In a collaborative initiative, Steeple Square is expanding programming to serve the underserved population in Dubuque to address nutrition education and food insecurity. This expansion will take place in three phases: infrastructure, program implementation, and sustainability.
From its location in the heart of downtown Dubuque, between students and the wider North End community, Steeple Square anticipates serving 2,000-3,000 individuals over the next three to four years.
Phase I consists of the completion of kitchen facilities and training center in the lower level of Steeple Square to include kitchen completion, classroom/training facilities, office space, and stocking the kitchen for programming.
Phase II includes implementing Culinary Career Pathway Certificate programs in partnership with Northeast Iowa Community College with a dual purpose. The first purpose is to provide paid training for underserved populations that are un/underemployed, single parents, living in poverty, or need reskilling due to Covid-19. The second purpose of phase two is for culinary students and educators to provide nutrition education and access to other low-income students and Dubuque’s broader North End neighborhoods.
Phase III includes sustainability efforts through infrastructure and sustainable agriculture education to provide local produce grown by students at partnering community gardens, also located in Dubuque’s North End at The Four Mounds Foundation Farm property.
Funds from the McDonough Charitable Foundation grant will allow for purchasing and installing kitchen equipment and support student stipends.
Voice Productions is a grass-roots arts advocacy organization that harnesses the power of creative placemaking to improve our community. Through a multi-disciplined portfolio of programs and events, Voices will lean in on issues of accessibility, engagement, and inclusion.
For the past 15 years Voices has been producing cultural content for the people of Dubuque. The mission of Voices is to explore how the arts and humanities can be used as an instrument of equitable community development, while cultivating dialogue within overlooked populations. In an increasingly polarized world, most everyone would agree that the transformative power of art can refresh and dignify the soul. This fundamental truth is the organizing principle behind Voices Productions.
Building on a proven record of using the arts as an effective channel to achieve community development, Voices has acquired a new home in Dubuque’s most diverse neighborhood on the Central Avenue Corridor. This area of town, once a thriving business district, was severely impacted by the economy in the 1980’s and has yet to recover. It’s an ideal location for Voices, whose creativity thrives in vulnerable environments. By weaving itself into the fabric of the neighborhood through a program of performing and visual arts, Voices will extend an outreach to those who lack opportunities for expression.
The McDonough Charitable Foundation grant is being used for an urban sculpture garden/pocket park, which will be integral to the Voices complex. With no parks on Central Avenue – this peaceful addition would be a place for families and friends to rest, play chess, and meditate on the beauty surrounding them.
The Foundation for Dubuque Public Schools (FDPS) will use the McDonough Charitable Foundation grant to support three essential programs in the Dubuque Community School District (DCSD).
“Open Closet” Program
The “Open Closet” aims to provide basic needs for students who may not have access to essential items. The program’s goal is to reduce absenteeism and help students focus on school instead of what they are wearing or where they are going to find the money for dinner or hygiene items, thus reducing social stigmas associated with the lack of essential items.
These Open Closets are in all six secondary buildings, and the grant money will provide staffing with set hours to make the closets more accessible.
Backpack Program
Studies show that children having school supplies of their own can improve grades, creativity, attitudes towards learning, behavior, peer relationships, and self-image. The excitement of a new backpack and school supplies provide the encouragement needed to begin the school year and pave a path for a successful future.
With the help of the McDonough Charitable Foundation grant, backpacks with essential school supplies will reach approximately 1,000 Pre-K through High School students that lack the items to be successful in school.
Literacy Books
Children’s literature is often an unexplored option in the Social Studies curriculum; it is acknowledged in research that good books have the potential to allow children to make personal connections to the topic discussed. Teachers can enhance Social Studies learning in the curriculum through using and discussing carefully selected literature.
The McDonough Charitable Foundation grant will also purchase literacy books to support the Social Studies Curriculum in grades K-3.
Hills & Dales, a not-for-profit human services organization, provides services to children and young adults with disabilities throughout Eastern Iowa.
