11 nonprofits, $135,000 in grants

Being a parent is hard work. It’s even harder with a lack of resources and relationships, especially when also facing challenges like poverty and the struggle to meet basic needs.

That’s where Moms Connect Dubuque (pictured above) comes in. Through gatherings, mentor programs and other opportunities, the nonprofit fosters relationships that help mothers access resources and feel supported.

To deepen their impact, Moms Connect applied for and received a Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque Community Impact Grant. It is one of 11 local nonprofits receiving a total of $135,000 in funding through the grant program this year. Like Moms Connect, all of this year’s grantees are addressing critical community issues, including food insecurity, housing stability, domestic violence, early childhood education, pregnancy support, and children’s vision care.

“Strengthening nonprofits is core to our work,” says Peter Supple, director of nonprofit relations for the Community Foundation. “This grant program is one of the ways we can help address an array of community issues while helping close funding gaps for nonprofits.”

The Community Impact Grants program builds the capacity of local nonprofits to make an impact by supporting training, collaboration, programming and operations.

For an organization like Moms Connect, grant funding will help deepen the impactful work already taking place. Moms Connect plans to use its Community Impact Grant to expand its Empowerment Partner Program and develop a Parent Advisory Committee.

“We are excited for moms from our program to receive training to step into leadership roles and help guide the future of our organization,” says Kristina Heinzen, the nonprofit’s co-executive director. “From the start, our mission has been to build a community of support with vulnerable mothers, not for them. We are thankful that the Community Foundation sees the work we're doing as valuable and has been so supportive of our unique model.”

This year’s grant recipients are:

• Vision To Learn, which will use its grant to provide free vision screenings and glasses to children in Dubuque County, via the organization’s mobile vision clinics.
• Clinton Substance Abuse Council, which will use its grant to grow organizational capacity and enhance leadership development.
• Iowa Legal Aid, which will use its grant to support housing stability for low-income residents of Dubuque, Clayton and Clinton counties.
• River Bend Food Bank, which will use its grant to coordinate fundraising for the 10 area pantries of the Core Collective, relieving individual pantries of the burden of raising their own fund and freeing up their time to focus on their core mission.
• Waypoint Services for Women, Children and Families, which will use its grant to provide domestic violence services to about 25 victims and their children in Dubuque County.
• Crescent Community Health Center, which will use its grant to help implement a new screening and support program for vulnerable pregnant women, connecting them with maternal health care and opportunities for parenting and emotional support after delivery.
• Moms Connect Dubuque, which will use its grant to help launch new initiatives that build leadership and stability among moms facing poverty, isolation and other systemic barriers.
• Multicultural Family Center, which will use its grant to host a food pantry for at least 100 families.
• Opening Doors, which will use its grant to help address child care and transportation, two common barriers faced by the women and children the organization serves.
• St. Mark Youth Enrichment, which will use its grant to help with the opening of its new early childhood center, which will expand St. Mark’s offerings to younger children.
• Dubuque Area Library Information Consortium, which will use its grant to support the Dubuque County Reads community reading initiative.

Community Impact Grants are open to nonprofits serving Dubuque, Clayton and Clinton counties. After narrowing down the pool of applicants in August, finalists were invited to make video pitches to the grant committee. The Foundation offered free one-on-one coaching to finalists to help them strengthen their videos and build skills to support all of their grant-seeking efforts.

This year, the Community Foundation received 42 applications totaling more than $569,000. As the Community Impact Endowment Fund grows, it pays out a greater amount each year to help address critical issues.

"The amount of requests we receive speaks to the unmet needs in the community as well as the funding that nonprofits require to help meet those needs," Supple says. "When people give to the Community Impact Fund, it directly impacts nonprofits and helps close the funding gap."