Alta, Storm Lake earn Keep Iowa Beautiful grants for local projects

Alta and Storm Lake each won $500 from Keep Iowa Beautiful, a small grant that will test how much visible improvement local volunteers can deliver with a modest public investment.

The new Plant Iowa Beautiful program selected 12 projects statewide from 150 applicants, putting Alta Hometown Pride and Storm Lake Hometown Pride in a competitive field rather than a routine giveaway. Keep Iowa Beautiful said the money is meant for beautification in publicly accessible spaces before the nation’s 250th birthday on July 4, and it must be paired with volunteer involvement and finished by June 22, 2026.

That spending can cover trees, flowers, plants, planting supplies, tools, equipment, site preparation and some volunteer support costs. In practical terms, the grants are meant to buy the pieces that turn a plan into something residents can see on a street, in a park or around a civic space.

In Storm Lake, the grant lands with a volunteer committee that already has several public-facing projects in motion. Storm Lake Hometown Pride describes itself as a group of local leaders and community members working on betterment projects, including a downtown bench program, public art and a Storm Lake Nature Area access-and-trails proposal. The city says the Hometown Pride program was created in 2012 and was established in Storm Lake and nine other surrounding communities in December 2024.

The funding matters because Storm Lake already has a financial stake in that work. The City Council previously approved up to $10,000 in city funding for five fiscal years for Hometown Pride, and the annual coaching model was described as costing $20,000, split among participating communities. The new grant will not replace that investment, but it can help buy plants or supplies for a specific workday and make the city’s volunteer effort more visible.

Alta Hometown Pride will use the grant from the same competitive program, and the city has already shown an appetite for public improvements. A colorful mural project there was nearing completion, a sign that local volunteers are trying to leave marks on shared spaces that residents pass every day. Even a $500 grant can stretch further when it is tied to labor, donated time and a plan already moving forward.

Keep Iowa Beautiful listed Alta Hometown Pride and Storm Lake Hometown Pride among 2026 recipients that also included Auburn Hometown Pride, the City of Minden, Greeley Community Garden, Inc., Kellogg Hometown Pride, Lake Park Hometown Pride, Macedonia Hamilton Development Corporation, Main Street Keokuk, Inc., Poweshiek Economic Development Collaborative, Riverton Hometown Pride and Stanhope Public Library.

For Buena Vista County, the measure of success will be simple: whether the money buys visible improvements, draws volunteers back into public spaces and leaves downtowns, parks and streetscapes looking a little more finished than they did before.