For FY2023, the House Appropriations Committee accepted requests for the Community Project Funding initiative to allow Members of Congress to target federal funds towards projects and programs that will address the most significant needs facing the communities they represent.
Under guidelines issued by the Appropriations Committee, each Representative could request funding for up to 15 projects in their community for fiscal year 2023. Projects are restricted to a limited number of federal funding streams, and only state and local governments and non-profit organizations (this includes special districts and quasi-governmental non-profits) are permitted to receive funding. Additional information on the reforms governing Community Project Funding is available here and here.
In compliance with House Rules and Committee requirements, I have certified that neither myself, nor my spouse or immediate family have any financial interest in any of the projects I requested.
Recipient: Noble Initiative Foundation - located at 62837 Seattle Road, Griswold, IA 51535
Summary: Community project funding would be used to construct the Griswold Child Development Center, which includes constructing the facility and playground, purchasing furnishings and materials for children and staff, and adding a parking lot. The project is estimated to create at least 10 jobs at the facility. According to a 2018 Griswold Parent Survey and the Iowa Women’s Foundation, child care was identified as the second-highest need in Cass County - which includes Griswold. 35% of families stated they do not have adequate child care, 75% have had to miss work due to a disruption in care, and 43% have had to turn down expanded employment or a promotion due to child care concerns. There are 84 known children in the community under the age of four that are in need of childcare; however, there are only four available spots in licensed child care programs between Griswold and nearby Elliott and Lewis.
Using taxpayer funds to construct a child care facility in Griswold will help fill unmet needs in the community, support children’s healthy development, and provide much-needed assistance to working parents in the community.
Certification: Griswold Child Development Center
Recipient: Windsor Heights Police and Fire Department, 1133 66th Street, Windsor Heights, IA 50324
Summary: Windsor Heights Police and Fire Department current P25 radios are over 10 years old and in need of replacement. These radios are used by police, fire fighters, and emergency medical services personnel who respond to emergency situations within the City of Windsor Heights as well as in surrounding counties through mutual aid agreement. Windsor Heights recently moved to a new Public Safety Answering Point to better align their police and fire teams with their neighbors. Unfortunately, this transition did not include new communications equipment, and the Department is still using P25 public safety radios that are beyond their service life and lack critical new technology.
Each year, the Departments respond to thousands of calls, and the community is growing rapidly. In 2020, they responded to 6,660 police, fire, and EMS calls; in 2021, that number grew to 8,428. In these emergency situations, clear and effective communication can make all the difference. Ensuring first responders and law enforcement have up-to-date, interoperable technology will help the Windsor Heights Police and Fire Department better fulfill their mission to “safeguard the lives and property of the people we serve, to reduce the incidence and fear of crime, and to enhance public safety while working with the community to improve their quality of life.”
Certification: Windsor Heights P25 Radio Replacement Project
Recipient: City of Clive, located at 1900 NW 114th St, Clive, IA 50325
Summary: The proposed Greenbelt Landing Park stormwater green infrastructure improvements—including a stormwater wetland and stabilized streambanks— will treat millions of gallons of stormwater annually which is currently discharged directly into Walnut Creek. By increasing infiltration, slowing flow, and filtering runoff, the green infrastructure will help prevent sediment, excess nutrients, and harmful bacteria from entering Walnut Creek and the Raccoon River, which is also the primary source of Clive's drinking water. Improving water quality will help protect the health of thousands of Iowans who live, work, and play in the watershed.
Recipient: City of Pacific Junction, located at 407 Lincoln Ave, Pacific Junction, Iowa 51561.
Summary: The project proposes to retrofit green stormwater infrastructure practices into street right of way areas in selected areas of Pacific Junction. By targeting street right of way areas, the project will address those areas of the community that produce the largest amounts of runoff and the highest urban runoff pollutant levels. In addition to improving water quality, the project will help to reduce the rate and volume of runoff, reducing drainage and flooding problems as well as the “flashiness” of runoff. By reducing runoff pollutants as well as the flashiness, the project will help to improve the ecological stability and health of Pony and Keg Creeks by helping to improve water quality and reduce erosive forces. The project will integrate green infrastructure into the streetscape of downtown Pacific Junction and its neighborhoods, providing community and economic development co-benefits through greening and beautification. Similar projects sponsored by IEDA have also shown economic development benefits as demonstrated by increases in public investment following these public investment projects. Due to the broad range of community benefits, these integrated projects also tend to receive higher levels of maintenance to help ensure their long-term performance.
