A six-county area in northeast Iowa has one of only four projects in the nation to win a 600-thousand dollar grant from the Northwest Foundation. Organizer Brenda Dryer says the participants didn’t even have to fill out the usual grant application for the St-Paul-based foundation. She says they looked at stats and past activities of Cedar Valley and said they think assets are in place to build on. Working to battle poverty will increase opportunities for everyone, rich and poor, in the region. The money will help develop an ambitious ten-year project to reduce unemployment in the area. It includes Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Grundy and Tama counties as well as the Meskwaki Nation.