Iowa City Today

At their March 21st council meeting, Iowa City Council members considered a resolution of preliminary funding recommendations for the American Rescue Plan Act-funded Nonprofit Capacity Building Capital Grant program. 

This would authorize city staff to prepare ARPA recipient agreements with the Free Medical Clinic to renovate and expand their clinic rooms and dental operations with a budget of $1 million. They would also create ARPA recipient agreements with the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County for $2 million so that they might find and update a new community center building in a specific neighborhood location. (32:00)

"These are, I think, certainly two transformational projects," Councilman John Thomas said in the meeting. "As you know, I'm very keen on the idea of neighborhood centers in Johnson County. It's sort of a subset of the more general concept that I'm very strongly supportive of, and that is the idea of having places within our neighborhoods that serve as centers. And this certainly is a wonderful expression of it. Hearing the program, it's really a very impressive array of activities that are associated with this particular project." (37:15)

Moving forward, Thomas said he hopes these projects can act as a model for future centers, providing an idea of how they operate and function, how much they cost and the value they add.

Rachel Kilburg, assistant city manager, gave some background on the issue, reminding everyone that in December, the council directed city staff to create this grant opportunity and fund it with $3 million towards transformative projects that will allow them to better serve the community. The fund received eight letters of interest from organizations. The city then reviewed the applications and conducted interviews, and the review committee agreed on two preliminary organizations to recommend funding. (34:00)

At that time, she said, they changed the amounts both organizations asked for. They increased the Free Medical Clinic's initial request to $1 million and brought the Neighborhood Center request down from $3 million to $2 million to fund more than one project.

Council members said they were pleased with the two chosen recipients, stating both were perceived as high-priority needs in the community. While the Free Clinic has a several-month wait for chronic care, a year's wait for dental care, and has only experienced increased demand after the pandemic, the funding will help them address that community need. 

The Neighborhood Center is looking for a new community center that will add at least 50 childcare slots, after-school services, a computer lab, a library and a food bank for residents. The council approved the preliminary funding recommendations for both organizations and city staff will make the formal agreements. (36:32-44:32)