Community Project Funding
Community Project Funding allows certain federal funds to be directed toward a state, locality, or eligible nonprofit serving a Congressional district through the Appropriations process.
This process allows taxpayer dollars to be reinvested in Iowa’s First Congressional District and provides Members of Congress with input over spending on eligible projects, rather than deferring to bureaucrats in the Executive Branch to make these decisions.
Each Member of Congress can submit fifteen eligible projects to receive federal funding for Fiscal Year 2023. To ensure the utmost transparency in this process, the projects submitted on behalf of Iowa's First Congressional District are listed below.
BLACK HAWK COUNTY
Project Name: Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity’s Targeted Neighborhood Revitalization
Requested Amount: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity
Project location: The Church Row and Walnut Neighborhoods
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 803 W 5th Street, Waterloo, IA 50702
The project would support targeted neighborhood revitalization in Waterloo, Iowa. Some neighborhoods in the Waterloo community have fallen into disrepair and left members of the community without safe housing available. Since 2016, Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity has worked to restore and revitalize the Walnut neighborhood, partnering with community residents, local industry and organization leaders, local government, and other stakeholders in their mission. Their process is not about just putting individuals and families in rehabilitated homes; rather, it is a holistic process that teaches the residents new work skills (as residents help complete the homes themselves), personal finance, and how to be a good neighbor. These funds will help Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity continue that mission and expand it into the Church Row neighborhood, which is also home to several churches of various denominations and many small businesses. Supporting their work will continue to enable neighborhood residents to succeed while bringing economic revitalization to the City of Waterloo and the greater region.
Project Name: Gilbertville Emergency Services
Request Amount: $500,000
Intended Recipient: City of Gilbertville
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 5223 S. Raymond Road, Gilbertville, IA 50634
The City of Gilbertville will use this award to construct a new emergency services building for the rural community. The building would enable Gilbertville to provide emergency services, including fire and rescue services, to its 2,800 residents. The current public safety building is too small to house all the necessary equipment and vehicles, creating slower-response times as volunteers must navigate the packed facility and make stops to retrieve equipment from off-site locations before responding to emergencies. This uses precious time and resources when lives are on the line. The requested funds will support Gilbertville’s new emergency services building, enhancing the safety of every family in this community.
Project Name: Hawkeye Community College Smart Automation Certification Alliance Center
Request Amount: $1,104,938
Intended Recipient: Hawkeye Community College
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 1501 East Orange Road, Waterloo, IA 50701
Project Location: 360 Westfield Ave, Waterloo IA
Funding the Hawkeye Community College Smart Automation Certification Alliance (SACA) Center will increase access to educational opportunity for Iowans, strengthen the local workforce, and contribute to the economic development of Waterloo, Iowa. This project would create an apprenticeship hub that will focus on short-term, competency-based stackable credentials crucial to the manufacturing industry. Businesses throughout the state are constantly adapting innovative practices like Industry 4.0, which utilizes robotics and automation and require skilled workers. The SACA Center will enable students and current workers alike to earn credentials that will prepare them for Industry 4.0 manufacturing jobs. The country is facing record workforce shortages that are disrupting commercial supply chains worldwide, and this program will address Iowa's skilled-worker shortage while simultaneously bolstering our national defense manufacturing workforce.
BUCHANAN COUNTY
Project Name: Buchanan County Emergency Operations Center
Request Amount: $245,000
Intended Recipient: Buchanan County Emergency Management
Project Location: 1210 First Street West, Independence, IA 50644
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 210 Fifth Avenue NE, Independence, IA 50644
This project would help ensure that Buchanan County is prepared for disasters in advance and able to mitigate damage done to the community and minimize lives lost. This funding would support the county’s construction and renovations of the new emergency operations center, which will now house the main emergency operations activities, emergency equipment storage, and space for all county partners to meet in and coordinate disaster response. Due to current space and resource constraints, all Buchanan County emergency operations personnel are unable to fit in the same building and instead must travel from office to office or prop up makeshift offices. This center will serve as a one-stop-shop for the whole County of Buchanan, and aid in the service of neighboring counties through pre-existing mutual aid agreements. Funding this center is a responsible use of taxpayer dollars that will provide more efficient and comprehensive essential emergency services to a county of 23,000 people and beyond.