Hills & Dales’ mission of enhancing the quality of life for children and addressing the community’s needs led to establishing an autism-focused program offering – AutismHD. The AutismHD Program provides Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services to children with an autism diagnosis and includes an individualized plan based on the child’s identified needs. It is the only proven, evidence-based treatment program providing lifelong, positive outcomes for individuals with autism.
AutismHD clinics are located in Dubuque, Dyersville, and Maquoketa to provide ABA services for individuals across Northeast Iowa.
Hills & Dales is using the McDonough Charitable Foundation grant to purchase a five-passenger, pre-owned vehicle to help meet the transportation needs of children supported in AutismHD clinics in Dubuque.
Transportation can create a significant barrier to accessing therapy since sessions happen during the typical business day, often conflicting with school times and when parents are working.
Without the vehicle, staff must use personal vehicles to provide transportation for clients between school and the clinics. This is problematic as Medicaid only partially reimburses transportation, so compensating staff has become a burden for the program’s limited budget.
Additionally, many clients also face challenging behaviors. Hence, an organization-owned vehicle provides the opportunity to install necessary safety attachments and modifications, further enhancing safety measures that aren’t possible in personal staff vehicles.
Hillcrest Family Services is a non-profit organization in Dubuque that provides a continuum of services to educate, coordinate services, and deliver treatment to individuals with brain health needs.
The McDonough Charitable Foundation Grant funds will support the Hillcrest Homeless Outreach Program (PATH). This program aims to reduce homelessness and chronic homelessness among Dubuque County families who have a head of household with serious mental illness or serious mental illness along with substance abuse issues and are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless.
The program provides families with the following:
- Outreach services.
- Community resource referrals – including brain health or drug and alcohol treatment.
- Case management.
- Assistance in securing income support, housing assistance, food stamps, representative payee services, and SSA benefits.
- Financial support in the form of security deposits, rental payments, utility assistance, prescription assistance, medical, substance abuse, and mental health co-pays, bus tickets, rental application fees, birth certificate fees, Iowa DOT identification card fees, and GED application fees.
- Assistance with researching apartment availability – including completing applications, moving individuals, and maintaining positive landlord relationships.
The program has become increasingly important as families’ financial needs have increased significantly with higher utility bills and rental fees over the past year.
At Almost Home at St. John’s, they help put people back on the path home by sheltering, serving, and supporting those in need with beds, clothing, and connection to resources.
The Guest House provides seasonal shelter for single homeless men in the Dubuque region. And the Open Closet provides clothing for anyone in need and is completely free of charge. All inventory is donated.
The broken family used to be considered a mother and her children. Now, more fathers utilize the Open Closet for children’s clothing and inquire about shelter. Almost Home fulfills this unmet need with their new Family Shelter for Single Men with Children, an emergency and extended stay living space with linkage to services.
Fathers will be linked to community resources and have shelter for 30 days, with the opportunity to stay up to a year if needed to achieve their goals. The approach provides steadiness for the children’s living environment while helping their father reach financial stability.
The McDonough Charitable Foundation Grant funded the hiring of a case manager with expertise in working with children and families. The case manager works with Human Service Assistants to develop an individualized plan of needs and goals for each family and link them to the appropriate resources and agencies for a successful outcome.
The Four Mounds Foundation was founded as a not-for-profit organization in 1987 as a means for managing and stewarding a generous gift of property willed to the City of Dubuque from the estate of Elizabeth Adams Burden to be preserved for the public good and be utilized for educational purposes. Their mission now is to preserve, educate and serve.
They have the HEART (Housing Education and Rehabilitation Training) program as part of that mission. HEART is a hands-on learning experience for youth to achieve their goals of attaining a high school diploma while transforming Dubuque’s most blighted neighborhood back into a livable, walkable community for working families.
With the grant funds received from the McDonough Foundation, Four Mounds will grow the HEART Partnership and Program to serve adults with barriers to employment. The project targets unemployed and underemployed individuals, adults without a high school diploma, and formerly incarcerated community members.
