Keep Iowa Beautiful
Photo Credit: Brian Gibbs of Elkader, IA. Keep Iowa Beautiful Annual Photography Contest Submission.
April 2021 Newsletter
Governor Reynolds Proclaims April as Keep Iowa Beautiful Month!
On March 30th, Governor Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation declaring April as Keep Iowa Beautiful Month, maintaining the state’s commitment to improving the cultural and economic vitality of Iowa communities. To read the full text of the Governor’s proclamation, click here.
 
Honoring these efforts through the Governor’s proclamation helps build a stronger state, but individual Iowans can also play an effective role in living out this proclamation. Pick up litter when you see it, organize a volunteer clean-up group to tackle unsightly areas of your community, be a beautification advocate and work with your city officials and organizations to find grants that fund improvement projects. Big or small, you can proclaim your love for Iowa! Let us know what you are doing in your community!
2021 Keep Iowa Beautiful Month proclamation ceremony with Iowa Governor Reynolds
2021 Keep Iowa Beautiful Award Winners
The Keep Iowa Beautiful Board of Directors announced the following award winners for 2021.

Keep Iowa Beautiful Corporation Award
The Keep Iowa Beautiful Corporation Award goes to the CAN SHED-Recycling Center in Cedar Rapids for outstanding service of recycling cans, plastic and glass bottles making Iowa a more attractive place to live.   

Keep Iowa Beautiful Organization Award
The Keep Iowa Beautiful Organization Award to the Pocahontas County Foundation for celebrating 15 years of charitable giving, awarding $1.3 million dollars for over 360 community projects.

Keep Iowa Beautiful Robert D. Ray Award of Excellence
The Keep Iowa Beautiful Robert D. Ray Award of Excellence to the Community of Lost Nation  and the Hometown Pride Committee with their enthusiasm and engagement of the entire community created a new pocket park, an RV park, initiated holiday social events and regular clean up days.

Keep Iowa Beautiful Donald F. Lamberti Hometown Pride Vision Award
The Keep Iowa Beautiful Donald F. Lamberti Hometown Pride Vision Award selected Doug Friedli for his excellent work as Hometown Pride Coach for Fremont County providing long-term technical and support assistance to the communities.  The results improved quality of life, increased cultural and economic vitality resulting in more community pride. 

“The Keep Iowa Beautiful award program is designed to recognize exceptional people and organizations that have gone the extra mile to help build stronger Iowa communities,” said Reo Menning, Chair of the KIB Board of Directors. “A more attractive community improves the economic vitality and cultural climate where we live, work and raise a family.”
2021 Keep Iowa Beautiful Scholarship Recipients
Three high school seniors will be receiving Keep Iowa Beautiful $1,000 scholarships toward their studies at an Iowa college or university. Congratulations to the recipients of this year’s Keep Iowa Beautiful Scholarships!
Byers Scholarship
ALEXIA CORWIN of Des Moines
Attending: Grinnell College
Studying: Environment Microbiology  
 
Educator Bob Byers dedication to young people and environmental concerns was a driving force encouraging young people to help improve their communities.
Fultz Scholarship
MAYA ZIEGENHORN of Letts
Attending: Iowa State University
Studying: Marketing 
 
Bill Fultz was a founding KIB Board member and artist. He started an advertising agency that became the largest agriculture advertising agency in the world.
Schnepf Scholarship
MONICA LEWANDOWSKI of Urbandale
Attending: University of Northern Iowa
Studying: Nonprofit Leadership and Environmental Sustainability

Gerry Schnepf was the founding Executive Director of Keep Iowa Beautiful. His careers spanned 50 years of making Iowa a better place to live, work and raise a family. 
“Keep Iowa Beautiful scholarships are awarded to graduating high school seniors who have a record of community service,” said Kevin Techau, Keep Iowa Beautiful Executive Director, “and a desire to continue to support and contribute to the enhancement of the place they live and work.”
 
Since the creation of the scholarship program, Keep Iowa Beautiful has awarded $51,000 to 61 students. There were 71 applications for this year’s three scholarships.
Paint Iowa Beautiful
2021 Paint Iowa Beautiful Grant Recipients
Diamond Vogel and Keep Iowa Beautiful announced the grant awards for the 2021 Paint Iowa Beautiful program. The program provides free paint to a wide variety of public service projects throughout Iowa.
 
 “The partnership with Keep Iowa Beautiful allows Diamond Vogel to assist and work with many local volunteers that help build communities, making Iowa one of the best states in the nation to live,” said Doug Vogel, Vice-President, Marketing, of the Iowa based company. 
 
“The Paint Iowa Beautiful program helps us increase our assistance to neighborhoods and communities in improving the attractiveness and beauty of where we live,” said Kevin Techau, Executive Director of Keep Iowa Beautiful. “These projects definitely improve the beauty of Iowa, its countryside and its communities.” 
 
To see a full list of the 2021 Paint Iowa Beautiful grant recipients, check out our website.
Pick-Up Iowa 2021
Pick-Up Iowa is in full swing! Over 100 Iowa communities are participating in this nationwide effort. Pick-Up Iowa is part of Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup, the nation’s largest community improvement program. The event, which marks its 22nd year in 2021, engages more than 3 million volunteers and participants, on average, every year to create a positive and lasting impact.

Project pictures and reports will be included in upcoming Keep Iowa Beautiful newsletters.
You Can Stop Litter!
When you see litter happening on Iowa’s roadways from a vehicle, Call 1-888-665-4887
Please provide as much detail about the incident as possible:
  • License plate number 
  • Time and specific location (street & city)
  • What was thrown from the vehicle
  • A vehicle description (color, make and model)

Call 1.888.NOLITTR (1-888-665-4887) to report littering from a vehicle.
Social Media Submissions
Keep Iowa Beautiful wants to share your community’s good news!
Are you proud of a completed project in your town? Do you want to show off a new mural in your downtown? Did you host a fun, exciting event for your community? We want to know about it!

Click on the button below to share short descriptions of events, projects, or news from your town! You can include pictures and captions as well. Keep Iowa Beautiful will share your post on our social media!
Your Support Matters!

Keep Iowa Beautiful is a non-profit organization and, as such, relies on your support to ensure the success of our environmental education and community outreach programs.

Donations will help KIB's efforts to support our community. Any amount is valued and appreciated. 

Donations can be made online or checks can be mailed to our office:
Keep Iowa Beautiful
2910 Westown Pkwy #302,
West Des Moines, IA 50266
KEEP IOWA BEAUTIFUL
2910 Westown Parkway, Suite 302 | West Des Moines, IA 50266