CLAYTON COUNTY
Project Name: Guttenberg Ponds Rehabilitation Project
Request Amount: $3,425,000
Intended Recipient: City of Guttenberg
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 502 S 1st Street, Guttenberg, IA 52052
In the 1970s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) installed multiple ponds in the City of Guttenberg to assist with flood control in the area. Since this time, there have been highways constructed nearby that constantly fill the ponds with sediment and biomass, which has converted what was once an ecologically-sound space into an unhealthy and unsightly body of water. The city did not originally desire the ponds but conceded to the USACE; neither entity claims responsibility for the detriment to the ponds and health hazard to the community. These federal funds would aid the small city in its rehabilitation of the ponds, improving the economic development opportunity as well as the overall health of the community. These ponds formerly served as a focal point for Guttenberg: they are located directly on the designated Scenic Byway that is the city entrance and attracted significant tourism by serving as fishing and non-motorized water recreation for many years. Now, the ponds are discolored, exude a stench, present a potential health hazard, and are blemishes on the community. Providing this project with federal funds would allow the city to dredge and rehabilitate the ponds, revitalizing the tourism industry, mitigating health risks, and attracting new economic opportunities to the City of Guttenberg.
DUBUQUE COUNTY
Project Name: Northeast Iowa Community College’s National Education Center for Agricultural Safety Equipment Upgrades
Request Amount: $372,000
Intended Recipient: Northeast Iowa Community College
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 8342 NICC Drive, Peosta, IA 52068
This project will support a need not just in the northeast Iowa community, but in rural and agricultural communities across the rest of the state and country. The National Education Center for Agricultural Safety (NECAS) is a hands-on interactive training facility located on the Northeast Iowa Community College’s (NICC) Peosta campus that equips personnel and community members to prepare for common dangerous situations workers in agriculture and rural communities face. By providing interactive learning experiences to essential workers, including health care workers, first responders, and agricultural producers, NECAS is serving the needs of rural communities and saving lives. These essential trainings range from confined space trainings and combine auger rescues, to tractor rollovers, allowing the professionals involved to tailor the experience to the needs of the rural community. This is truly a unique, community-based approach to health and safety that will provide hands-on skills trainings related directly to agricultural machinery injuries. This funding will be used to purchase capital equipment for the program, including the Jaws of Life, an indoor grain bin confined space trainer, ventilator simulator, crash cart, and other necessary training equipment.
Project Name: Granger Creek Lift Station Improvements
Request Amount: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: City of Dubuque
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 50 W. 13th Street, Dubuque, IA 52001
This project is an efficient and cost-effective solution to address the City of Dubuque's need to meet increasing waste demands. Improvements to the Granger Creek Lift Station will increase the city's sewage capacity and enable Dubuque to continue recruiting more businesses and pursuing economic expansion. While Dubuque has successfully recruited and retained many new business and economic opportunities in recent years, the resulting strain on the existing sanitary sewer systems has exponentially increased at a rate the city is unable to handle without support. Specifically, the expansion of food processing and manufacturing businesses in the city has attracted many new employees and a waste-heavy industry, compounding the amount of waste entering the Catfish Creek Sanitary Sewer System, which first opened in 1958. Adding the Granger Creek Lift Station would increase the capacity of the sewer system without requiring new pipes and drilling; this is the most cost-efficient option for addressing the sewer system’s challenges.
