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COUNCIL BLUFFS - Jerry Mathiasen called it a celebration.
The Iowa West Foundation senior vice president told people gathered at Harrah’s Casino Hotel on Thursday that they were there “to celebrate the work that makes a positive impact on a community.”
The group of 200 representatives from nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies seemed to agree. Many were recipients of grants totaling more than $20 million that were awarded in 2009 through the Iowa West Foundation.
Todd Graham, Iowa West president and CEO, announced that the $20 million “pushed the foundation by a significant milestone of granting over $250 million since its inception.”
The foundation is funded by its investment income and by the Iowa West Racing Association, which receives fee income from Council Bluffs’ Ameristar and Harrah’s Casinos.
Featured speaker Martha Bruckner, superintendent of the Council Bluffs school district, said the foundation’s support of the district “will resonate as one of the most important contributions … to this community.”
The foundation’s commitment followed a community assessment in 2007 that identified education as a top need. Bruckner said the foundation has helped as the district tries to reduce the high school dropout rate, raise the graduation rate and increase the number of area residents who have college degrees.
The foundation has provided about $12.5 million in education-related grants since the needs assessment was issued. Some of the money has been used in studies to improve the district’s approach to education, Bruckner said, and some has been spent on improving technology.
With grant money and matching contributions, “we developed a plan to place SAMs (school administrative managers) in seven buildings for three years. The goal of the program was to push principals from management roles to instructional leadership,” she said.
Time spent on instruction “has increased significantly in each of the buildings,” often accompanied by an increase in student achievement in reading.
Foundation funding also has enabled the district to begin instructional coaching in math, science, English and social studies at the middle and high schools.
The result, Bruckner said, is slow but sure progress.
In 2007, the district had the lowest graduation rate in Iowa, she said, but by 2009, “Council Bluffs was the only school district in the state to have increased its graduation rate four years in a row.”
In addition, she said, “The number of dropouts decreased more than 100 students from the 2007-08 school year to the 2008-09 school year.”
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