JCCF doles out $109k to Jones County nonprofits

Tuesday night’s gathering at the Calkins Barn in Wyoming was a celebration for a myriad of reasons. 

It was a night to showcase 21 Jones County nonprofits receiving a gaming grant allocation while also bringing people together to celebrate the 20th year that the Jones County Community Foundation has distributed Dubuque casino revenues to enhance local nonprofits’ initiatives.

JCCF emeritus board members Janet Martin and Bob Ballou acknowledged the foundation’s impact on the county over the past two decades, starting back in 2005 with the Jones County Board of Supervisors appointed the original JCCF board of directors. 

“What is the Community Foundation?” Martin said. “I can summarize it into three main responsibilities. They work with donors, they provide grants and they serve as community leaders. The Community Foundation is the eyes and ears of Jones County. 

The Jones County Community Foundation is an affiliate of the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque and gathers casino gaming tax revenues. Since 2006, the state of Iowa has distributed .8% of all gaming tax revenue to participating community foundations and their affiliates, like the JCCF. 

Martin touted initiatives by the JCCF over the years, including the 2019 introduction of the Every Child Reads program, which aims to help foster a network of literacy for youngsters in Jones County.

She and Ballou also saluted past board members and explained that 75% of all gaming revenue is distributed to grant applicants and the remaining 25% is put back into the JCCF’s endowment fund. 

‘Great public resources’

The night’s event included a presentation by Matt McQuillen, with Twin Rivers Pheasants Forever, and Brad Mormann, with Jones County Conservation, showcasing a project that came to fruition thanks in part to a JCCF grant received last year. 

The duo played a compilation of drone videos of public areas around Jones County that have been acquired over the years. 

“We created a highlight film that shows not only what we’ve done but shows the community what great public resources we have in our area,” McQuillen said. 

McQuillen said the video will be available to download for free so local organizations can use the videos as an attraction tool. 

“We can narrate over the top of the video to add context for whomever the audience … is, McQuillen said. 

Mormann said the project is a valuable tool for Jones County and eventually will be added to digital spaces like county websites and social media pages. The videos can also serve as a tool for him and fellow conservationists. 

“There are at least 16 properties (filmed),” he said. “I’ve stepped onto all thse properties many times, and when I watch this video, it’s valuable to me as a resource manager to see the angle from the sky of what’s going on and what we need to work on.”

Mormann said partnerships with a bevy of other organizations -- like Ducks Unlimited, Whitetails Unlimited and Dubuque County Conservation -- help pave the way for lands to open up to the public. 

“With the beauty we have right here, we don’t need to go to Yellowstone (National Park),” he told the crowd at the JCCF ceremony Dec. 2. “They may have the grizzly bears, and that’s great, but nothing here is going to eat you.”

Grant Recipients

At the celebration Dec. 2, local nonprofits were awarded grant funding to help pave the way for a variety of initiatives. To qualify, the initiatives must fulfill at least one obligation of: 

• Improving economic wellbeing

• Improving education opportunities

• Addressing community capital improvements

• Maintaining and improving the health of Jones County residents

• Promoting Jones County tourism and recreation

• Maintaining Jones County heritage

• Supporting conservation efforts. 

In total, the 21 nonprofits received a combined $109,486. 

“Many of the grant projects awarded were collaborative efforts with community partners working together,” says Sheila Tjaden, Jones County Community Foundation’s executive director. “It is so important for our small communities to think about how working together can achieve so much more.” 

Recipients of the 2025 JCCF grants are: 

• Jones County Historical Society -- To create modern, handicap-accessible restrooms

• Cedar/Jones Early Childhood Iowa -- for its Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Jones County. 

• Jones County Migrant Inclusion Group -- to form a bi-lingual library. 

• City of Olin -- A concrete pad addition to Olin Community Park playground area. 

• Grand Wood Art Festival, Inc. -- A façade revitalization project for the art gallery in Anamosa. 

• Starlighters II Theater -- Façade improvements to the theater. 

• Aquin Catholic Educational system -- A playground project at Aquin Little Angels in Cascade. 

• Monticello Emergency Medical Team -- Every Airway Counts.

• Monticello Main Street -- Placemaking Bursts into Bloom: sustaining downtown Monticello’s beautification and economic vitality.

• Olin Hose Company -- Vehicle and personnel equipment purchase.

• St. John’s Christian Day Care Center -- Upgrades to the infant classroom.

• Friends of Olin Cemetery -- Funding for a shelter and directory for the cemetery.

• Anamosa Ministerial Association -- Anamosa Lunches for Youth weekend backpack program. 

• Friends of the Monticello Public Library, Inc. -- Digitization of recent issues of the Monticello Express.

• Vision to Learn -- Increasing vision care access to students in Jones County.

• Lisbon/Mount Vernon Ambulance Service -- Portable radio upgrades.

• Monticello Area Chamber of Commerce -- Monticello gateway signage project. 

• NAMI Dubuque -- Jones County initiative.

• Olin Food Pantry -- General use.

• Jones County Tourism Association -- Discover Jones County.

• Little Lions Learning Center in Olin -- Window screen replacements and picnic tables.

For additional coverage from the JCCF 2025 grant awards ceremony, see next week’s edition of the Express.