FAYETTE COUNTY
Project Name: Soy-Enabled Rural Road Reconstruction
Request Amount: $7,000,000
Intended Recipient: Fayette County
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 114 N Vine Street, West Union, Iowa 52175
Project Location: 24 miles of roadway between Fayette and Clayton Counties (IA-150 between 210th and 190th Streets, B-45, X28, and Washington Street)
These funds would be used in Fayette and Clayton Counties to rehabilitate several miles of roads in rural and underserved areas by using innovative material sourced from soybean oil instead of petroleum polymers. This project supports Iowa's and the national economy and advances innovation that could strengthen our national security. The project will rehabilitate approximately 24 miles of roads servicing over 4,600 vehicles per day in Fayette (8.6 miles of IA-150 between 210th and 190th Streets near West Union) and Clayton Counties (11 miles of B-45 between Monona and Marquette; 4.5 miles of X28 through the city of Farmersburg; 0.4 miles of Washington Street within the Town of Volga). These roads serve as primary school bus and emergency services transportation routes as well as access to rural business districts. The materials used for this new type of pavement are highly recycled asphalt using soybean-based polymer technologies developed at Iowa State University. This material reduces the costs and environmental impacts associated with roadbuilding, saving nearly 50,000 barrels-of-oil equivalents for the 24 mile stretch of roadway. This bolsters our agricultural economy by using a domestic product – soy – while simultaneously reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
LINN COUNTY
Project Name: 5th Avenue Gatewell and Flood Pumps
Request Amount: $1,725,000
Intended Recipient: City of Cedar Rapids
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 101 1st Street SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
This project will support essential disaster mitigation efforts in the City of Cedar Rapids. Cedar Rapids has been hit hard by disasters, including the August 2020 Derecho and several major flooding events over recent decades. As such, the city knows all too well the important role mitigation plays when it comes to saving lives, businesses, property, and taxpayer dollars. Cedar Rapids has made strides in its efforts to prepare for and respond to these events, and is now viewed as a leader in flood mitigation strategies. This funding will invest in mitigation efforts by constructing a gate and pumping structure to prevent the Cedar River from backing up and overflowing. The 5th Avenue Gatewell and Pump Station, including two pumps, is a key part of Cedar Rapids’ flood protection plan. In addition to the disaster mitigation and management potential of this project, the certainty provided by increased flood protection and reduced risk will help bolster opportunities for economic development in the city.
Project Name: Kirkwood Community College Aviation Maintenance Technician Program
Request Amount: $358,885
Intended Recipient: Kirkwood Community College
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 6301 Kirkwood Boulevard, SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
Project Location: 4900 Shepard Court Southwest, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
This project will support Kirkwood Community College’s partnership with the Eastern Iowa Airport, investing in an Associate of Applied Science degree program to train, mentor, and graduate certified aviation mechanic technicians. These funds will support the development of an industry-ready curriculum and the outfitting of an existing aircraft hangar at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids with necessary equipment and technology to serve as an instructional facility for the program. With a projected shortage of 1,500 FAA-certified Airframe and/or Powerplant (A&P) mechanics in a 350-mile range locally, these resources will help develop workers for an in-demand career field, supporting economic growth and development in the region while addressing current labor shortages. Kirkwood Community College is focused on aligning its curriculum with the needs of local employers, seeking to meet the demand for the air travel industry that is essential to economic growth in the region.
Project Name: Eastern Iowa Airport (CID) Taxiway Expansion Project
Request Amount: $7,000,000
Intended Recipient: Cedar Rapids Airport Commission
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 2121 Arthur Collins Parkway SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
The Eastern Iowa Airport (CID) serves the entire region, providing passenger airline service, cargo service, and general aviation service. This growing airport is in the midst of significant development to enhance both its operations and the airport's current partnership with the nearby community college to strengthen the local workforce. This project is the first step in an overall expansion project; it would expand an existing taxiway and runway to lead to shovel-ready property designated to be a centralized deicing and maintenance shop location. The centralized deicing facility will support growth in CID’s commercial aircraft capacity and terminal modernizations, as well as dramatically reduce the environmental footprint of pavement required to contain aircraft deicing chemicals by eighty percent. This will reduce the amount of stormwater laden with deicing chemicals that the airport must capture, convey, and dispose of to the City of Cedar Rapids sanitary sewer processing facility. The new maintenance shop will be useful for the airport’s own aircraft maintenance needs, but it will also double as a hands-on learning resource and future job opportunity space for students graduating from CID and Kirkwood Community College’s Aviation Maintenance Technician program. This project will help bring economic growth, environmental benefit, and community development to the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area.
