innovation Grant program supports creative ideas to overcome rural community development challenges, such as workforce development and housing shortages.  In the KJAN listening area:
• The City of Griswold was awarded $10,000 to install food lockers downtown for regional delivery w/Ramsey Market. The total project cost is $65,00; The City of Lenox was awarded $20,000 for activation of an alley into a pocket park, w/a curb bump out. The total project cost is $80,000; The City of Manning was awarded $7,600 towards the total cost of $11,400, for Conceptual design for three housing developments & community input processes.; and, the Southwest Iowa Nature Trails Project by the City of Imogene, was awarded $20,000 towards the $35,140 cost of a bike trail beautification with a mural, sculpture and community spaces.

The Rural Housing Assessment program supports efforts to expand access to quality housing tailored to communities. The program leverages data from the Iowa Finance Authority’s Profile of Iowa tool and provides support through a partnership with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. The grants cover 26 projects across the state, including: The Cities of Mount Ayr and Onawa, which were awarded $10,000 each, to facilitate with ISU Extension and Implementation. Atlantic, Grinnell, Livermore, Rock Valley, Sheldon and Shenandoah also received Rural Housing Assessment grants, and will participate in readiness assessment and implementation process in partnership with Iowa State University Office of Extension and Outreach.

A full list of grant recipients is available at iowaeda.com/empower-rural-iowa.