Iowa City Climate Action Commission members heard mid‑year presentations from three recipients of the city’s Climate Action grants, who described energy‑efficiency upgrades, historic‑preservation coordination and a new educational garden for early childhood students.

Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity representative Scott Hawes said the organization used its Climate Action grant to fund building‑envelope upgrades on one home, including spray‑foam insulation, Energy Star windows and an energy‑recovery ventilation (ERV) system to reduce utility costs and preserve affordability for the homeowner. "Our primary interest is making sure that the home remains affordable," Hawes said, explaining the organization structures financing so households will pay a stable percentage of gross income for housing costs and that energy savings help sustain affordability.

Barbara Eck Stein, representing Trinity Episcopal Church, described plans to replace seven windows in the mid‑20th century education wing and noted the congregation’s ongoing coordination with the Historic Preservation Office. "When we started this ... Jessica Bristow from the Historic Preservation Office came also, so she could say, here's what the materials need to be," Eck Stein said, describing early and frequent consultation to keep the project moving while accommodating preservation requirements. The church said the window work is intended to secure the building envelope and enable future measures such as rooftop solar on the parish hall.

Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County staff Jana Garlson (early childhood director) and teacher Sarah Furnish reported on a new Broadway site garden built with Climate Action grant support to bring hands‑on gardening and food exposure to three‑year‑old students. Furnish described garden activities — worms, rain barrels, root vegetables and taste tests — as a way to reduce food aversion and expand children’s familiarity with healthy foods. "He said he wanted to be a scientist. I said, 'What? Really?' And he says, 'Yeah, it's magic,'" Furnish said, recounting a child’s reaction to the garden.

Commissioners asked implementation questions: whether ERV systems can be retrofitted (Hawes affirmed they can), how many homes Habitat builds annually (Hawes said the grant covered one home; the organization builds about three to five homes a year in Iowa City and has built more than 150 homes across its service area since the 1990s), and how historic‑preservation review affected Trinity’s schedule (Eck Stein said early coordination smoothed the process). Staff noted communications support: the Habitat presentation will be accompanied by a video produced with city communications staff; staff said they will distribute links to that video and other materials in a follow‑up email to commissioners.

Why this matters: the three projects illustrate how relatively small local grants can reduce energy use and utility burdens in homes, enable preservation‑sensitive building upgrades at community institutions, and connect climate action to early childhood health and education — outcomes commissioners cited as consistent with the commission’s priorities.

Commission staff will circulate the Habitat video, the Trinity project contact and the Neighborhood Centers follow‑up materials to commissioners, and the commission will use the awardees’ lessons as it prepares scoring guidance for future grant rounds.