Project Name: Alburnett Road Extension
Request Amount: $7,000,000
Intended Recipient: City of Marion
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 1225 6th Avenue, Marion, IA 52303
The Alburnett Road Extension project would allow the City of Marion to execute construction of a north-south corridor that will significantly improve safety and efficiency for motorists and pedestrians alike. Alburnett Road is located in an area that was first identified as needing these improvements in 1999. The project will connect a developing region with the business and downtown districts along Marion Boulevard to alleviate congestion, accommodate and encourage continued growth, and decrease response times for first responders. This is an important project to connect the entire community to the downtown area, ensure safety in a region dense with schools and churches, and address inefficiencies that have been compounding for over 23 years.
JACKSON COUNTY
Project Name: Maquoketa Wastewater Plant
Request Amount: $3,500,000
Intended Recipient: City of Maquoketa
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 201 E. Pleasant Street, Maquoketa, IA 52060.
Funding the Maquoketa Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements will allow the City of Maquoketa to upgrade a seventy-year-old plant that is essential to the health of nearly 6,000 residents. It will also help the city comply with EPA standards that will be enforced in 2023 that it would otherwise be unable to meet. The wastewater treatment has not been updated since 2001 and has outlived its estimated life span by 25 years. These federal funds will support compliance renovation to modernize and align with increasingly restrictive federal environmental standards.
MITCHELL COUNTY
Project Name: Osage Municipal Utilities Orchard Fiber Project
Request Amount: $333,200
Intended Recipient: Osage Municipal Utilities
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 720 Chestnut Street, Osage, IA 50461
Project Location: Fiber buildout will take place throughout the Community of Orchard, IA
Orchard is a small, rural community that depends on the nearby town of Osage for many public services, such as education and health care. Orchard received a ReConnect Grant in 2020, but due to unrealized costs and a 30 percent cost increase – largely due to inflation – since submitting their application, the funds they received are not adequate to cover all material and labor costs. Orchard's installation of fiber to meet the minimum 25Mbps/3Mbps broadband speeds would remove existing barriers to economic development and opportunity. Students of Orchard would be able to use their school-provided laptops for academic assignments, residents could access Osage's telehealth services, and all would have access to the increasingly popular job opportunities offered remotely. The Orchard Fiber Project would empower Orchard residents to finish their fiber buildout, strengthen local businesses' ability to recruit new employees, and provide needed parity for students in this small rural community.
MULTI-COUNTY
Project Name: Advanced Hydrologic Monitoring, Assessment, and Flood Forecasting for Eastern Iowa
Request Amount: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: University of Iowa, College of Engineering, Iowa Flood Center
Full Street Address of Intended Recipient: 320 S. Riverside Drive, 306 SHL, Iowa City, IA 52242
The Iowa Flood Center (IFC) is at the cutting edge of research on flooding and related hydrologic activity. This funding would allow the IFC to install new rain gauges, water quality sensors, and other remote sensing technology along the Lower Cedar River and Maquoketa River Watersheds to monitor hydrological data in real-time. The ability to monitor this information in real-time will provide the most up-to-date information to the National Weather Service, allowing the agency to improve their forecast accuracy. The IFC will also install one hydrologic station in 28 counties across Eastern Iowa, providing critical information to local landowners and farmers, researchers, forecasters, and emergency management personnel. This modernization effort will strengthen forecasting tools to predict and provide real-time, viable flood information, allowing Iowan families and businesses to prepare for and stay safe during floods. It will also support local emergency operations and rapid response to flood disaster situations when every minute counts.
--
FY22
Community Project Funding allows certain federal funds to be directed toward a state, locality, or eligible nonprofit serving a Congressional district through the Appropriations process.
This process allows taxpayer dollars to be reinvested in Iowa’s First Congressional District and provides Members of Congress with input over spending on eligible projects, rather than deferring to bureaucrats in the Executive Branch to make these decisions.