Certification: Pacific Junction Green Infrastructure Project
Recipient: Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC), located at 2006 S Ankeny Blvd, Ankeny, IA 50023.
Summary: The DMACC Transportation Institute offers a CDL training program that serves approximately 150 students per year when able to run full classes. However, DMACC has identified current staffing and equipment needs that limit the number of individuals who may be trained. With this funding, DMACC intends to hire an additional evening CDL instructor, CDP pathway navigator, and on-site contract training instructor. Combined, the contract training instructor and evening CDL instructor are estimated to expand capacity by roughly 100 students per year. The CDL pathway navigator would be able to field 5-10 walk-ins per week and 20 calls per day from prospective students. Additionally, DMACC would use part of the funds to lease truck cabs or buy truck beds needed to train students.
Using taxpayer dollars for this project will help connect students with job opportunities, address the demand for more commercial motor vehicle operators, and work to help ease the supply chain issues driving up costs for Iowa families and businesses. According to the Iowa Workforce Development (IWD)’s Future Ready Iowa initiative, commercial motor vehicle operation has been identified as a high-demand career. IWD projects 1,160 annual job openings for Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in the central Iowa region through the year 2028 and 6,190 per year statewide. Funding this project would allow DMACC to expand operations, train more Iowans, and help address driver shortages.
With additional staff and equipment improvements supported through this grant, DMACC will gain capacity to train additional individuals above and beyond that number. DMACC estimates that an additional 90-100 individuals could be trained with this money. Class B training is currently only provided on a very limited basis due to lack of equipment, availability of space, and lack of staff.
Certification: DMACC Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) Training Program
Recipient: Wesley Community Services Inc, located at 5508 NW 88th Street, Johnston, IA 50131.
Summary: Wesley Community Services Inc operates a Meals on Wheels program that provides nutritious meals to older adults in Polk County facing food insecurity - an estimated 9,000 individuals. The program serves food-insecure adults over age 65 and veterans over age 55. In fiscal year 2022, the Wesley Community Services Inc Meals on Wheels program served 255,863 meals - a greater than 10% increase when compared with the two fiscal years prior. To ensure that program infrastructure can meet rising demand in Polk County, Wesley Community Services Inc is seeking community funding support as part of its So Much More than Meals campaign to build out a new community kitchen, indoor garden, and “intergeneration hub” for older residents to connect. The project site is located at 3206 University Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50311.
The $1,322,415 requested would be used to purchase commercial kitchen equipment necessary to expand operations. Specifically, Wesley Community Services Inc intends to purchase high-capacity coolers and freezers to store food, large stoves and ovens to prepare meals, dishwashers, sinks and basins, and other pieces of equipment required to make a kitchen operate smoothly and efficiently. Fully complete, the new location and facility will house the Meals on Wheels program and allow it to serve approximately 750,000 meals annually, tripling the current capacity limits, and allowing the program to serve more people in more central Iowa communities. This facility will also be the base for the Meals on Wheels fleet of 21 vehicles and training location for more than 250 volunteers. Using taxpayer funds on this project would ensure more older Iowans have healthy, nutritious food - alleviating financial burdens for those on a fixed income, allowing participants to remain in their homes, and preventing hospitalizations. According to studies, hospitalizations decrease by an average of 39% after an individual joins a Meals on Wheels program.
Certification: WesleyLife So Much More than Meals Campaign
Recipient: Adams County Economic Development Corporation, located at 710 Davis Ave, Corning, IA 50841.
Summary: The Adams County Economic Development Corporation is seeking funding to create an entrepreneurial and incubator center in Corning, Iowa, the county seat of Adams County. Creating a center will catalyze small and emerging business growth by renovating an underused, empty building into a multifunction entrepreneurial center, co-work area and business incubator. It will also provide upper story rental housing, another huge need in our rural community. The income from the rental housing will also assist in the financial sustainability of the center.
Certification: Adams County Entrepreneur and Business Incubator Center
Recipient: Polk County, located at 111 Court Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50309.
