(Des Moines, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) report the IEDA Board has approved awards for three companies, which will assist in the creation of 84 jobs and result in $96.3 million in new capital investment for the state. These projects are located in Dubuque and Knoxville. Innovation funding was approved in support of four startups located in Ames, Coralville and Des Moines.

The board also approved 15 Butchery Innovation and Revitalization program awards. Among them was three businesses in southwest/western Iowa:

• Atlantic Locker LC, in Atlantic, was awarded $39,750 (total project cost is $79,500)
• Corning Meat Processing Service Inc. in Corning was awarded $50,000 (total project cost is $100,500)
• and Country Meats Inc. in Arcadia was awarded $50,000 (total project cost is $100,000).

The Butchery Innovation and Revitalization Fund was designed to provide financial assistance in the form of grants to businesses for projects relating to small-scale meat processing, licensed custom lockers, and mobile slaughter units. The program was created during the 2021 Iowa legislative session and signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds with a $750,000 allocation.

The maximum award amount is $50,000 and no more than 50% of the eligible project expenses may be paid with these grant funds. By administrative code, an application must score an average of 75 or more to be considered for funding. Fifty-four applications, requesting more than $2.4 million, received an average score of 75 or above. Based on available funding, the IEDA Board awarded 15 applications that received the highest average score. A list of the businesses that were awarded can be found here.