Each Member of Congress can submit ten eligible projects to receive federal funding. To ensure the utmost transparency in this process, the projects submitted on behalf of Iowa's First Congressional District are listed below.
BLACK HAWK COUNTY
Project Name: Leader in Me Project
Request Amount: $50,000
Intended Recipient: Leader Valley Foundation
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 360 Westfield Avenue, Suite 200, Waterloo, IA 50701
The Leader in Me program creates effective habits and authentic leadership by developing work ethic, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills to help grow the next generation of successful workers. This request would support Leader in Me expanding into two new schools in the Cedar Valley region. This request would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because Leader in Me schools have a proven track record of increasing academic performance, attendance, and graduation rates. Leader in Me schools also create valuable partnerships with local businesses to teach students important life and professional skills alongside traditional curriculum.
.
BUCHANAN COUNTY
Project Name: North Aircraft Parking Apron, Independence Municipal Airport
Request Amount: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: City of Independence, Iowa
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 331 1st Street East, Independence, IA 50644
Independence is a small, rural community in Iowa’s First District, whose local economy is directly impacted by the Independence Municipal Airport. During crop-spraying season, use of the airport increases by nearly five hundred percent; however, the airport parking apron has extremely limited space and aircraft capacity hold. This project would be a good use of taxpayer dollars because it will help support the expansion, safety, and usage of a local municipal airport. Constructing an airport parking apron will have a noteworthy impact on the entire economy and the counties the airport serves.
CLAYTON COUNTY
Project Name: Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP)
Request Amount: $22,500,000
Requesting Entity: Clayton County Farm Bureau
Intended Recipient: US Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 1500 Rock Island Dr., Rock Island, IL 61201
The Upper Mississippi River Lock and Dam System has an impact on every aspect of Iowa’s economy. NESP would provide an authorized new construction start for Locks & Dams 25 in the Upper Mississippi River System and at LaGrange on the Illinois Waterway. This broadly supported, bipartisan request would be a good use of taxpayer funding because the modernization of these locks will deliver reliable and resilient infrastructure to the region, bring good jobs to rural America, and ensure the Midwest remains competitive in global markets by improving the efficiency of our supply chains. With 60 percent of our nation’s grain exports traveling on this waterway, and countless farmers and businesses in the district relying on the system to ship crops and goods to the market, it is paramount that we invest in this critical project.
DUBUQUE COUNTY
Project Name: Chaplain Schmitt Island Trail Connection
Request Amount: $615,000
Intended Recipient: City of Dubuque
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 50 W 13th Street, Dubuque, IA 52001
The City of Dubuque’s “Chaplain Schmitt Island Trail Connection” would help finalize an underfunded portion of a major community development project, connecting a system of 30 miles of trails with the Chaplain Schmitt Island, through Dubuque, all the way to Dyersville. This request would be a valuable use of taxpayer dollars because it would provide funding for a local community priority with a national significance, as it pays tribute to an American war hero and Silver Star recipient who sacrificed himself to save his fellow sailors at Pearl Harbor. The community did not have adequate funding to finalize access trails for residents and visitors to pay tribute to WWII hero Chaplain Aloysius H. Schmitt, or walk and bicycle along the scenic trailways. This project funding award would enable the City of Dubuque to finish the trails for the community, connect local means of transport, and memorialize this fallen hero.
HOWARD COUNTY
Project Name: Protivin Community Fire District
Request Amount: $100,000
Intended Recipient: Protivin Community Fire District
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 222 South Main Street, Protivin, IA 52163
The rural and underrepresented area encompassed by the Protivin Fire District in Iowa requires a new fire station to serve the needs of the community adequately. This tiny fire department has a big impact: it serves an expansive area of mostly rural farmland, making it exceptionally vulverable to fire given the amount of cropland. This request is a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would provide several towns in the community with increased access to essential services, as well as allow the Protivin volunteer firefighters to better respond to time-sensitive emergencies that are detrimental to the local economy and agricultural sector of the tri-county area.
