Polk County approves $750,000 to fund school with housing for at-risk youth
DES MOINES, Iowa — A school for at-risk youth in Des Moines is undergoing a major expansion, and the Polk County Board of Supervisors approved additional funding to help the project.
Starts Right Here opened in 2020 to provide educational support for kids who are at risk of dropping out of school. Founder Will Keeps has helped dozens of kids graduate from high school.
Now, Keeps is expanding the school to the former Elim Church in the East Village. Aside from providing additional classroom space, they are also developing 18 new rental units for at-risk populations. Keeps said community members age 18 to 24 will be able to apply for these apartments.
On Tuesday, the Polk County Board of Supervisors met and unanimously approved $750,000 of ERA2 funding for Keep's project. According to the Department of Treasury, the ERA2 program was authorized in 2021 under the American Rescue Plan Act and was designed to help provide housing assistance, among other things.
After the meeting, Keeps told WHO 13 News he was happy about the board's decision.
'For a long time, I've been wondering, 'Am I ever going to get the funds to get the things I want to do for the community?' And right now everybody's stepping up to be able to help the community in a big way and I'm so excited, it's unbelievable,' he said.
Chair of the Polk County Board of Supervisors Matt McCoy said the project will target a critical age group that may need the additional help.
'It's their first house, many of them haven't established credit. So, what this does is it helps them get started in their first apartment and provides the supportive housing that they'll need to help them be successful; the job skills, the educational training, and the opportunities for educational training,' McCoy told WHO 13 News after the meeting.
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McCoy also said another reason why the board approved this funding is because of the demographic of the population this will help.
He said, 'These are kids, in many cases, who have aged out of the foster system, so they would be without the supportive services without a program like this.'
In total, Starts Right Here has now raised $5,425,000 in funding for this project. This money was provided by the City of Des Moines, Polk County, and the State of Iowa.
In early January, the Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) Board of Directors kicked off funding for the project by awarding a total of $3,625,000 to Hatch Development Corporation for the development of this project. The total grant award includes $2.5 million for development costs, $750,000 in Supportive Services Funds, $187,500 for Non-Profit Operations and $187,500 for Non-Profit Capacity Building.
In late January, the Polk County Board of Supervisors approved $50,000 from the Community Development Grant to Starts Right Here.
Then, $1,000,000 was awarded by the City of Des Moines during a City Council Meeting earlier in February.
Now, this additional funding approved by Polk County on Tuesday brings the total to just under $5.5 million.
'To see how the state, the city, Polk County, everybody coming together to help this project, I always talk about we need to all come together and work together and they literally came together, and it's a beautiful thing to see,' said Keeps.
The new space will allow Starts Right Here to help hundreds of more students.
This comes two years after a student opened fire, killing two students and injuring Keeps, at Starts Right Here.
'We've shown that resilience, even during terrible times. I'm so happy that people in power are seeing it,' said Keeps.
He said construction will likely start in July.
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