Carroll Broadcasting Company

In a special presentation ceremony yesterday (Tuesday) at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, the Iowa Economic Development Authority awarded more than $965,000 in Main Street Iowa Challenge Grants. Fourteen communities around the state will be using the grants for restoration, stabilization and rehabilitation projects and for expansion of their downtown businesses. Jefferson has received one of those grants in the amount of $74,500 that will be matched with $200,000 to update the Kendall Building. Another $61,000 in technical assistance grants was also awarded during the ceremony. Twelve Main Street Iowa communities will receive funds to provide professional services in the development of projects, including architectural and engineering services, business sign programs and historical research. Jefferson was once again brought to the podium to receive a $5,000 grant for wayfinding signage. Main Street Manning was also able to garner a $3,500 grant for their streetscape engineering services. The entire Manning project will be well over $200,000 for improvements on a two-block area of Main Street. Main Street Board President, Ron Reischl, said this money will be used for the engineering of special mid-block walk outs that will create a safe area for the handicapped, elderly and young to cross. These technical grants will be doubled with a dollar-for-dollar match from the community.

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Carroll Broadcasting Company

The Refresh Manning Trust Fund is now accepting applications for their third year of grant distribution to 501(3)C non-profit organizations that operate within the Manning City limits. Main Street Manning Board President, Ron Reischl, said they will be distributing a total of $1,600 in grants, but the application deadline is Saturday, Dec. 10. The timeline for selection of recipients and presentation is pretty tight, according to Reischl.

The application process does require the organization to identify a specific use for the money, and Reischl said there are no predetermined rules for distribution of the grant money.

Administrators of the trust fund say they would like to see the awards grow over time, hoping to be able to match the grant funds available through the Warren H. Timmerman Trust, which distributes over $70,000 each year. The application deadline is not the only significant date coming up for the trust fund. Reischl said donors will have until Dec. 31 to have their gift eligible for Iowa tax credits and to be used as a federal tax deduction.

He added they are happy to take cash donations, but there are many other ways individuals can choose to give.
Past recipients of the Refresh Manning Trust Fund Grants include the Manning Childcare Center, Manning Rec Center, Trestle Park, the Manning Library and the IKM-Manning School District. More information about how to apply or how to donate can be found below.
__________________________

Phone: Main Street Manning Office 712-655-6246
Refresh Manning Trust Fund Administrator:
Community Foundation of Carroll County (CFCC
Donations can be sent to:
Community Foundation of Carroll County
c/o Iowa Savings Bank
P.O. Box 967
Carroll, IA 51401
Make checks payable to CFCC and put “Refresh Manning Trust” on the for/memo line.


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Carroll Daily Times Herald, Rebecca McKinsey

ISU students’ designs to be incorporated in Manning

A tree sculpture that sings. A fire pit incorporating prairie-grass designs. A metal sculpture incorporating monkey bars.
When the city of Manning asked a design communication class at Iowa State University to devise designs for public art and signs in the city of about 1,500 that continues to cast out a net for new ideas, the students delivered.
The class of almost 30 presented a variety of designs and ideas to Manning Mayor Harvey Dales and Main Street Manning Board President Ron Reischl last week. Once some of the designs have been finalized and narrowed down before the end of the year, a few members of the class will travel to Manning to discuss the city’s implementation of several of the proposed projects. Eventually, Manning will incorporate several of the designs into the city’s streetscape, along Highway 141 and at the in-progress Trestle Park.
“The students appreciate and love the opportunity to work on a real-life problem, and they look forward to the chance of their designs being integrated into a real-life project,” Reischl said. “It’s hugely beneficial for both parties.”
The designs, most of which stem from proposals from Manning’s most recent participation with Iowa’s Living Roadways Community Visioning Program, offer ideas for public art in Trestle Park, another in-progress project in Manning, as well as along Highway 141. A separate proposal asked for ideas for a sign at Manning’s east entrance announcing the Carroll County Freedom Rock and the German Hausbarn.
Students in the class visited Manning in September, allowing them to see the city for which they were crafting ideas.
Much of the artwork or projects students proposed was interactive — including a metal sculpture that incorporates monkey bars, a sculpture kids can walk through that mimics the image of grasses blown by the wind and a tree-like sculpture that catches the wind in its “leaves” as children spin it, merry-go-round style, to create natural music. For many of the projects, students also created animations to demonstration to Manning representatives how their pieces would function.
Another design depicts a fire pit at Trestle Park, incorporating bricks from Main Street and a protective metal grate designed to resemble Iowa’s prairie grasses.
“Harvey and I were blown away by that one,” Reischl said. “We’re going to make that happen.”
Manning’s collaborations with the Iowa State University College of Design have resulted in several concrete projects in Manning, including signs for the city’s renovated downtown buildings and the “Welcome to Manning” signs on either end of town.
“As has occurred in all of our past interaction sand projects with the College of Design, we were blown away by the breadth of ideas and the large diversity of ideas,” Reischl said. “It will be very difficult to choose one or two designs.”
In fact, the initial idea for creating a park around the historic railroad trestle on Manning’s northern edge came from a group of College of Design students visiting Manning some time ago, Reischl said.
He added that he enjoyed visiting Ames and speaking with students about the thought process behind their designs.
Manning will likely complete additional fundraising for some of the projects the students have proposed, Reischl said.
The interdisciplinary class involved in this particular collaboration with Manning incorporates students of a variety of ages and from a variety of majors, including advertising, design and engineering said ISU Department of Architecture lecturer Reinaldo Correa, who teaches the class.
Correa, who has a background in public art and architecture and who used to work with RDG Planning & Design in Manning, said he enjoyed collaborating with Manning.
“I thought this was a good opportunity for students not only to learn design but to meet members of a community and use design as a means to empower and create art and design that would help the infrastructure and experience of a small town in Iowa,” he said.
For some of his students, he added, this was their first opportunity to complete design projects out of the classroom and work on designs that might move past the theoretical stage.
“As soon as you do a project of this sort, dealing with real people — it became very tangible and real for them early on,” Correa said. “Students are saying they have something in their portfolio that’s meaningful. Ron, Harvey and (City Manager Dawn Rohe) have been really hands-on, and when students see that, they feel as though they’re doing something that’s meaningful.
“Seeing a design go from an idea to a tangible, physical form in the real world is very gratifying.”

