The Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa (CFNEIA) held its Black Hawk County first cycle grant awards celebration at the Waterloo Center for the Arts on March 27, announcing the distribution of 26 grants totaling $482,000 to organizations serving Black Hawk County.

“The Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa is honored to partner with nonprofit organizations to create stronger communities,” said Kaye Englin, CFNEIA’s president and CEO. “These organizations receiving grants today, and so many others, are creating powerful, positive change in our community and provide critical services to people across Black Hawk County.”

The grant award information below is categorized by CFNEIA grantmaking areas of focus. Each line includes the grant recipient organization name, what the grant will fund and the grant amount.

Black Hawk County 2025 First Cycle Grant Recipients

Arts & Culture
• North End Cultural Center, Community Art and Music School, $10,000

Education & Youth Development
• 319 Empowerment, Operating Support, $5,000
• Back2Basics, Operating Support, $15,000
• Boys and Girls Clubs of the Cedar Valley, Operating Support, $20,000
• Hawkeye Community College Foundation, WE Build Waterloo, $15,000
• Islamic Foundation of Iowa, Little Stars Child Care Center, $10,000
• Marching Against the Darkness, 2025 Programming, $10,000
• Royal Legacy Christian Academy, Childcare Programming Expansion, $15,000
• St. Timothy Lutheran Church - Hudson, Childcare Expansion Project, $7,000
• The Job Foundation, Operating Support, $12,000
• Try Pie, Operating Support, $12,000

Human Service
• Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Programming for Immigration Legal Services, $20,000
• Cedar Valley GearHeads Ministry, Gearheads Equipment, $12,000
• Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity, Operating Support, $20,000
• Little Iron Mom, Operating Support-World Grace, $20,000
• Lutheran Services in Iowa, Black Hawk County Early Childhood Services, $20,000
• North Star Community Services, Operating Support, $10,000
• Northeast Iowa Food Bank, Operating Support, $60,000
• One Cedar Valley, Operating Support, $25,000
• One City United, Operating Support, $20,000
• Operation Threshold, Refugee Services, $20,000
• PaTi's Libelulas, Operating Support, $20,000
• The Salvation Army of Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Operating Support, $50,000
• The Center of Attention, Operating Support, $20,000
• The River Arc, General Operating Support, $25,000
• Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley, Operating Support, $9,000

Black Hawk County First Cycle Grants are awarded through CFNEIA’s competitive grant process. Decisions on grant awards are determined by CFNEIA’s grant distribution committee, which consists of volunteers from Black Hawk County. Committee members include: Stacie Brass, Nadene Davidson, Kaye Englin (CFNEIA president & CEO), Andrew Finnegan, Zachary Fischels, Sarah Helleso, Ashlyn Jungwirth, Chawne Paige (committee chair), Micheal L. Robinson, Sr., Eashaan Vajpeyi, Sherman Wise and ReShonda Young

Grant applicants must be a 501(c)(3) designated organization or government entity serving Black Hawk County to be considered for funding. Requests can be made for operations, programming, materials, equipment and capital projects. Priority is given to funding requests that align with the Foundation’s community initiatives of advancing racial equity, expanding child care, enhancing the arts, strengthening workforce readiness, and building nonprofit capacity, or address its areas of focus including arts and culture, community betterment, education and youth development, environment and animal welfare, health and human service.

The 2025 Black Hawk County second grant cycle opens on May 15, 2025. The grant guidelines and application will be available when the cycles open at www.cfneia.org/grants. For questions or to discuss a project’s eligibility before submitting a proposal in Black Hawk County, contact Sherita Jenkins, director of community impact, at 319-243-1355 or sjenkins@cfneia.org.