Without funding, nonprofit that helped students graduate high school closes

CEDAR RAPIDS — A local nonprofit that provides one-on-one mentoring to students in the Cedar Rapids Community School District is closing its doors at the end of the school year because of lack of funding.

The nonprofit called Empowering Youths of Iowa has helped dozens of students graduate high school since it was founded in June 2021.

The main financial contributor to Empowering Youths of Iowa was the Cedar Rapids Community School District. But the partnership is being ended as the founder of Empowering Youths of Iowa Sarah Swayze also seeks to open a charter school this fall.

“We should never have been in the position of depending on Cedar Rapids schools anyway,” Swayze said.

Funding is one reason why Swayze said she is planning to open a charter school this fall. “I don’t want to have to fight so much for finances.”

Charter schools are tuition-free schools families can voluntarily enroll in that are publicly funded but independently run under an approved charter with the state. In Iowa, charter schools receive per-pupil state aid.

Initially, Swayze hoped the nonprofit could continue operating apart from the charter school.

The Cedar Rapids Community School District and Empowering Youths of Iowa “mutually agreed to end their partnership due to EYI (Empowering Youths of Iowa) transitioning to a charter school,” according to a statement from the district.

“It is impossible to overstate how grateful we are for everything you and the others at Empowering Youths of Iowa have done for so many students and their families, and we wish you success in your new venture. We will certainly stay alert to any future changes that reveal new opportunities for the district and your organization to collaborate,” Cedar Rapids schools Superintendent Tawana Grover said in an email to The Gazette.

During the 2022-23 school year, the Cedar Rapids school district awarded Empowering Youths of Iowa $125,000. For the 2023-24 school year, the organization was awarded $62,500 from the district, with an additional $40,000 for summer programming.

The Cedar Rapids school district regularly partners with community organizations that help to provide needed services to students and staff. Empowering Youths of Iowa has been one of these partners for the past several years and is currently working with 122 Cedar Rapids students.

Since the pandemic, the district has used federal pandemic relief dollars — the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief — to provide extra funding to community partners, spokesman Justin Schaefer said in an email to The Gazette. This funding expires in September.

Schaefer also attributed a decrease in school funding to all community partners to the increase of only 2.5 percent per-pupil state aid by the state legislature.

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