Over the past five years the Tama County Community Foundation has invested over...
Featured Updates
2011 EDIES Story 12 of 24: Alliant Energy gives Tama Paper Board a check for $35.5K to save $38K per year
Driving the transition to a lower-carbon green or blue economy is not just for bleeding hearts. It’s a strategic long-term investment that involves learning about new technology evolutions to invest an extra dollar today to ultimately benefit from lower costs and sustainability in the long term. And that is exactly what Tama Paperboard did when [...]
2011 EDIES Story 11 of 24: Four-Laning US Highway 30 into the heart of Tama County, Iowa
US Highway 30 is the second most traveled east-west corridor in the state, yet a significant amount of it is 2-lane making it dangerous and inefficient. Every year we hear about the fatalities and prematurely deteriorating pavement getting beat up by 2.7+ million cars, trucks and farm equipment in Tama-Toledo. And the numbers kept increasing. [...]
Foundation Update: Up to $93K available in county grants. Grant writing workshop, Jan. 28. Grant deadline, March15
Over the past five years the Tama County Community Foundation has invested over half a million dollars into betterment of our community, and leveraged those dollars to bring in millions more. In 2012 our Foundation will once again invest between $86,532.88 and $92,619 into nonprofits, governments and schools serving Tama County with a plan of strengthening our [...]
Executive Director moves forward
Dear Tama County Stakeholders and friends: Just like Tama County Economic Development’s first economic developer dedicated about five years to Tama County, I have also committed half decade in service to you. We stood together through challenges, natural and man made disasters. Together we have survived floods, winter storms, straightline wind storms, through manufacturing plant closings, a national recession. [...]
2011 EDIES Story 10 of 24: H&R Block breathes life into white elephant building in Toledo
The old Pizza Hut building in Toledo was a white elephant. It stood empty for six years before Elaine and Mark Linser recognized a new vision for it. In 2010 H&R Block experienced a 42.8% increase in new clients so they bought the building for a fraction of its listed price and transformed the building [...]
2011 EDIES Story 9 of 24: Dysart Ag Museum & Interpretive Center shows us how dough is made
When the Dysart Historical Society set out to raise $125,000+ in just a few months they did not just knock on one door. They pieced it together from 7+ foundations and organizations each contributing a couple thousand dollars in addition to donations from local businesses, nonprofits and individuals. But just as important was the in-kind [...]
2011 EDIES Story 8 of 24: Traer Municipal Utilities reveals the answer that was blowing in the wind
The dozens of meteorological wind towers erected all over Tama County, Iowa to measure wind speeds, should have tipped you off by now that we have above average wind speeds and transmission lines compared to the rest of the U.S. But it was even before these appeared that Traer Municipal Utilities started investigating the possibilities of locally produced energy from wind. [...]
Newsletter Update: Using TimeBanks to strengthen our economy? That, and more…
It is usually around Mother’s Day of every year that we are reminded of one of the critical flaws in our good old-fashioned gross domestic product (GDP) measurement as one of the most popular means of expressing economic growth. Maybe you have seen the evidence too? Its called the “Mom Job index” where entities like [...]
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2011 EDIES Story 7 of 24: Van’s Meat Locker’s transparency is revealing a new organic way of financing new product lines
When the 2011 Cedar Valley Dream Big Grow here business plan competition presented itself to win $5,000 Amy and Travis Fisher grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Using an internet voting system they shared their vision to invest in equipment that would allow them to be Iowa’s first/only certified organic meat locker. And though they [...]
2011 EDIES Story 6 of 24: This Dysart Business Took an Expansion Opportunity Seriously
Sometimes it’s good enough to be a strong company with a great credit rating in an industry with a bright long term outlook. But it is the mark of a remarkable company to leverage your success to use some of your core strengths to add even more value. That is exactly what Barton & Dawn [...]
