The proposed Iowa Child project is getting a half-million dollar federal grant. The 80-acre indoor rainforest and education center would be built in Coralville. Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce President Ron Corbett was among the group of local leaders who went to Washington in February to lobby for the grant. Corbett says the feds are most interested in the educational elements of the project that he says will serve as a teacher-training model. Developers have laid out a nearly 300-MILLION dollar plan for the huge “Iowa Child Project” but it’s future is uncertain as the project has not won a state grant that’s key. The grant would come from the “Vision Iowa” fund which has already made grants to Dubuque, Council Bluffs and Sioux City.
