Grinnell College Announces Mini-Grant Awards

Six local projects and initiatives will benefit from $17,500 in grant support in the first of two cycles this academic year from the Grinnell College Mini-Grant Program.

Community Enhancement and Engagement supports the College's mission through partnership efforts that help Grinnell become an even stronger place to live, work, and study. Since 2002, the Community Mini-Grant program has directed more than $365,000 towards 170 community initiatives.

"We are pleased to help support so many wonderful projects in Grinnell that make our hometown even stronger. Based on feedback from the community and nonprofit organizations, two cycles of mini-grants will be offered in the 2016-17 academic year," said Sarah Smith, program manager for Community Enhancement and Engagement. "By offering two grant cycles, we hope to provide grant applicants with more opportunities for the development and funding of projects throughout the year."

This year's second cycle will have applications due Monday, April 3, 2017, with awards being announced by Friday, May 19, 2017.

The College has awarded mini-grant funding to the following six initiatives for the first cycle to:

Grin City Collective

A $5,000 matching grant to fund two art projects using art, local history, and storytelling, based on the theme of "Things in Grinnell No Longer Here."

The projects will be determined collaboratively between the artist teams and key community partners, therefore the exact nature of the projects have not been determined.

Grinnell Community School District

A $1,000 grant to fund a seven-week training session for parents titled "Systematic Training for Effective Parenting."

These sessions are part of an ongoing effort made by the school district to respond to parents with elementary age students who have expressed interest in strengthening their parenting skills.

Grinnell Middle School

A $2,000 grant to purchase a washer and dryer to help provide laundry facilities to students who may not always have easy access to laundry facilities at home.

School officials hope that this will positively impact attendance rates both in terms of absences and tardiness.

Grinnell Police Department

A $7,500 grant to fund the first year of a Lexipol Policy Manual. Lexipol is a nationally recognized risk management organization that specializes in first responder entities.

Lexipol provides a law enforcement policy manual that includes an additional application to Iowa law enforcement, based on industry standards and best practices. The Grinnell Police Department currently has a 450-page policy that officers follow. This project will enable GPD experts to monitor their policies in real-time and update policies as needed.

Poweshiek County Sportsmen's Association Bear Creek Range

A $1,500 grant to provide callers for the new facility now under construction that is scheduled to be fully operational next spring.

Seven miles east of Grinnell and adjacent to the Poweshiek County Transfer, the new range will provide students, faculty, and staff a chance to learn the sport of trapshooting. Callers are a set of audio-sensitive microphones which listen for the request of a target and signal to a machine to automatically eject a clay target into the field.

Poweshiek Soil and Water Conservation District

A grant of $500 to support the purchase of lab equipment to improve testing capacity in the Little Bear Creek Watershed Improvement Project.

This project also includes public education about the creek and offers cost incentives to both rural and urban landowners to implement conservation practices. ​

For more information about the mini-grant program or community contributions, contact Sarah Smith, 641-269-3900.