State grants available for cleanup projects

Time’s running out on your chance to win money from the state for your group to beautify the neighborhood. Kathy Ridnour oversees the Keep Iowa Beautiful program for the Iowa Department of Transportation. Funding comes from an Iowa tax checkoff and it provides funds for litter prevention, waste management and recycling, and beautification projects. Ridnour says you have to have a group and a plan. The funding is available to communities, groups, and nonprofit organizations. You don’t need matching funds, but she says projects with local match money do tend to rate better. Ridnour says there’s a five-thousand dollar limit on the awards. She says they recently have had several schools apply for the funding and they include teaching components. She says it’s easy to apply, you can surf to: www.dot.state.ia.us or at: www.keepiowabeautiful.com . You can also call Ridnour at 515-239-1713. The deadline to apply is December 31.