Invest DSM reports record 2024 activity, expands to two more special investment districts

Amber Lynch, executive director of Invest DSM, updated the Des Moines City Council and Polk County representatives at the April 21 work session on the nonprofit’s 2024 activity and near-term plans.

"2024 was maybe our, I think definitely our biggest year yet," Lynch said as she summarized grant and redevelopment work across Invest DSM’s neighborhoods. Lynch reminded the council that Invest DSM was formed in 2019 by a joint resolution of the Des Moines City Council and the Polk County Board of Supervisors to focus on “middle market” neighborhood stabilization.

The organization has grown to a staff of eight and added a part‑time chief financial officer to manage rising transactional complexity, Lynch said. Invest DSM reported it completed 338 grant‑funded projects in 2024 and said those projects catalyzed roughly $30 million of private and public investment during the year. Since the program began in 2020, Invest DSM said it has completed more than 1,300 projects across its original four districts, prompting about $76 million in assessed‑value investment.

Most work, Lynch said, serves existing homeowners: she reported that about 93% of the organization’s grant projects since 2020 have been homeowner renovations rather than developer‑led work. Invest DSM said its homeowner programs typically cost‑share projects on an…