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Carroll Daily Times Herald, Rebecca McKinsey

TLC program invites teachers to lead, collaborate

Teachers are like silos. Historically, they often have stood alone in their work — they are in a room alone; they teach alone; then they send their students on.
Iowa schools are looking to change that trend, and this year, the IKM-Manning Community School district is joining in.
The Iowa Department of Education’s Teacher Leadership and Compensation Program, or TLC, has been implemented in schools around the state; IKM-Manning is now in its first year of the program, said Tiffany Hoogestraat, IKM-Manning’s TLC coordinator.
“The overall goal is to create a culture of collaboration where the teachers are learning from each other, reflecting together and using the expertise of their colleagues to increase student learning,” Hoogestraat said. “They’re all our kids; we’re all working together for them.”
The program, funded by a state grant for its first year in each school system, is tailored to fit individual school districts. At IKM-Manning, that includes a TLC coordinator, Hoogestraat, and an instructional coach, Corey Sebetka, both former IKM-Manning teachers who now concentrate on the TLC program full time. They plan professional development and events and co-teach, coach and plan with teachers as needed.
The program’s goal is to increase collaboration between teachers. At IKM-Manning, that also means teacher-mentors who work with new teachers, a district leadership team that helps plan professional development and other initiatives and model teachers who invite their peers into their classrooms to learn specific skills and techniques.
“Teaching is a challenging job, and it’s made even more so by the isolated nature of the profession,” IKM-Manning high school principal Brian Wall said in a news release. “The TLC system is breaking down the culture of isolation and replacing it with one of collaboration.”
The program plays out in various ways — coaches work with teachers to reach specific goals, whether that’s better classroom management or having 90 percent of students become proficient in reading based on certain standards. Six-week coaching cycles focus on student data and reaching specific goals.
“Through the TLC system, our teachers have been able to support one another and learn from one another like never before,” said Sharon Whitson, principal of the district’s elementary and middle schools, in the release.
Early implementation of the program also has included working with a technology consultant to learn digital technology techniques, such as the use of QR codes, that teachers could then use to develop individualized technology-based lesson plans.
Working with teachers through the program, Hoogestraat said, she already has received good feedback about new technology skills, the alignment with special and general education curricula and behavior management.
“It is evident through these shared leadership roles that instruction and learning will improve for all students,” IKM-Manning superintendent Tom Ward said in the release.
The grant includes a stipend and additional training days for the teachers who have taken on leadership roles through the program while continuing to teach. Training has been provided through area education agencies.
“I think it’s really been a positive thing for our school to get that culture of, we’re all in this together,” Hoogestraat said. “Historically in schools — not just at IKM-Manning — that’s just not been the case.”

