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Community Academy credits prevention model for expanded summer reach, seeks sustained funding
Summary
The Community Academy told the Story County Board the organization expanded participation and countywide reach during its 2025 summer program and relies on a sliding-fee model and a mix of program fees, asset funding and donations; leaders said they need ongoing and diversified funding to sustain growth and transportation capacity.
Mike Todd, executive director of the Community Academy, told the Story County Board of Supervisors on Nov. 4 that the nonprofit’s 2025 summer program at Ames High School was its most successful to date and reached more county residents outside Ames than in previous years. “I’m Mike Todd, the executive director of the Community Academy, and back to let you in on what happened this summer,” Todd said.
Todd said the Academy emphasizes prevention through out-of-school, project-based youth development and that the program is intentionally device-free. He described the agency’s sliding-fee policy, telling supervisors that “people at the lowest end of the sliding scale pay, about 5% about what the top person pays,” and that the agency automatically applies the reduced rate based on reported household income.
Why it matters: County funding decisions affect whether lower-income families can access summer programming. Todd said asset funding is counted as purchasing a set number of service slots and that the Academy bases future funding requests on historical slot use.
Details: Todd said the Academy ran three two-week sessions (six total weeks) this summer, held programming at Ames High School and at the Collegiate Methodist Annex, and engaged in projects that included native-planting (more than 3,000 plants on public land), converting about 400 square feet of turf to native plantings at Reiman Gardens, managing an indoor farm that received a $40,000 grant (the Community Academy provided about $15,000 in matching/in-kind support), and food-security work with Food at First. He said the Academy served preschool through 12th grade and hired certified teachers for summer programming, who then brought practices back to year-round classrooms.
Board discussion and questions focused on registration and access. Supervisor Faisal asked when registration opens; Todd said it is usually in January or February and acknowledged that lower-tier slots can fill early. Faisal also asked about transportation; