The Midwest Partnership Development Corporation, an economic development corporation serving Adair and Guthrie counties, will hold their annual dinner and program January 23rd, at the Casey Community Building. Officials say Colleen Conrad and Kacey Peterson, both from Casey, are guest speakers for the event. Conrad and Peterson will speak about on how they began to get involved in Casey, how the grant committee began, the restoration of downtown buildings and new businesses opening on Main Street. (you read their biographies below).

The cost of the annual dinner is $27 per plate or $160 for a table of six. RSVPs are requested by January 17th to Sarah Gomez at (515) 523-1262 or sgomez@midwestpartnership.com. Registration is also available online at https://www.midwestpartnership.com/annual-dinner.cfm. Social hour begins at 5:45 p.m. Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. and the Annual Meeting begins at 7:00 p.m.

Midwest Partnership is a collaborative economic development effort to facilitate the retention, expansion and attraction of businesses to create jobs and improve quality of life in Adair and Guthrie Counties.

About Colleen Conrad: Colleen Mullen Conrad, grew up in Casey, Iowa and has recently focused her efforts on preserving the heritage and improving the economic conditions of her hometown. As a volunteer, entrepreneur, business owner, and philanthropist she supports the efforts of both the Casey Historical Society and the Casey Service Club, as well as the town’s public library. In late 2016, following a public call for volunteers, Colleen helped to establish what would eventually become the Casey Grant committee, a small team of citizens and partners tasked with helping to improve and revitalize the historic town to help provide the best quality of living of its residents, both today and in the future.  Colleen has spent the last year alongside her husband, Dr. Corey Conrad working with local contractors and designers to bring life back to some of Casey’s long abandoned and derelict downtown buildings. Those efforts led to the city’s first catalyst grant in 2019 and the complete renovation of two more century-old buildings on Main Street with the opening of Pioneer’s Pub & Grub, restaurant and bar owned and operated by the couple.

For Colleen Conrad, Casey will always be home, and regardless of where this world leads her, she will never forget her roots; proudly serving her community as just another small-town Iowa girl with a big heart, and even bigger dreams.

About Kacey Peterson: Kacey Peterson was born and raised in Guthrie County and has lived and worked in rural communities throughout her life.  Her involvement on multiple nonprofit boards, including her role as the Public Policy Chair and President of the Iowa Mental Health Counselors Association (IMHCA), has given her the opportunity to advocate at the state and federal levels on behalf of underserved communities and citizens throughout Iowa for the past decade. That work involves identifying and passing legislation and government policy to bring valuable mental health resources to the state’s most rural and at-risk communities.

In 2015, Kacey joined forces with the local Boys and Girls Club and several of the local schools to explore grant opportunities for youth-based programming in Guthrie County; a partnership that spanned the course of several years as a valued member of the organization’s Board of Directors. She joined forces with Colleen Conrad and a handful of other volunteers in 2015 to establish the Casey Grant Committee, and has been actively involved in the town’s revitalization efforts since that time. As current citizens and parents of a vibrant first grader, Kacey and her husband, former city councilman Travis Peterson, are committed to their hometown’s preservation efforts, hoping to instill in their son, a fifth-generation Caseyian, the same sense of pride, appreciation, and love of community they have come to hold in their own hearts.