This program’s goal is to intervene in the life trajectory of young adults at risk, giving them skills, choices, and guidance through home and community restoration projects. At the same time, they discover their potential and map out successful futures.
The funds will support critical elements of the program implementation, including staffing, participant stipends, and food and clothing costs for participants.
Iowa Legal Aid is a nonprofit organization providing legal assistance to low-income and vulnerable Iowans who have nowhere else to turn. Along with volunteer lawyers throughout the state, Iowa Legal Aid helps the legal system work for those who cannot afford help with legal issues.
Iowa Legal Aid’s Parent Representation Project in Dubuque and Jones Counties provides custodial parents free legal and supportive services. These parents are at risk of involvement in juvenile court through a Child in Need of Assistance (CINA) case or whose children were already involved in a CINA. The program’s primary goal is to provide parents with the necessary tools they need to resolve the issues that led their family to come to the attention of the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) to help keep children in a consistent family setting.
Research shows that the longer children are in foster care, the more likely they will remain there. States find it difficult to help families achieve timely reunification while preventing children from re-entering foster care. Children sometimes enter foster care due to unresolved issues, including housing instability and domestic violence.
When a family receives legal representation before the involvement of child protective services, such as an eviction hearing, the family can remain housed, and children can stay in school. Legal help to appoint relative caregivers can also prevent children from entering traditional foster care when parents cannot care for their children due to mental health issues, financial hardship, incarceration, or substance abuse.
The project team includes a full-time equivalent attorney, part-time social worker, and part-time parent advocate. The McDonough Charitable Foundation grant funds will cover staff salaries, benefits, and non-personnel costs such as office space, travel, and other miscellaneous expenses.
The Dubuque YMCA/YWCA Domestic Violence Shelter makes a difference in the lives of women and families experiencing domestic violence. They provide safe shelter so those in need can plan their path forward. Their shelter is a safe place for the women and families to escape to be free of their current violent situation.
The shelter has eight rooms with enough beds to serve up to eight families, or up to 18 total people, at any one time. The number of people served annually depends on the length of stay and the number of people within the family unit. The average length of stay for a client is 30 to 90 days, depending on their needs. In 2020, they offered support to 106 women and children, resulting in over 4,000 nights of safety.
They serve women and families from Dubuque, Jackson, Jones, Delaware, and Clayton counties in Iowa. The priority is always given to the families from Dubuque first. Without the service, their clients could have to access services from other shelters more than two hours away. The result would mean they would not have local family support, and kids would have to switch schools.
Our grant will help operate the shelter and staff the 24-hour hotline. The funding will also help provide an advocate to assist clients with services to improve their prospects. Some of these include resume writing, job applications, financial planning, applying for local community services, and applying for housing. These services will empower these women to move forward in their lives to overcome their most immediate obstacles.
Their goal is that within 90 days, the women have established goals and moved on to creating a safe and stable life for themselves and their children free from violence.
The Dubuque Rescue Mission is a community offering hospitality, spiritual hope, food, shelter, clothing, and job development to those in need.
They have many requests to use their shower room and laundry facility by homeless men in women in Dubuque. The grant from the McDonough Foundation will alleviate some of the pressure put on the current facilities by purchasing a mobile shower unit that will be at the Mission Gardens.
It serves the homeless men and women, and children of our community and provides them with one of the most basic necessities for every human. With the current facilities, they are providing 780 showers per year. The trailer has two showers, a men’s and women’s side, and will serve over 1500 people a year.
Camp Courageous is a non-profit organization that provides year-round recreational and respite care opportunities for individuals with special needs.
Camp Courageous offers a variety of services including weeklong camp sessions, respite care weekends, winter camper care, family camp sessions, and outdoor education sessions. Every year Camp Courageous serves thousands of individuals with special needs ranging in age from 1 to 105.
