Success Stories
Junior Achievement of Central Iowa Student Journey Video
A 2022 recipient of a grant from the Clive Community Foundation, Junior Achievement of Central Iowa is a nonprofit that inspires and prepares young people for success by providing them with real world experiences in an innovative way. JA has programs from Kindergarten through grade 12. Check out this video on the left and see how JA makes a difference in our community. For more information about JA of Central Iowa, please visit: https://centraliowa.ja.org/
YMCA/Girls on the Run Teaches Confidence, Life Skills
Girls on the Run is a life-changing program for 8–13 year-old girls that promotes empowerment by teaching life skills through lessons, training, and running. Girls on the Run began in 1996 in Charlotte, North Carolina and has been in Des Moines since 2008. The program teaches girls about self-confidence and building healthy relationships.
The program manager, Christa Vanderleest, said: “The girls participating in our program learn how to stand for themselves and also how to navigate their adolescent years.”
Girls on the Run of Central Iowa wrapped up theirfall 2021 season on November 7th with a beautiful end-of-season 5K celebration. 550 girls completed the 8-week program and over 1,000 people participated in the 5K run.
There are 550 more joyful, healthy, and confident girls in Central Iowa thanks to this local program.
On With Life
On With Life is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people with brain injuries to live their best life, On With Life also focuses on awareness and education on preventing brain injury.
As a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people with brain injuries to live their best life, On With Life also focuses on awareness and education on preventing brain injury. Because Iowa is one of only three states in the nation without helmet regulation in place, On With Life applied for a 2019 Clive Community Foundation grant to help the nonprofit promote its Helmet Awareness Month.
During the month of July 2020, On With Life worked in partnership with the Clive Police Department and other community partners statewide to hand out 250 free bicycle helmets to Clive residents and more than 600 helmets total to Iowans of all ages across the state.
“With COVID-19, we were seeing reports that bikes and helmets had become hard to find since people are spending more time outdoors while social distancing,” said Sara Wilson, On With Life development director. The nonprofit and the Clive Police Department arranged for a day at Greenbelt park to hand out helmets to anyone who showed up and was interested. On With Life raised all the funds to purchase helmets for distribution. “We were absolutely overwhelmed by the interest in the event. The [Clive Community Foundation] grant helped us to purchase some of the helmets that were needed.”
With the three primary focus areas for Clive Community Foundation grants including Quality of Life, Health and Wellness and Collaboration, supporting On With Life as they share the importance of brain injury prevention and education was a perfect fit. Thank you to Foundation donors for funding the opportunity to help keep our community safe!
Opportunity on Deck / Can Play
In 2012, as a junior in high school, Dylan DeClerck took action when he found it unimaginable that some kids in his community couldn’t participate in organized sports due to lack of financial means. That’s when he founded Opportunity on Deck, a nonprofit organization that now provides a variety of sports opportunities at low- to no-cost across the metro. In 2019, DeClerck again saw and acted on a new need—leadership training for teens who had aged out of Opportunity on Deck sports but still wanted to volunteer, learn and grow as coaches.
“We heard from former participants of our program that they were interested in volunteering and helping other people in the community as they had been helped,” DeClerck explained. “But they didn’t really know how to do it.”
The Clive Community Foundation recognized DeClerck’s vision for a new leadership program and its alignment with the Foundation’s three areas of focus—Quality of Life, Health and Wellness, and Collaboration. With a grant awarded by the Foundation, Opportunity on Deck held its first-ever Youth Leadership Academy at Crestview School of Inquiry in Clive for 20 participants. While the final two sessions and a college tour were held online due to COVID-19, those who completed those sessions, the college tour, and developed a mock practice plan were mailed a certificate and a personalized recognition video.
The experience left lasting impressions, as one young lady shared with DeClerck after finishing the program: Thank you so much for everything you have done for me! You have opened so many more opportunities for my near-future and made sure that I started in a healthy environment.
Thank you to the Clive Community Foundation donors who made this opportunity to grow, learn and volunteer possible for young future leaders!
Clive Community Services
While Clive is rated as one of the top Iowa communities in which to live and work, we face the same challenge as every community to help those struggling to meet basic needs. Established in 2014, Clive Community Services has been supporting individuals and families with food, clothing, and medical and educational services. In 2019, its food pantry, clothes closet, and free medical clinic served a total of 4,034 people, and the education program provided 105 student contact hours for tutoring.
The Clive Community Foundation is an enthusiastic supporter of Clive Community Services, awarding grants to the organization for several years. With the Foundation’s focus in key community areas—Quality of Life, Health and Wellness, and Collaboration—choosing Clive Community Services as a grant partner hits the mark in all three categories.
As the board president of Clive Community Services, Stephanie Horak has seen and helped many individuals and families throughout the year. Since many available grants have requirements to use their funding for certain services, Horak said the non-restrictive Clive Community Foundation grant has been critical to helping her organization cover operational costs and rent for their office/services space.
“The Clive Community Foundation is one of our three major donors. If we didn’t have their funding, we wouldn’t be able to exist,” Horak explained. “We are quite literally feeding, clothing, caring for, and educating the vulnerable in our community. This kind of funding is critical for real work that is happening on the ground.”
Thank you to Clive Community Foundation donors for funding critical care and services for our community’s most vulnerable populations!