ECICOG recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with the completion of an office expansion/remodel project. After eight new staff members joined the team, the former space was feeling a little cramped. The newly revamped space includes enclosed offices for director-level staff, new cubicles, two conference rooms, and a small office affectionately known as the “zoom room.” With the changes, ECICOG will be able to more easily host meeting and events without disrupting staff. The ECICOG team agrees that it was the best anniversary gift possible!

ECICOG will be hosting a local government gathering on Thursday, May 16 from 9am-3:30pm at Fireside Winery in Marengo. The recharge event is geared toward small city administrators, city clerks, and elected officials in the ECICOG region looking to learn from their peers and other local government experts. This year’s theme “The Power of 10” will provide a host of adoptable ideas in a fast-paced format around the topics of housing, community promotion, time-management, and funding. We will take advantage of Fireside’s beautiful facilities with small group discussions over wine to wrap up the day. Watch for registration information in early April! 

Congratulations to the City of Riverside, Iowa on the award of a CDBG Downtown Revitalization (DTR) grant of $590,000. The CBDG-DTR funds will help Riverside's downtown property owners rehabilitate seven buildings. The grant will help make improvements to roughly a third of the community's downtown buildings, so it will be transformational for Riverside's commercial district. The City will be working with Martin Gardner Architecture, who has extensive experience with DTR projects. ECICOG wrote the grant and will provide grant administration services.

Contact Community Development Specialist Tom Gruis for more information on the CDBG-DTR program and other revitalization grant opportunities. 

Do you want to learn more about redeveloping dilapidated and potentially contaminated properties in your community? Join local, state and federal partners as they share free tools, resources, financial assistance programs, and project examples that will help your community’s next redevelopment project.

The day long workshop (with lunch) will be held Thursday April 11th in the Monticello Council Chamber. Register for this workshop here. For more information on the Brownfields program, contact Environmental Services Director Jennifer Fencl.

The Eastern Iowa Health Center recently opened a dental health clinic and utilized a $500,000 loan from ECICOG to purchase needed equipment. The expansion will provide 18 dental rooms to service over 22,500 visits annually, and help the clinic integrate oral health care with other service lines such as pediatric, family medicine, women's health and behavioral health.

ECICOG has a wide variety of loan programs for new or existing businesses. Contact Loan Specialist Robyn Jacobson or visit the ECICOG RLF website here.

The Iowa Finance Authority and the Iowa Economic Development Authority have announced the 2nd annual Iowa Thriving Communities designation. A designation as an Iowa Thriving Community will provide communities that are leveraging innovative methods to attract housing opportunities for their workforce a chance to be recognized for their efforts. A limited number of communities will be awarded the designation, which comes with highly sought after and lucrative scoring points for the Federal Housing Tax Credit and/or Iowa Workforce Housing Tax Credit programs.

The scoring points will be available through the end of the calendar year following the community’s designation as an Iowa Thriving Community. All communities are eligible to apply for Iowa Thriving Community designations, and both rural and urban cities are encouraged to apply! The application period opened February 8th and applications are due May 15.

Find more details about the program at their website or contact Housing Director Tracey Achenbach.

With an administration building undergoing a major $7 million upgrade, Johnson County recently found itself with excess office furniture and equipment. To avoid sending the materials to the landfill, they utilized ECICOG and the Iowa Waste Exchange (IWE) program to help find other uses for the materials. The vast majority of surplus items were matched with local non-profits, including Field to Family, Table to Table, and the Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The ReStore was literally a heavy lifter, hauling away nearly all of the heavy metal furniture including a large antique metal cabinet from the 1800s.

In addition to avoiding the landfill, Johnson County was very pleased to be able to meet internal sustainability goals and help local non-profit agencies. This exchange saved the receiving organizations over $5,000. 

Contact Environmental Specialist Josh Ventling for more information or visit the Iowa Waste Exchange on how local organizations or businesses can repurpose unwanted materials.

At the February Board Meeting ECICOG welcomed the following new board members:

• Bruce Visser, Atkins Mayor
• Chris Hoffman, North Liberty Mayor
• Sean Murphy, Oxford City Council 
• Jeremiah Hoyt, Anamosa City Administrator
• Eldy Miller, Ely City Administrator

We will miss the board members whose appointments ended in 2023:

• Adam Griggs, Central City Mayor
• Chris Taylor, Swisher Mayor
• Meghann Foster, Coralville Mayor

We know that serving as an ECICOG board member is one of many hats our members wear, and we are truly grateful for those that share their time and talents with us. The full list of the ECICOG board members can be found at www.ecicog.org/about

Elected officials and city staff may want to consider one of several workshops being offered through Iowa State University Extension and IEDA in our region this spring:

• Introduction to Planning and Zoning in Cedar Rapids on April 22 from 5:30-9:00pm: Register Here
• Grant Proposal Boot Camp: Workshopping Your Proposal from Start to Finish will be held in Hiawatha on April 23 from 10:00am-4:00pm Register Here
• Downtown Forum: The Power of the Sign will be held in Wellman on June 19: Register Here