JACKSON COUNTY
Project Name: Jackson County Emergency Operations Center
Request Amount: $263,000
Intended Recipient: Jackson County Board of Supervisors
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 201 West Platt Street, Maquoketa, IA 52060
The rural community of Jackson County has been in desperate need of a physical Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to effectively respond to disasters and emergencies, like the COVID-19 pandemic, the August 2020 Derecho, and major flooding. This request would be a valuable use of taxpayer dollars because constructing an EOC in Maquoketa will support the creation of essential systems and procedures to efficiently conduct emergency management operations in the rural community, resulting in saved lives and property. An EOC allows Jackson County to conduct increased coordination among local entities and establish continuity of operation plans, leading to effective preparedness for and response to future disasters.
JONES COUNTY
Project Name: Jones County Affordable Housing Project
Request Amount: $500,000
Intended Recipient: Jones County Economic Development
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 107 S. Ford Street, Anamosa, IA 52205
This project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funding because it would help develop affordable housing options across Jones County, in Iowa’s First District. Many homes have fallen into disrepair or were destroyed by the August 2020 Derecho, leading to a severe lack of affordable housing options and reverse migration. While there are many jobs available, young families and individuals who are ready and willing to work end up seeking employment elsewhere due to the absence of accessible homes. The local governments, schools, and businesses in Jones County have stressed that increased affordable housing options in the community would aid efforts in attracting young families, revitalizing schools, and filling vacant jobs -- all of which would revamp the local economy. These critical funds would support community efforts in the county to increase the supply of available affordable housing, spurring economic development and increasing opportunity.
LINN COUNTY
Project Name: Tower Terrace Road Corridor
Request Amount: $1,000,000
Intended Recipient: Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 101 First Street SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
This funding would support construction of an east-to-west arterial connector roadway that is a longtime regional transportation priority. This request would be a valuable use of taxpayer dollars because the robust economy of this community has outgrown the current infrastructure links between major roadways. The Tower Terrace Road Corridor would increase accessibility and economic vitality in Hiawatha, Robins, Marion, and Cedar Rapids by connecting outer communities with local schools and businesses while reducing congestion and increasing resident safety.
MARSHALL COUNTY
Project Name: Marshalltown Medical Clinic Construction Project
Request Amount: $200,000
Intended Recipient: Primary Health Care, Inc.
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 1200 University Avenue, #200, Des Moines, IA 50314
Project Location: 101 Iowa Avenue, Marshalltown, IA 50158
This funding would enable the Marshalltown Medical Clinic to expand from 19 to 32 exam rooms, drastically improving the rural, federally qualified health center’s ability to care for more patients. The clinic serves as a major primary care provider in the area, but it also offers other essential services, including behavioral health care, Medicated Assisted Treatment, substance abuse evaluation, maternal and obstetrical care, pediatric care, and more. Currently, wait times for an appointment at the clinic exceed seven days; the new exam rooms would help cut down on this. The expansion would also add an on-site pharmacy, increasing patient access to prescription medications. This request would be a valuable use of taxpayer dollars because the trusted health center has a proven track record of responsibly using federal resources to increase access to care for rural Iowans.
WINNESHIEK COUNTY
Project Name: Sunflower Child Development and Discovery Center
Request Amount: $200,000
Intended Recipient: Sunflower Child Care Center, Inc.
Full Street Address of the Intended Recipient: 300 Iowa Highway 9 West, Decorah, IA 52101
The Sunflower Child Development Center is fundamental to the success of the economy in the four-county rural area it serves in Northeast Iowa. Funding for this project would enable the construction of a brand-new facility with over double its present capacity for childcare, a public educational STEM-focused space, and an indoor play space available for community use. It would serve as a refuge to working families located in a childcare desert. Sunflower is at maximum capacity for childcare and has more than 130 children sitting on the waitlist. This investment would be a valuable use of taxpayer dollars because it would revitalize the local economy, support early education and workforce development, improve overall community youth wellbeing, and catalyze growth in this rural area.