116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Linn supervisors award 2023 Witwer Grants to local nonprofits
This year, the $80,000 annual grant fund was split among 24 nonprofits
Twenty-four organizations received a Witwer grant this year to help serve Linn County residents in the new year. The Linn County Board of Supervisors awarded the annual Witwer grant awards on Dec. 22.
Typically, supervisors wait until the new year to award the $80,000 grant money to local organizations, but this year, it was one of the last acts of the now former board before Kirsten Running-Marquardt begins her first term. The Witwer Trust grant cycle begins Nov. 1 of each year.
Grant recipients were selected through a competitive process that began back in November. Supervisors received more than $298,000 in grant requests for a portion of the $80,000 in available funds.
“We focused on several areas of need including critical human services,” Linn County Supervisor Chair Ben Rogers told The Gazette. “As always, we received far more requests than we have dollars for so this was a competitive process.”
The Witwer Trust was established by Weaver Witwer, a prominent Cedar Rapids grocer who died in 1979. Witwer owned and operated a food processing plant, a number of local farms, and what became known as the Me Too grocery stores.
Grant funding must be used for projects that “benefit Linn County residents.” Requests for programmatic and capital projects are eligible, but requests for operating support are not.
When looking at which organizations to award, supervisors score applications based on a project’s potential for long-term impact, how it serves a broad segment of the population or populations at risk, how it addresses an emerging need or provides a solution to an existing community or organizational need while demonstrating sound financial plans for future funding of the project or program.
Organizations awarded funding for Fiscal Year 2023 include:
- African American Museum of Iowa: $4,400 for a new contact database
- Catherine McAuley Center: $3,300 for essential supplies and transportation for women experiencing homelessness in Linn County
- Cedar Boat Club: $4,900 for a July 3 fireworks show
- Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity: $2,500 for affordable repairs program
- Central City Senior Dining: $2,300 for home delivery supply replacement project
- Coggon Area Betterment Association: $3,000 for Door to Door
- Community Health Free Clinic: $4,900 for prescription services support
- Community Resources United to Stop Heroin: $2,600 for CRUSH Recovery Community Center
- Eastern Iowa Arts Academy: $2,000 for music and arts studios scholarships
- Ely, Friends of the Public Library: $2,500 for Enrich the Pantry
- Families Helping Families of Iowa: $2,500 for providing shoes for Linn County youth in foster care
- Foundation 2 Crisis Services: $2,500 for transportation support at the Linn County Access Center
- Hiawatha Public Library: $500 for Dinosaur Encounters! Program
- Horizons, A Family Service Alliance: $2,500 for Meals on Wheels kitchen equipment
- Kids First Law Center: $3,900 for restorative justice prevents youth violence
- LBA Foundation: $4,000 for the LBA youth mental wellness program
- Matthew 25: $4,200 for free produce project
- Refugee Immigrant Association and Hoover Community School: $5,000 for Linn County Integration project for emerging communities
- Riverview Center: $5,000 for Linn County sexual assault/abuse crisis intervention project
- Sleep in Heavenly Peace Inc.: $4,500 for No Kid Sleeps on the Floor in Our Town program
- Southeast Linn Community Center: $2,000 for kitchen range replacement
- Springville Area Neighborhood Services and Information: $3,000 for SANSI facility rental
- The Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success Expansion Program: $4,000 for expansion program support
- Waypoint: $4,000 for Domestic Violence Fleeing Assistance Project
Comments: (319) 398-8255; gage.miskimen@thegazette.com
Waypoint in downtown Cedar Rapids received a $4,000 2023 Witwer grant to benefit its Domestic Violence Fleeing Assistance Project. Waypoint saw needs for all of its programs increase in the last fiscal year due in part to the pandemic, derecho and inflation. (The Gazette)
The Cedar Boat Club received a $4,900 2023 Witwer grant towards a fireworks program that it holds on July 3. The group did not hold a fireworks display in 2022. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
The Hiawatha Public Library received a $500 2023 Witwer grant for its Dinosaur Encounters! Program. (The Gazette)
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