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AIM Institute seeks county sponsorship to support student access and regional tech conference
Summary
Representatives from AIM Institute asked Pottawatomie County supervisors for up to $20,000 in combined support—$10,000 to continue student programming and $10,000 to sponsor the Heartland Developers Conference—while warning of program furloughs due to federal grant uncertainty.
Jamie Bush, development director for AIM Institute, and Della Alfonso, chief executive officer, told the Pottawatomie County Board that AIM provides technology education across the region and asked the board to consider sponsorship and direct support to preserve services for underserved students.
Bush said AIM served just over 6,000 people last year across its footprint and that in Pottawatomie County they served just under 250 students in 2025. "We go in every year and do hour of code for the entire middle school for the whole day," Bush said, describing K–12 outreach, robotics, 3-D printing and drone programming.
AIM requested two items from the board: $10,000 to sustain programming that helps 11th- and 12th-grade students with FAFSA, ACT waivers and college application assistance and $10,000 in sponsorship or advertising support for the Heartland Developers Conference scheduled for Sept. 30–Oct. 1 at the Mid-America Center. Bush said the conference will run two full days from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and expects speakers from six states and two countries.
Della Alfonso described staffing pressures at AIM and said the organization has furloughed about half of its staff pending resolution of federal grants; senior staff agreed to temporary pay reductions to avoid layoffs. "We committed to double our impact over the next five years," Alfonso said, while also noting fiscal uncertainty from federal funding cuts.
Supervisors said they appreciated AIM’s work but that any county funding request would require an agenda item with supporting materials. One supervisor asked whether the request qualified as economic development funding and suggested the county attorney and the visitor bureau could provide legal and economic-impact input before the board votes. No funding decision was taken at the meeting.
Ending: AIM said it wants to increase its footprint in Iowa and asked the county for targeted help to preserve student programming and bring a technology conference to the county. Supervisors requested additional information and legal/economic analysis before considering sponsorship or grants.
