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Cedar Valley Coalition outlines 27-year federal outreach, urges county participation
Summary
Steve Farmer of the Cedar Valley Coalition told the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors the group focuses on educating federal officials about local priorities, pursuing grant opportunities and building interjurisdictional consensus; he urged continued county participation and noted concerns about potential federal program rollbacks.
Steve Farmer, representing the Cedar Valley Coalition, told the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors on July 29 that the coalition has spent nearly three decades doing federal outreach on behalf of local governments and other public entities in the Cedar Valley region. “It is a pleasure to be here,” Farmer said as he opened his presentation.
The coalition was formed in 2003 after earlier, smaller delegations to Washington, D.C., and now organizes annual visits and briefings aimed at informing congressional offices about local projects and funding needs. Farmer said the group’s primary purpose is “to inform federal officials about what’s going on, what our challenges are, what our successes are, and to seek funding support for those priorities.”
Nut graf: The presentation matters because the coalition aggregates priorities from cities, counties, schools, health care and economic-development organizations and brings them to federal staff and members of Congress, helping local officials identify grant opportunities and, historically, secure earmarks. Farmer said the group’s reach and longevity let the region present coordinated requests for transportation, workforce and community-development resources.
Farmer outlined the coalition’s recurring focus areas for 2025: education and workforce development, transportation and infrastructure, and community development. He described workforce items including career-center partnerships, apprenticeships and a new nursing program at the University of Northern Iowa and said the coalition also discusses automation and engineering technology. On transportation, Farmer cited long-running projects such as the Green Hill intersection in Cedar Falls and ongoing rail-crossing and street-conversion issues in Waterloo.
The coalition is structured as an informal, member-funded group. Farmer said most member organizations pay annual dues — “For most of the groups, those dues are $700 a year. For the county, it’s $1,400. For the cities it’s even more” — and those dues underwrite coalition operations and a congressional reception during the Washington trip. Farmer described membership as primarily local governments, education providers, economic-development organizations, nonprofits and health-care providers.
Board members asked about campaign priorities and current federal uncertainty. Farmer said the coalition had been monitoring potential cuts to federal programs. “Our message when we met with the legislative staff was, so what happens when these things go away?” he said, naming FEMA, the Community Development Block Grant and HOME program as examples local officials asked about.
Farmer said the coalition had considered scheduling the Washington trip earlier in the federal appropriations cycle next year and that the group plans to move its annual delegation to February when possible. He also invited board members to participate in coalition meetings and the Washington delegation. Multiple supervisors said they wanted to be included in future briefings and that county staff could help shape the coalition’s agenda.
Ending: Farmer closed by saying the group’s long-term presence in Washington has produced measurable outcomes over the years and by asking for the board’s continued engagement. The coalition offered to provide briefing materials and to include county staff when putting the 2026 agenda together.
