Gov. Reynolds, Iowa Department of Education award nearly $4 million to expand career academy opportunities

$1 million each was awarded to Northwest Iowa Community College, North Iowa Area Community College and Eastern Iowa Community Colleges; $776,655 awarded to Des Moines Area Community College

Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Department of Education today announced that four Iowa community colleges have been awarded nearly $4 million in competitive grants through the state’s Career Academy Incentive Fund to empower more students with pathways to postsecondary success.

The Career Academy Incentive Fund, spearheaded by Gov. Reynolds in 2019 and administered by the Iowa Department of Education, creates and supports partnerships among community colleges, schools, local businesses and community stakeholders. These academies provide students with a variety of opportunities and pathways to achieve postsecondary success.

“The Career Academy Incentive Fund is an innovative program tailored to regional workforce needs, providing high school students with opportunities to gain valuable experience, connect with local employers and earn industry credentials and college credit,” Gov. Reynolds said. “I commend this year’s awardees for their dedication and leadership in expanding opportunities so more Iowa students have the opportunity to prepare for high-demand careers.”

Career academies play a vital role in expanding access to high-demand and often resource-intensive career and technical education programs for Iowa students. They offer valuable opportunities for skill development, career exploration, work-based learning and professional training.

“Across Iowa, career-connected learning is changing lives, empowering communities and strengthening economies,” said Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow. “Through the hard work of our students, educators and employers, more learners are attaining work-based learning experiences and college credit while in high school than ever before. We are proud to partner with these education and industry leaders in connecting the classroom to the workplace, empowering all students with multiple pathways to high-wage and public-good careers here in Iowa.”

Work-based learning attainment is at an all-time high, with 45% of all Iowa high school seniors from the class of 2025 achieving at least one work-based learning experience while in high school. Student participation is up nearly 20 percentage points over the last two years, increasing from 31.7% in 2024 and 25.5% in 2023.

To increase access to career academy programs in high-demand fields through new or expanded career academies and regional centers, Northwest Iowa Community College (Rock Rapids), North Iowa Area Community College (Mason City) and Eastern Iowa Community Colleges (Clinton) will each receive grants of $1 million and Des Moines Area Community College (Ames) will receive a grant of over $776,655.

• Eastern Iowa Community Colleges will use the funds to update three career academies at the Clinton Regional Center, bolstering facilities for health care, criminal justice and networking for systems and security. The regional center, which serves students from eight school districts in eastern Iowa, will renovate its nursing lab, update wiring and equipment and create collaborative classroom space for networking for systems and security. Additionally, a new scenario-based training simulator will be installed for the criminal justice career academy.
• Northwest Iowa Community College will establish a new regional center in Rock Rapids to serve students from four rural school districts. The construction of the facility ensures that every high school student in Northwest Iowa Community College’s region will be within 30 minutes of one of its campuses or regional centers. Four career academies in agriculture, business, education and health care are planned for the facility.
• North Iowa Area Community College will establish a regional center within its main campus in Mason City that serves students from six school districts. Plans are in place to construct a dedicated building for its dental hygiene career academy, renovate existing space for use as the electrical technology career academy and update its agriculture and machinist career academies.
• Des Moines Area Community College will update its Hunziker Center in Ames and create an information technology career academy within the renovated and improved space. Funding will also update equipment and curricula in existing career academies in automotive technology, building trades, business, culinary arts and health care. Those career academies serve students in seven neighboring school districts.

Established in 2019, the Career Academy Incentive Fund is supported by a statewide penny sales tax for school infrastructure, called Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE). The Iowa Department of Education may award up to $5 million in competitive grants annually, operating up to two competitions each year.

Additional information can be found on the Department’s Career Academy Incentive Fund webpage.