Grow Greene Gamine Corporation on Oct. 1 released the application for the fifth round of competitive grants in Greene County. The application can be found on the Grow Greene County website, www.growgreenecounty.org along with guidelines regarding what Grow Greene will fund.
Completed applications must be postmarked by February 14, 2020. The Grow Greene board of directors encourages projects that will impact the county in years to come.
Grow Greene, the local nonprofit corporation that holds the state gaming license in Greene County, distributed more than $1.1 million worth of grants at its fourth annual Awards Night last spring. In the four years since the casino opened Grow Greene has awarded ore than $5.5 million.
In the spring of 2019 Grow Greene competitive grants were awarded to: Greene County Historical Society for repairs to the Greene County Museum, History Boy Theater for technology updates, Genesis Development’s purchase of a transport van, City of Churdan for play equipment at Churdan City Park, City of Scranton for improvements of the community building, Jefferson Fire Department for portable radio purchase and City of Jefferson for the Animal Facility & Dog Park for Greene County.
These projects will influence a cross section of communities, ages and interests in the county. Grow Greene last spring also awarded funds to each municipality in the county and Paton-Churdan School and continued to support a long-term pledge of $4.5 million to fund the performing arts and athletic facilities at the new Greene County High School. Greene County Community Foundation has also been one of Grow Greene County’s major recipients, over the past four years they have received $597,565 which they use to award grants in the county.
Under agreement with Wild Rose Entertainment Inc., Grow Greene receives five percent of the local casino’s adjusted gross gaming revenues to distribute to nonprofit, governmental and charitable organizations. Of that total 4.1 percent went to projects in Greene County and 0.9 percent was shared equally by the community foundations in the six counties contiguous to Greene County. With the legalization of sports betting in the State of Iowa, Grow Greene County will also receive 3/4 of 1 percent of the adjusted sports betting revenue from Wild Rose Jefferson.
The Grow Greene County board of directors includes president Norm Fandel, vice president Craig Marquardt, secretary Peg Raney, treasurer Bob Allen and board members Lori Mannel, Brenda Muir, Kate Neese and Rick Morain. Board attorney is Mike Mumma.
Per new legislation last spring Grow Greene County recently welcomed two new ex-officio board members representing the host city of the casino and the county. Jefferson mayor Craig Berry city appointed Matt Wetrich and the Greene County board of supervisors appointed Dawn Rudolph. They began their terms in September of this year.
Questions regarding the grant application may be directed to Grow Greene’s administrative assistant, Cindy Duhrkopf at growgreenecounty.org.