The grant from the McDonough Foundation is being used to fund their outdoor music park. The park will be a 625 square foot arena and a 120-foot trail with twelve unique instruments throughout. It will include bells, chimes, drums, xylophones and more, each with its own color-coded music books.
The outdoor music park will be a family-friendly venue that can be enjoyed by special needs persons, school district students, and families within the community. It will provide all of these people the opportunity to try many different types of musical instruments while experiencing the outdoors and being active all at the same time.
Opening Doors is a nonprofit organization that helps women and children who are experiencing homelessness in Dubuque. They provide goal setting and life skills training that enable women and children they serve to achieve their full potential.
Since 2000, Opening Doors has served thousands of women and children through a continuum of services.
- The Teresa Shelter, which offers emergency and extended stay programs.
- The Maria House, which offers transitional housing for up to two years.
- The Francis Apartments, which offers an opportunity for income-based affordable housing with support services; a combination that has proven to be effective at ending the cycle of homelessness.
The grant from the McDonough Foundation is being used to build their “On My Own” program which provides new beds, household starter kits, along with basic furniture, for women and children moving into permeant housing. The goal of the program is that none of these families will have to go to their new home without a bed and essentials.
Many of these women and children have never owned a new bed. Providing them a comfortable place to sleep results in decreased stress and enhanced brain health, allowing them to pursue their dreams and restore dignity.
The Fountain of Youth organization’s mission is to change the mindsets that contribute to generational poverty through community collaboration, resource sharing, mindfulness, and education.
The Partners in Change program serves adults over the age of 18 coming from poverty or experiencing hardship in their life. It is their core program designed to help individuals in a one-on-one setting by assisting them in developing and achieving life goals. The program consists of each participant making an individual success plan pertaining to one of the following areas: knowledge of self and others, citizenship, basic life skills, education, health and wellness, career/professional success, and financial literacy.
In addition, their program Real Talk Support Group centers around cognitive-behavioral intervention and the development of mindfulness and critical thinking. The curriculum encompasses leadership and community-oriented learning and development.
The Fountain of Youth used grant money from the McDonough Foundation to expand these programs to serve participants in the Dubuque County Jail. The Fountain of Youth believes that upon release, these participants have a choice to make; they can choose to return to the broken path or learn from their mistakes and follow a path filled with purpose and accountability. The goal is to help them plan and identify the necessary steps to make positive change happen.
The journey to and in jail is a complex process. Participants meet with Fountain of Youth staff each week to discuss progress on their individual goals. With the help of Fountain of Youth, participants can focus on themselves and use their time wisely to put themselves in a better position upon release.
Fountain of Youth staff provide workbooks that participants can use to continue their work in between their sessions. The workbook focuses on personal development vs. self-destruction, self-love vs. triggers, oppressed mindset vs. liberated mindset, responsible adult vs. immature adult, criminal thinking vs. critical thinking, and whether they want to be a community asset or a community liability.
There are many programs in our area that provide hand-outs to people when they need them, but few offer the emotional support that is so needed. This program helps participants realize their potential so they can reach their goals. The Fountain of Youth does not make change happen for anyone; they help them know they can make change happen for themselves.
The Miracle League of Dubuque began with the idea of providing children and adults of all abilities the chance to play baseball. Most playgrounds and recreational facilities are not accessible for individuals with disabilities, and they have minimal opportunity to participate in sports leagues.
The Miracle League of Dubuque baseball field and all-inclusive playground offer the opportunity to experience the joy of being a part of a team. They will be able to fully participate in our national pastime and play along with their non-disabled peers on playground equipment that is 100% accessible to them. It is the first of its kind in over a 100-mile radius.
The organization used the grant money from the McDonough Foundation to create an “Over-Stimulated Retreat,” which is a quiet room to serve the needs of individuals with sensory disabilities to make the project even more inclusive. Often, if an individual gets over-stimulated, the solution is to retreat and isolate, maybe going back to the parking lot or even go home. The quiet room is integrated and central to the park so the individual can “get away” to reset but still very much be present at the park.
