The Free Art Studio, an Iowa City organization that strives to make art accessible for all, held their first workshop in their new home, the Ned Ashton House, on March 8. The studio was previously housed in Iowa City’s Wright House of Fashion. With help from a variety of community members, Lauren Simmering and Penelope […]
Iowa City nonprofits
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa City is holding a food drive on Friday to support CommUnity’s food bank
The City of Iowa City is holding a food drive on Friday to support CommUnity Crisis Services and Food Bank. Donations to Neighbors Helping Neighbors Food Drive will be collected between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Fareway off Mormon Trek Boulevard (2530 Westwinds Dr), the North Dodge Hy-Vee (1125 N Dodge St) and the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
A guide to Iowa nonprofits tackling the biggest issues of our time
“When Americans think of freedom, we usually imagine a contest between a lone individual and a powerful government,” writes Timothy Snyder in his treatise On Tyranny — an Antifa 101 reading assignment, if there ever was one. “This is all well and good. But one element of freedom is the choice of associates, and one […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa conservation group sues Trump administration over frozen AmeriCorps funding
Bur Oak Land Trust, an Iowa City-based nonprofit, joined more than a dozen groups from across the country in a lawsuit against the Trump administration for continuing to withhold funding for AmeriCorps programs. Bur Oak and 13 additional nonprofits won a preliminary injunction in July from a lawsuit in response to Department of Government Efficiency […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
NaNoWriMo no more? After a series of scandals, some Iowans are leaving the nonprofit writing challenge behind
Update: On Monday, March 31, the interim executive director of the NaNoWriMo, Kilby Blades (a pen name; their real name is unknown) announced in a video update that the nonprofit is official shutting down due to financial strain and a “downward trend in participation.” Halloween night. A stream of costumed people enter the brightly lit […]
Posted inCommunity/News
New program will help an Iowa City-Cedar Rapids area nonprofit produce a video telling its story
It’s easy to focus on the grim at the moment with the new session of the legislature starting in Des Moines, a new (yet old) administration looming in Washington D.C. and the weather preparing to turn frigid again, but there are still good things happening in Iowa. The state has numerous nonprofits doing important work […]
Posted inCommunity/News
More than 100 local nonprofits making life in Iowa more livable
There’s nothing like a presidential election to remind voters in a minor, non-swinging member of the Electoral College like Iowa how little power an individual has over broken systems. Iowans are hungry, housing insecure and live under a near-total abortion ban. High nitrate levels in our waterways, caused by reckless Big Ag practices, endanger vital […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Animals get to live life as more than livestock in the Iowa Farm Sanctuary’s pastures
Henry the one-eyed turkey stands just inside the pasture gate, proud and handsome with his white feathers fanned in display. He may look regal, but he also appreciates a rub of his gnarly red head. At 3 years old, Henry is a senior citizen: most turkeys raised in Iowa and elsewhere spend the first 20 […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘This is devastating’: Corridor Community Action Network’s mobile resource pantry destroyed by a fire
In November 2021, the Corridor Community Action Network (CCAN) launched its Clothing Cruise, an RV that served as a mobile clothing pantry distributing donated clothing for free to those in need. “We had a lot of people that were talking about needing just regular school clothing and work clothing and items like that,” Mandi Remington, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Forty years ago, volunteers pulled off the first Iowa Arts Festival. Summer in Iowa City has never been the same
What started 40 years ago as a volunteer-led labor of love is now a downtown Iowa City institution: the Iowa Arts Festival. Back in the summer of 1983, Joyce Carroll and Kristin Summerwill helped organize a multi-day event on the Ped Mall that brought together artisans, visual artists, poets, local musicians such as Greg Brown […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Let your holidays go to the dogs (and the cats) at the Iowa City Animal Center
The Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center will be holding its holiday open house on Saturday, giving people a chance to take a break from the stress of the season and pet a dog or snuggle a kitten. Or both. The center (3910 Napoleon Ln) will open its doors at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday […]
Posted inBread & Butter Dining Guide
Six days a week, 52 weeks a year, Iowa City’s Free Lunch Program continues to meet hungry neighbors where they are
An open door, a full plate, no questions asked. It’s a simple, humble mission, but for everyone involved with the Free Lunch Program (FLP), from the diners to the directors, it is less about charity than collaboration, enriching the life of both server and guest. This is a truth strongly felt by Diane Platte, one […]
