The Iowa Women’s Foundation (IWF) held its western Iowa grant awards reception on Monday, Jan. 29, at The Centennial restaurant in Jefferson with the Why Not Us group as co-hosts.
Deann Cook, president and CEO of IWF; Tisha Ritter, IWF director of development, and Hannah Richter, IWF program coordinator, welcomed guests to the event along with Why Not Us (WNU) board members Peg Raney, Deb McGinn and Jacque Andrew. Honorees included grant recipients Little Vikes of Avoca, Little Chargers of Guthrie Center and the Kids Spot in Lake City.
Cook said in her welcome that she and Ritter enjoyed lunch with the WNU board in November. “We knew immediately this was the place for the western Iowa award presentation,” she said. “We love Jefferson and this restaurant!”
Founded in Iowa City in 1994, the Iowa Women’s Foundation charter members first asked the question “What if every woman and girl in Iowa had a fair opportunity to achieve her personal best?” From that beginning a 501(C)3 non-profit corporation was formed and remains the only statewide organization working to enhance and improve women’s economic self-sufficiency in a comprehensive way.
In the last 25 years, IWF has awarded $1.68 million in grants to more than 300 organizations statewide to improve the lives of Iowa’s women and girls in all 99 Iowa counties. To spread awareness of the organization across the state, grants are being presented regionally, this year in Jefferson, Des Moines, northeast Iowa and Iowa City.
Although the awards presented in Jefferson were all to childcare organizations, IWF selects grants in several areas that are challenges to the self-sufficiency of women. As the only statewide organization focused on the economic empowerment of women and girls, IWF awards core grants to programs that tackle one of the six research-identified barriers to women’s self-sufficiency: employment, housing, education and training, transportation, mentors and childcare.
Members of Why Not Us, the group of 73 women who renovated the Centennial Block building, also shared the journey of their project and the successful Centennial restaurant which occupies the first floor of the building. The restaurant business is owned and operated by Sara Ostrander, chef, who also catered the IWF reception.
