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.

Locally:

• The Audubon Community Cinema received $6,000 for The Rose Movie Theater Renovation
• The Pottawattamie County Mental Health and Substance Abuse Network received General Operating Support in the amount of $15,000.

Among the recipients was the City of Council Bluffs, which received a $100,000 grant for the city’s newly unveiled “UN” image campaign, with a tagline of “Unlike anywhere else. On purpose.” The city also received $85,000 toward the Council Bluffs Fire Department Bell Tower project, which will place one of the city’s oldest artifacts, a centennial fire bell from 1876, on prominent display for the public to enjoy.

The City, in partnerships with the Council Bluffs Community School District ALSO received $150,000 for phase three of the BLink Wi-Fi initiative, which will expand the city’s free Wi-Fi footprint in Council Bluffs further east of N. 16^th Street to the existing downtown Wi-Fi zone along 100 Block of West Broadway.

Per its focus on healthy families, the Foundation awarded a $70,000 grant to Connections Area Agency on Aging to ensure homebound senior citizens in Pottawattamie County could continue or begin to receive “Meals on Wheels.” The program had been experiencing a funding shortfall causing food-insecure individuals to be placed on a waiting list. The Iowa West Foundation grant will ensure a total of 36,348 hot and frozen, nutritionally-balanced meals are delivered to 228 individuals, leaving no one on a waiting list.

The Iowa West Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the Midwest. It has distributed more than $300 million to nonprofits and governmental agencies through southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska since the inception of its grant program. Funding for the grants comes from investment earnings and the Iowa West Racing Association, which receives contractual fees from casino operators, Ameristar and Harrah’s.