UNI RECEIVES KAUFFMAN GRANT TO ASSIST RURAL IOWA BUSINESSES The University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Business Growth and Innovation (CBGI) has been selected for grant funding through the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s 2020 Heartland Challenge. The grant is intended to support the planning and implementation of business transition programming to address the challenges faced by small businesses in the states of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. CBGI plans to use the grant to launch the Iowa Business Transition Program Initiative, which will be an expanded element of CBGI’s proven succession planning work for small businesses where since 2016, over 90 Iowa companies have successfully transitioned ownership of their business. CBGI’s Iowa Business Transition Program Initiative will work with current business owners, their next generation of family members, key employees and third party buyers in developing detailed succession road maps for their firms across rural Iowa. “Rural decline is one of the greatest issues facing Iowa’s economy, affecting more than one-third of the state’s population. The Iowa Business Transition Program Initiative will provide a viable plan for rural businesses to remain the lifeblood of their local economies. By creating an inclusive educational and consultative program, we will be able to address all business succession issues that arise in rural Iowa,” stated Paul Kinghorn, director of CBGI. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to increase opportunities that allow all people to learn, take risks, and own their success. The Kauffman Foundation is based in Kansas City, Missouri, and uses its $2 billion in assets to collaboratively help people be self-sufficient, productive citizens. BIZ
UNI BIZ 2020-2021
food. There’s also a reduction in disposal costs if the organization starts donating instead of sending food to landfills. “A lot of organizations that we visit don’t want to take extra hours to manage this food waste in a sustainable manner,” Trent said. “Until we can come in and say, ‘You’re going to save this much money by reducing your disposal costs and the amount of time the hauler has to spend at your location.’” Food waste initiatives at UNI are gaining traction. A $99,000 grant was recently awarded to the IWRC from the Department of Agriculture. The grant will fund the Comprehensive Regional Food Waste Diversion Project, a program designed to decrease the amount of food waste discarded in landfills by providing direct, on-site assistance and training for key food waste stakeholders within Iowa and the Upper Midwest. The IWRC will focus on 17 regions of need, containing 209 municipalities within the states of Iowa (169), Illinois (14), Minnesota (15), Missouri (2) and Wisconsin (9) to target for the project. “It’s so simple, but our approach is innovative,” said Trent. “We will be bringing food waste stakeholders together on a regional scale to address food waste collectively to expand available diversion opportunities.” These meetings will help stakeholders, such as schools, community leaders, local nonprofits, waste haulers, landfills and restaurants forge partnerships that broaden options to divert food waste while utilizing EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy. As the focus increases around food waste and sustainability, technologies like blockchain and programs like the IWRC will play a huge role in reducing waste in the United States and abroad. BIZ
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