THURSDAY, JAN. 16, 2025 • VOLUME N0. 124 • ISSUE NO. 18 • 1 SECTION • 8 PAGES
Serving Colfax • Mingo • Baxter • Western Jasper County
C-M awarded $1.7M from the Child Care Business Incentive Grant for a new child care center In a partnership with newly formed Colfax Economic Development Corporation, the district plans to open the new center for 2026-2027 school year By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune For the Colfax-Mingo School District, the new year is starting off great. The district announced, in partnership with the Colfax Economic Development Corporation (CEDCO), it has received a $1.7 million grant from the State of Iowa for a new child care center. The grant is part of a $14 million effort by the state to create and expand child care options. “Usually when something comes out you get a mixed variety of reactions,” Colfax-Mingo Superintendent Tim Salmon said. “One hundred percent of people have been thrilled. Nothing but support and praise for being able to pull this off.” Unlike most grants, which can take months or years to be awarded, the Child Care Business Incentive Grant opened for applications in November, closed in December and announced those who received funding in January. The whirlwind process had those involved in Colfax moving fast to make sure the community could have a chance. “There’s a lot happening fast,”
Mental health, substance misuse among top health needs for Jasper County Community Health Needs Assessment brings to light which issues Jasper County residents and community partners currently find most significant By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune
Jamee A. Pierson/Jasper County Tribune Colfax-Mingo School District and CEDCO are now hard at work raising matching funds after being awarded $1.7 million, or half of the amount needed, for the new child care center.
Salmon said. “I think it was a combination of luck and timing. We have been talking about opening up a childcare center in this district for years, preceding my time here. About a year-and-a-half ago we purchased some property adjacent to the elementary school for future planning for a childcare or preschool center. We thought maybe in the next five to 10 years we will build.” The luck came into play with school board member Mary
Poulter and her connections on the Iowa Association of School Board’s planning committee. Fellow committee member Sheri Penney of Osage works for the Iowa Women’s Foundation (IWF), who has a main goal of providing quality daycare in communities, particularly communities like Colfax and Jasper County which are considered childcare deserts. Poulter connected Penney with Salmon GRANT | 3
STATE CHAMPION VIBES
Baxter Dance Team celebrates the season at its 2025 Winter Show Jan. 11
Jamee A. Pierson/Jasper County Tribune Left: The Baxter Dance Team on Jan. 11 performs its fifth place kick routine during the Winter Show. Right: Baxter Dance Team Soloist Gwen Tichy performs her “Disco Fever” routine at the 2025 Winter Show.
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles exploring the results of the Jasper County Community Health Needs Assessment. Mental health and substance misuse ranked as the highest community health needs in the latest Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) for Jasper County. Jasper County Health Department Administrator Becky Pryor shared the results of the assessment with the board of health at its Jan. 9 meeting. Along with MercyOne Newton Medical Center, the Jasper County Health Department conducted the overview of the county starting in May 2024. A 43-question survey was available for citizens to share their personal experiences throughout the month with 373 responses collected in that time. The CHNA Advisory Committee also held a community town hall meeting in September to gain additional data. At the meeting, 82 local partners convened for a data presentation and prioritization workshop. Attendees were briefed on four different broad health topics based upon the results of primary and secondary data analysis. They included access to medical care, mental health or substance use disorders, active living, healthy eating, and lifestyle, and social, econom-
ic and environmental factors. The participants were able to engage in table discussions following each presentation and delve further into information made available on the topics. Each group then identified the top two issues related to each need along with submitting individual responses for the top three strengths and top three gaps related to health in Jasper County. After all data was collected, the advisory committee then ranked the identified significant health needs based on the number of people impacted, impact on vulnerable populations, importance to the community and feasibility of change. MercyOne Newton Medical Center, the Jasper County Health Department and the advisory committee reconvened in December to develop an action plan from the assessment to develop a Community Health Improvement Plan. “There is a team that worked on all of this, I was a part of that team, and we put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this,” board of health chair Julie Smith said. “Becky has put a lot of time into organizing this report. She does a great job. It is very thorough and I do feel like Jasper County has a lot of needs but we also have a lot of resources that people aren’t aware of ... we just NEEDS | 3
ROZENBOOM: Significant changes to education would be a mistake in 2025 legislative session Former chair of Senate Education Committee wants to prioritize property taxes and fine tuning education-related matters By Christopher Braunschweig Jasper County Tribune
Editor’s note: The following story is the second in a three-part series going over the priorities of lawmakers who represent Jasper County communities. The issues covered do not represent all of what legislators want to accomplish but merely a small handful of what they consider top priorities. Iowa State Sen. Ken Rozenboom of District 19 is no longer chair of the Senate Education Committee, which means he can concentrate more on issues not solely related to education.
Even so, the longtime lawmaker still wants to fine-tune some education-related matters and not make any major changes. Rozenboom had asked to not chair any committees this year. He had served as the chairman of the Iowa Senate Education Committee for the past few years, taking over for Sen. Amy Sin- Rozenboom clair. But this session he said he is taking a different role
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behind the scenes and will be working (ESAs) or what critics call vouchers. closely with newer lawmakers. Rozenboom expects there to be conIowa State Sen. Lynn Evans will tinued fine-tuning of those issues, but take over the Senate Education Com- nothing major. mittee this year, giving Rozenboom a Both subjects received widespread bit of a break. To chair a committee attention and generated a fair amount like that at a time when a number of of controversy. Rozenboom went so changes were made to the Iowa school far as to say it would be a “mistake” to system made it easy for Rozenboom to make any more major changes in the get lost in educationShaw and loseMedia track of 2025 legislative session. People need a everything else. chance to catch their breath and adjust Significant changes were made to to the new normal. the Iowa education system, most no“Let’s keep in mind in the past four tably the reform of the Area Education years, yes, we talked about changes to Agencies (AEAs) and the introduction of educational savings accounts ROZENBOOM | 2 est. 1851
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