The quiet room will not only offer this lower stimulation environment but will provide wheel-chair-bound individuals an accessible place to take a break and stretch out. A wheelchair can be a warm place for play, and the mat tables in the room offer a safe alternative to meet the body’s needs and allow for more extended playtime.
The Miracle League of Dubuque began with the idea of providing children and adults of all abilities the chance to play baseball. Most playgrounds and recreational facilities are not accessible for individuals with disabilities, and they have minimal opportunity to participate in sports leagues.
The Miracle League of Dubuque baseball field and all-inclusive playground offer the opportunity to experience the joy of being a part of a team. They will be able to fully participate in our national pastime and play along with their non-disabled peers on playground equipment that is 100% accessible to them. It is the first of its kind in over a 100-mile radius.
The organization used the grant money from the McDonough Foundation to create an “Over-Stimulated Retreat,” which is a quiet room to serve the needs of individuals with sensory disabilities to make the project even more inclusive. Often, if an individual gets over-stimulated, the solution is to retreat and isolate, maybe going back to the parking lot or even go home. The quiet room is integrated and central to the park so the individual can “get away” to reset but still very much be present at the park.
The quiet room will not only offer this lower stimulation environment but will provide wheel-chair-bound individuals an accessible place to take a break and stretch out. A wheelchair can be a warm place for play, and the mat tables in the room offer a safe alternative to meet the body’s needs and allow for more extended playtime.
The Dubuque Regional Humane Society (DRHS) has been in its current facility since 2013. Since then, the organization has grown to house over 3,200 animals. DRHS has enriched the lives of over 2,500 families who have adopted or reunited with their pets. DRHS also achieved a save rate of over 98% to obtain the classification as a NO-KILL facility.
Their Animal Resource Center expanded to include community education classes such as training classes for the Pets for Vets program, puppy classes, obedience classes, K-9 Good Citizen Testing, volunteer orientations, playgroups, dog-to-dog visits for potential adopters, and camp classes all year round.
There is limited first-floor space available. To grow the Animal Resource Center program, it will have to expand to the second floor to provide more education programs, multi-day conferences, and more. But because it doesn’t have an elevator, the second floor isn’t accessible to all.
DRHS was awarded a grant from the McDonough Foundation to fund the ADA Accessible Elevator Expansion project, which will serve those who are physically impaired. By removing the barriers and installing an ADA-accessible elevator, everyone in the Dubuque community can enjoy the facility.
St. Mark’s provides a safe place for kids in the greater Dubuque area with out-of-school learning programs offered for at-risk students, grades pre-k through 5th grade. With a philosophy of inclusion, safety, and trust, staff connects with students who open their minds to new experiences and discover a love for learning.
The purpose of St. Mark’s programs is 1) increase or maintain the reading proficiency of every student, 2) engage families or caregivers in student’s learning, 3) reinforce the value of learning and reading through enrichment activities, and 4) inform and model healthy lifestyles and build social-emotional intelligence.
These programs fill a gap for working families and students that are struggling with academic and social-emotional skills. Program activities align with students’ learning from the school day in literacy, reading, STEM, and arts. Social-emotional learning is integrated into all interactions, enabling students development of skills like mindfulness and self-regulation. Breakfast and snacks are offered to students daily to fuel their brains and bodies.
The families St. Mark’s serves have faced increased challenges due to the COVID-19 crisis. Students’ social-emotional needs are more significant than ever due to increased isolation and adverse experiences occurring at home. As student challenges and barriers to success continue to multiply, there is a need to hire and retain qualified and educated staff committed to our mission.
The grant from McDonough Foundation supports hiring vetted educators and providing training to equip them with the skills needed to lead students at a critical point in their growth. It allows St. Mark’s to continue to serve an increased level of students and reduce the number of students on waiting lists. It also ensures staff receives the proper training to create dynamic learning environments that lay the foundation for growth.