Summary: Polk County, with support from the City of Des Moines, plans to reconstruct and expand Broadway Avenue from Iowa Highway 415 (locally known as NW 2nd Street) east to US Highway 6 (locally known as Hubbell Avenue). Broadway Avenue serves a large number of industrial businesses in an urban area with a two-lane rural roadway cross section. This project calls for reconstruction of the 5.2-mile roadway into a three-lane urban cross section that includes a two-way left-turn lane down the center. The project also includes plans to add more through and turn lanes to major intersections, including IA-415, US 69, and US 6. These extra lanes will accommodate heavier movements at those locations during peak commute times. A proposed underpass will allow vehicles and trucks to pass freely under the busiest two rail crossings in the corridor. Improvements to Broadway Avenue could also facilitate the DART (a passenger bus system) route expansion and better serve the industries located along the corridor with more reliable commuter traffic alternatives. In addition, improvements to Broadway Avenue would provide for better pedestrian infrastructure.
Certification: Broadway Multimodal Improvements Project
Recipient: Iowa Homeless Youth Center, located at 612 Locust St, Des Moines, IA 50309.
Summary: This project would build a facility for a program titled: Pathway to Prosper: Building Futures Through the YSS Workforce Development & Employment Fostering Initiative. The program would support foster youth as they "age out" and transition into adulthood and into the workforce, and would work to break the cycle of poverty by providing guided work experience and access to livable wage careers. Foster youth often struggle to transition to adult life and the workplace because of past trauma and abuse. The Workforce Development Initiative teaches and mentors transition age youth who often lack the soft skills required to secure employment. Youth help operate a year-round rooftop hydroponic farm with guidance from staff, providing them with job skills, access to healthy (locally grown) foods, nutrition education, and community engagement.
Certification: Building Their Futures Through the Iowa Homeless Youth Center Employment Skill Building Initiative Facility
Recipient: Des Moines Airport Authority, located at 5800 Fleur Drive, Des Moines, IA 50321.
Summary: This project will design the passenger terminal for the Des Moines International Airport, a project that has been in planning stages since 2013. Growth beyond forecasts and prospective airlines aiming to serve the DSM market have resulted in severely constrained operational space for aircraft. Currently all gate parking positions are filled overnight, and only three off-gate positions are available. This project will increase the off-gate parking by designing additional apron space dedicated to passenger aircraft parking. This project will expand the capacity to handle additional aircraft at DSM, leading to expanded routes and airline competition. Both will help to keep airfares lower, resulting in more accessible transportation options for constituents.
Certification: Des Moines Airport Terminal Design
Recipient: Food Bank of Iowa, located at 2220 E 17th St, Des Moines, IA 50316.
Summary: The Food Bank of Iowa (FBOI) is seeking funding to add 30,000 square feet to its existing warehouse in Des Moines. This $10.2 million capital project will position FBOI to expand programming to improve overall nutrition for food-insecure Iowans, increase access to food assistance for children, and meet the needs of special populations who face significant barriers to food security. The increased capacity will also support our maturing understanding of what food assistance goals should look like – not as the absence of hunger but the presence of nutrition – necessitating an increasing shift from shelf-stable processed foods toward wholesome fresh foods. FBOI is currently operating over capacity, using external storage to meet community needs. FBOI's biggest obstacle to delivering food assistance is not trouble finding enough food, but having the internal capacity to manage, store, and deliver it. FBOI requests $1.5 million in Community Project funding to support this effort that serves low-income families across 10 of 16 counties in current IA-03.
Certification: Food Bank of Iowa Warehouse Expansion for a Hunger Free Iowa
Recipient: Montgomery County, located at 406 W Fourth St, Red Oak, IA 51566.
