Keep Iowa Beautiful's 2024 Annual Report is Here!

This month, Keep Iowa Beautiful proudly released its 2024 Annual Report. This past year has been a powerful testament to the incredible impact of community collaboration. Our collective efforts have significantly enhanced the beauty and vitality of Iowa's landscapes, towns, and cities, driving economic growth and fostering civic pride across the state. With your support, Keep Iowa Beautiful has been able to expand its programs, furthering community engagement and leadership.

Highlights from last year include:

• Expanding the Hometown Pride program to nine new communities in northwest Iowa
• Millions of square feet painted through our Paint Iowa Beautiful program, in partnership with Diamond Vogel Paint of Orange City
• Volunteers dedicating their time to collecting bags of litter through our Pick-Up Iowa program, ensuring our roads, parks, and waterways stay clean
• Honoring our 2024 annual award recipients and scholarship winners at the Iowa Capitol, alongside Governor Reynolds and Lt. Governor Gregg, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to our mission
• A record turnout at our Third Annual Golf Tournament, which raised $50,000 to support Keep Iowa Beautiful's programs

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our donors, Board Members, community partners, volunteers, and everyone who has contributed to our efforts last year. Looking ahead, we remain committed to preserving Iowa’s beauty and inspiring action. Thank you for your continued support—together, we are keeping Iowa beautiful!

Read the full 2024 Annual Report on our website here.

As we continue to grow and expand our efforts, we encourage you to consider making a donation to support our mission. Your contributions help us create lasting change across Iowa's communities.

Don't Forget: Host a Pick-Up Iowa Event!

Spring is officially here, and now is the perfect time to host a Pick-Up Iowa cleanup event in your community! Organizations and residents are encouraged to sign up to host a Pick-Up Iowa event in their towns and help us reach our statewide goal of 2,500 volunteers collecting 2,500 bags of litter this spring.

Pick-Up Iowa focuses on removing litter and trash from Iowa’s roadsides, neighborhoods, streets, school grounds, parks, forests, and streams to keep public spaces clean and beautiful.

Anyone can participate! Cities, community and civic associations, schools, church groups, local sports teams, college clubs, groups of families and friends, businesses, Scouts, and others can organize their members and participate in Pick-Up Iowa. 

Pick-Up Iowa will be held April 1st through June 30th, 2025 on any dates that work for your group. Register your cleanup event NOW by clicking the button below. 

Join us in supporting Keep America Beautiful's Greatest American Cleanup to help make our communities cleaner, greener, and more beautiful!

Declare April as Keep Iowa Beautiful Month in Your Community!

Each year, Governor Kim Reynolds proclaims April as Keep Iowa Beautiful Month, reinforcing the state’s commitment to vibrant, thriving communities. We believe that Iowans have the power to create meaningful change within their own communities. That’s why we encourage city and community leaders to officially declare April as Keep Iowa Beautiful Month in their town or city. Through this personalized proclamation, leaders and residents commit to collective efforts that will enhance their community, contributing to the overall beauty of Iowa.

We invite you to reach out to your mayor or city council members and ask them to sign a proclamation in support of your town’s commitment to a more beautiful Iowa.

Why make a proclamation?

• Inspire action: People love to be part of something bigger than themselves. The declaration encourages residents and civic groups to take action by connecting them to a city-wide and state-wide cause.
• Spotlight your efforts: Raise up the great work you’re already doing to beautify your community – use this as a way to get publicity for your efforts in local media and on social media.
• Improve collaboration: Civic organizations can partner with local governments to make the declaration, showing their commitment to working together!
• Strengthen your community: The appearance of a community says a lot about the people, pride, and businesses within them. Commit to taking action that will strengthen your community for years to come!

Visit our website to customize an editable proclamation for your community and take it to your civic and community leaders to sign the commitment into action!

Hometown Pride Highlights

Camanche Hometown Pride

Camanche Hometown Pride participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Camanche City splash pad at Platt Park!

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for Memorial Day weekend, with fundraising efforts continuing throughout the spring and summer to further enhance the beautification site.

We are incredibly proud of the committee's hard work and dedication to this project, which has been years in the making!

Manchester Hometown Pride

Fencing installations at Manchester Dog Park are underway, along with the final stages of pouring concrete for the entrance, sidewalk, water fountains, and shaded seating area. Thanks to strong support from funding and donations, the dog park is expected to open by May!

Hills Hometown Pride

Hills Hometown Pride will celebrate the grand opening of Songbird Sanctuary Park with a dedication ceremony this April, honoring the collective efforts that brought the project to life. This beautiful green space is a testament to the community’s commitment to conservation, sustainability, and the preservation of natural habitats for native wildlife.

“Hometown Pride has been a great thing for our community. Everybody works together to make things happen. The conversation is not just ‘what is the city going to do next?’ but ‘what are we going to do together?’ What do we have up our sleeve next?”

—Adriana Sedlacek, City Administrator for the City of Hills and Hills Hometown Pride Committee Member.