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Carroll Daily Times Herald, Rebecca McKinsey
It was a night of nurse-zombies, of schoolmarms, of firefighters and Christmas decorators — and of economic-development fundraising.
The fourth annual Main Street Manning Family Feud raised about $5,000 for Manning’s economic-development organization Friday, with its Manning-esque blend of costumed game show, auction, good eats — and a few drinks to wash it all down.
Teams included the Nombies, a group of nurses looking suspiciously like zombies; the Schoolmarms, a group of educators; the Pumpers & Tankers — firefighters, of course — and All Lit Up, comprising members of the Irlbeck family, who are well known for their Christmas decorations. Teams competed for the best and most accurate answers to Manning-themed questions in a tournament-style competition, with groups who were defeated early gaining the chance to come back and win it all with an audience-vote twist.
That’s just what happened to the Nombies, who lost in their first round to the Schoolmarms only to later win the audience’s affection through a cash collection, allowing them to come back and face the same team in the final round, in a head-to-head match of female wits.
And darn if the Nombies didn’t go and win it all on the very last question, Main Street Manning board president Ron Reischl said.
Silent and live auctions allowed audience members to vie for donated items, many of which carried local themes: a Manning GPS clock, a Templeton Rye whiskey-barrel clock and gift bag, a reclaimed-wood coffee table and more. Highest-bidding items included Mary Sailer’s famous pies and a mantel rocking horse, similar to one made for Prince George.
About 165 people piled into the German Hausbarn Konferenz Centre for the event that has become Main Street Manning’s largest fundraiser.
“We filled the place,” Main Street Manning executive director Cindy Ranniger said. “I’m thankful to the people who are supporting the event.”
Money from the fundraiser will help pay Main Street Manning’s operating costs, as well as for an upcoming streetscaping project, a product of the city’s Community Visioning effort, which will include two “parklets” — benches, bushes and greenery — along Main Street and Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant access from the street to the sidewalk, Reischl said.

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Santa’s elves have been busy helping the West Central Iowa Healthcare Foundation (WCIHF) in Manning make more trees for their 2016 Dream Lights Giving Tree Park. Their goal for this year is to be nearly two times the size of last year’s park, with an additional 42 trees available for sponsorship. Director, Sarah Foley said, “Last year was our first year offering the revamped Dream Lights Giving Tree Park, offering individual trees for sponsorship or memorials.” She said sponsorship sold out quickly, and they wanted to ensure that more trees were available this year. The plywood trees are ‘planted’ in the Manning Regional Healthcare Center Plaza Family Garden, where the old hospital sat on the corner of Main Street and Highway 141. There are three different styles of trees in three, four and five foot heights and can be sponsored for $25, $50 or $100 respectively. Once the trees are “planted,” they are strung with lights and then lit when sponsored. The sponsor’s or memorial name is then laminated and hung on the tree. The plan is to have the tree park set up in mid-November and light the first sponsored trees during Manning’s Weihnactsfest celebration the day after Thanksgiving. Proceeds raised this year will be used to support the transportation needs of Manning Regional Healthcare Center, the Manning Plaza and the Manning Family Recovery Center patients and residents. For more information on the program or to sponsor a tree, contact Foley at 712-655-8121 or by email at sarah.foley@mrhcia.com.

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MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016
STEM Council awards new STEM BEST Partners in Iowa
Ten school-business partnerships equipped to bridge the world of work to the classroom
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Iowa Governor’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Advisory Council has awarded 10 new STEM BEST® (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers) Partners across Iowa.
STEM BEST Partners transform typical K-12 classroom environments and methods to unite the workplace with the classroom and develop clear pathways from STEM education to STEM careers in the state. Since 2014, the STEM Council has established eight STEM BEST Partners that currently serve as examples of these school-business partnerships.
“Iowa companies must be able to hire enough skilled workers so they can grow and innovate, and more Iowans deserve to have the skills needed for rewarding careers,” said Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, co-chair of the STEM Council. “Through STEM BEST, educators and business leaders work together with students to strengthen Iowa’s talent pipeline and close the skills gap. STEM BEST is one of many programs that promise to help reach our Future Ready Iowa goal of 70 percent of Iowa’s workforce having education or training beyond high school by 2025.”
The STEM Council’s executive committee voted unanimously on Monday to award and support 10 of 14 proposed partnerships that bring to the table a total cost-share commitment of $566,234 and more than 60 business and community partners. Nearly $250,000 in STEM Council investment is made possible through a combination of state and private funds and is divided equally among these 10 awardees to purchase equipment and provide teacher training:
• Assumption High School, Davenport — Southeast STEM Region
• Boone High School — North Central STEM Region
• Fort Madison Community High School — Southeast STEM Region
• IKM-Manning Community School District — Southwest STEM Region
• Muscatine Community School District — Southeast STEM Region
• North Cedar Elementary School, Cedar Falls — Northeast STEM Region
• Spencer High School — Northwest STEM Region
• Story County Consortium (Ames, Ballard, Collins-Maxwell, Colo-NESCO, Gilbert, Nevada, and Roland-Story School Districts) — North Central STEM Region
• Waukee APEX — South Central STEM Region
• West Delaware County Community School District — Northeast STEM Region
“STEM BEST fosters an environment where communities match the needs of the local workforce to the skills students learn and gain in the classroom,” said Kemin Industries President and CEO Dr. Chris Nelson, co-chair of the STEM Council. “Creating these school-business partnerships is a key priority of the STEM Council with the belief that they will meet the STEM career demand in their communities and shape the future of Iowa’s economy.”
Each selected program submitted an in-depth proposal, considering factors like education driven by industry need, rigorous, relevant and dynamic STEM curriculum and authentic partnerships. These models bring various strengths in community partnerships, district demographics and program focus and will serve as models for others around the state.
To learn more about the model and the current eight STEM BEST partners, visit www.IowaSTEM.gov/STEMBEST.