Davenport’s Active
Recreation Corridor was recently awarded $286,000 through the Iowa Great
Places initiative to help cover construction costs of the corridor, which is located
in Centennial Park
along the Mississippi River.
Iowa Great Places combines state government resources with
local assets to help Iowans make their neighborhoods, communities and regions
better places to live, work and raise a family. Funding for the grants was approved by the
Legislature and awarded through a competitive application process. Learn more at www.iowagreatplaces.gov.
Buffalo man honored for heroism
On Aug. 8, Gov. Culver held his annual Lifesaving Awards
Ceremony at the Iowa State Fair. Among
those honored was Conway McCutchen of Buffalo, who
received the Lifesaving Award for rescuing a woman from flood-stage Mississippi River waters on August 25, 2007.
It’s a sure sign that summer is coming to an end when
students, parents and teachers prepare to head back to school.
This year is special to me because my daughter Lindsay
begins her first year as a second grade teacher in Adel, Iowa. Lindsay’s been a special ed teacher for
several years and I think she will be a great second grade teacher.
She had a great role model in her own second grade
teacher, Pat Oster of Eldridge, who retired last
year. Pat, who also taught my son, was
one of the best teachers I ever
met. She was a pied piper who
could turn non-readers into readers and turn kids who were not good at math
into children who loved math.
Lindsay has that same ability to connect with her
students. I’m looking forward to visiting her second grade classroom and
seeing how she works to help kids become great learners. And that’s really what great second grade
teachers do: lay the groundwork for future success in school and live.
Needless to say, I’m proud of Lindsay. I’m also proud of the bipartisan progress
we’ve made on education at the Iowa Statehouse. Our recent efforts are improving student
achievement by keeping the best teachers in Iowa
classrooms, increasing accountability, and making quality preschool
accessible to all Iowa
kids.
I’m looking forward to seeing that progress firsthand when
I visit local classrooms as part of America's Legislators Back to
School Program.
This national effort, sponsored by the National Conference
of State Legislatures, teaches young people what it's like to be a state
legislator. Every year, more than
1,400 state lawmakers visit an estimated 320,000 students in
their classrooms, bringing civics to life for our young Americans and
encouraging them to play an active role in their government.
It also gives me the opportunity to meet personally with
young constituents, answer questions, share ideas and listen to concerns.
I am setting up my visits for the upcoming school year and
am interested in visiting any elementary, junior high and high school
classroom that would like to have me.
If you’d like me to come to your school at any time throughout the
year, call me at 563-285-5311 or e-mail me at woodforsenate@hotmail.com.
The Iowa Arts Council has received a $100,000 grant from
the National Endowment for the Arts for Iowa artists and arts organizations
recovering from storm damage.
Some of the dollars will go to the 2008 Emergency Arts
Relief program, which provides up to $500 for immediate recovery needs.
Others will be used for larger grants and stipends generally ranging from
$3,000 - $6,000.
Disaster-affected Iowa
artists and Iowa
arts organizations that are nonprofit, federally tax-exempt, and located in a
state- or federally-declared disaster area are eligible to apply. Complete information and applications are available
at www.iowaartscouncil.org.
Working with Iowa
young people can be a great win-win opportunity for local businesses. The Iowa Student Internship Program is now
accepting applications from local businesses interested in providing
internships to Iowa
college students.
Companies are eligible to apply for up to three internships,
which are worth $3,100 each. The program is available to Iowa-based companies
that:
- Have
fewer than 500 employees, with a significant portion employed within Iowa in
biosciences, advanced manufacturing or information technology.
- Offer
internships to students of Iowa
community colleges, private colleges, or regent institutions within two
years of graduation.
- Create
a substantive working experience for interns in research and
development, engineering, process management and production, product
experimentation and analysis, product development, market research,
business planning and administration.
For more information, visit www.iowalifechanging.com/business/innov&comm.html
The Iowa Utilities Board is coordinating a community-based
initiative to weatherize homes for Iowans in need before the winter heating
season.
A community grant of up to $5,000 is available for
communities with a population of 10,000 or less to educate residents on
weatherization and energy efficiency.
The Utilities Board is also offering matching grants of up
to $500 to organizations throughout Iowa.
These grants are to be used to weatherize homes and provide educational
materials for Iowa’s
low-income families, elderly or disabled individuals.
More information is available at www.state.ia.us/iub.
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