Two Iowa City nonprofits will receive American Rescue Plan dollars to expand services

IOWA CITY — Two Iowa City nonprofits will receive a combined $3 million in pandemic relief dollars from the city to expand their services and help even more community members.

The Free Medical Clinic is expected to receive $1 million to expand and renovate its clinic space and dental operations, as well as make accessibility improvements.

The Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County is expected to receive $2 million to acquire a new community center in a targeted neighborhood with space for early childhood education and care, after school programming, family support and neighborhood support.

The Iowa City Council this week unanimously approved the preliminary funding recommendations. City staff will now work with each agency to develop a proposal and grant agreement, which will come before the city council again for approval before the funds are distributed.

Council member John Thomas called the two projects “transformational,” with other council members echoing the positive impact this will have on the community.

“This is an investment that is absolutely going to return on its dollar amount,” council member Andrew Dunn added.

The city launched the $3 million grant program at the end of last year focusing on funding transformative capital projects that would help an organization expand its ability to serve the community in coming years.

The city received eight letters of interest with requests totaling just over $11 million. These letters were reviewed by city staff and two city council members. After informational interviews and an evaluation process, the committee recommended moving forward with these two funding requests.

The city received $18.3 million in ARPA dollars, and about $14 million has been spent or is pending for various projects.

Free Medical Clinic

The Free Medical and Dental Clinic, 2440 Towncrest Drive, works to provide services to individuals who would otherwise not have access to care. The nonprofit offers services without cost and advocates for the medically underserved, according to its website.

The $1 million project would create seven to eight clinic spaces, which will allow the organization to see more chronic care patients, offer more frequent specialty care and launch a full dental program, according to a city memo. The funding would also help add a reception area, ADA compliant elevator and renovate various building aspects.

“FMC staff reported that there is a three-month waiting list for chronic care patients and a one-year waiting list for dental,” the memo stated. “The need is expected to grow in May 2023 when temporary pandemic-related Medicaid expansions expire.”

The Free Medical Clinic celebrated its 50th year of operation in 2021, which made it the second-longest running free health care clinic in the country.

The organization has volunteer practitioners ready to fill the new clinic space and has a plan to add a dentist to the paid staff team, the memo said.

“As such, this grant award will enable FMC to not only address immediate capacity issues but also prepare for more robust free medical and dental services for the community in the future,” the memo said.

Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County

The $2 million project will help the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County acquire and renovate a new community center in an Iowa City neighborhood, such as Towncrest.

The organization is a community-based, family-centered human services agency offering programs in area schools and neighborhoods, according to its website.

The new center would include at least 50 early childhood education/child care slots, satellite public library space, computer lab classroom for adult and youth programming, additional programming space, partnership food pantry and more. The center would also “serve as a neighborhood organizing and engagement hub,” the memo said.

The project is designed to be scaled and phased based upon capital campaign outcomes, the city memo said.

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