Small Iowa towns that would benefit from tearing down or sprucing up vacant buildings can get help from the state. Communities with a population of five-thousand or fewer residents can apply for a derelict building grant application through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Scott Flagg is coordinating the project. “The program works with communities that are either looking to deconstruct, remove the building selectively or renovate the building,” Flagg says. “Just recently, we had a project in Glidden that renovated an old building and turned it into a health and wellness center for the local citizens there.”

Flagg says there’s usually at least a dozen Iowa communities that apply to split the funding every year. “We had 13 last year and usually we get around 40 applications submitted each round,” Flagg says. “The committee is able to fund between 13 and 20 projects depending on how much money we have available.”

The deadline to apply is February 27. A committee will select the projects for funding from the Iowa D-N-R, Iowa Society of Solid Waste Operations, Iowa Recycling Association, Iowa Economic Development Authority and Keep Iowa Beautiful. Learn more by visiting www.iowadnr.gov and putting “derelict” in the search window.

(Radio Iowa)