Summary: The proposed project consists of replacing an existing 284-foot long continuous span steel I-beam bridge with a 310-foot long concrete beam bridge per current Iowa DOT and Montgomery County Standards. The existing bridge is on a Minor Collector Farm to Market Road, with an average of 60 ADT based on the Iowa DOT traffic count map from 2016. This includes significant truck and agricultural vehicle traffic. FHWA Bridge number 254720 located on 250th Street between Evergreen Avenue and G Avenue in Montgomery County, Iowa. The existing bridge was constructed in 1942. In 1959 it was lengthened to its current length. It had served as a vital route for area farmers to move oversized agricultural equipment from one side of the East Nishnabotna River to the other until its closure in 2019 after being damaged during the 2019 FEMA-declared flood disaster. 250th Street is a heavily traveled route providing vital access across the East Nishnabotna River for Montgomery County Producers to both sides of the river and to the grain elevator located in Red Oak. The next nearest river crossings are 2 miles south and 5 miles north from this bridge’s location, with both routes having their own unique challenges for oversized agricultural equipment. The roadway is an important part of our agricultural system for producers as well as residential traffic and must be replaced soon.
Certification: Montgomery County Bridge Replacement Project
Recipient: City of Mount Ayr, located at 200 S Taylor St, Mount Ayr, IA 50854.
Summary: The project will include the revitalization of Mount Ayr’s downtown through much needed surface transportation improvements. This is the commercial hub for Ringgold County as well as portions of surrounding counties and needs infrastructure improvements and replacements to stay attractive to both commercial entities and their patrons. This project will focus on the main square around the county courthouse. These four blocks are made up of existing brick streets that bring a historic value to the area. That said, these streets have deteriorated greatly creating both travel and drainage challenges. The project will respect the brick history but by use of accents and focal points at and near intersections while improving drivability and ADA adherence with new PCC streets. Bump outs at intersections and near outdoor eating establishments and the theater will provide added gathering spaces and place making opportunities. Walk improvements may also be included in the 100 block of E Madison Street as this stretch of sidewalk is noncompliant and a safety hazard. New pedestrian walks with upgraded lighting will increase visual appeal as well as walkability of the area. These improvements will hopefully drive the redevelopment of several parcels and lead to investments by existing land/business owners.
Certification: Mount Ayr Downtown Revitalization Project
Recipient: Neighborhood Finance Corporation, located at 1912 6th Ave, Des Moines, Iowa 50314.
Summary: This project will both provided needed housing to hard-working Iowans that are impacted by increasing housing costs, and improve neighborhoods still suffering from the impacts of redlining and decades of disinvestment. The requested amount will cover an average of $40,000 per home to bring 9 homes onto the market. We know some homes will require more subsidy than this (i.e. when we purchase a property at a higher cost to further neighborhood revitalization goals) and some will require this amount or less depending on the cost of construction materials. The subsidy here will also included a development fee needed to pay staff. Therefore, some projects may have $20,000 in subsidy and some $60,0000. If there is additional subsidy available, it will be used to create additional affordability for the homebuyer or renter.
Certification: Neighborhood Finance Corporation’s Workforce Housing in Polk County
Recipient: City of Perry, located at 1102 Willis Avenue P.O. Box 545, Perry, IA 50220.
Summary: The City of Perry has a goal to bring about social, economic and ecological recovery and growth for its community, its residents, and its businesses. This diverse rural community of approximately 8,100 people has creative art displays throughout the community, is active in celebrating their Hispanic culture, has a great school system (including a community college), has an active recreational trail system, has continued to see job growth in the recent years and has seen natural weather disasters in the past few years. The current downtown area has seen drastic road deterioration, flooding issues, building fires, and the effects of the Derecho coming through the downtown damaging downtown buildings. The city is now taking significant steps to improve the infrastructure and beautification efforts to the entire downtown area. This project will include a phased approach of 12 blocks of full roadway reconstruction, improvements to downtown parking areas and alleys, water quality improvement features, traffic signalization/signage, pedestrian sidewalks, and beautification efforts. This phase (Phase 1B) of this project consists of one block and one intersection of the downtown. All of the residents frequent the downtown area whether it is to enjoy the local restaurants, visit the bank, or simply to shop. The City of Perry currently has point cloud collected data on the areas identified in this project that will accelerate the overall project timeline. Using taxpayer funds on these roadways will benefit the residents by improving the roads and sidewalks they are driving, walking or biking on, show community pride with the beautification efforts, and bring about new businesses creating new jobs to the community. Additionally, this project will focus on strengthening businesses that were directly impacted by the Derecho and COVID-19 Pandemic.
Certification: Perry Downtown Improvements Phase 1
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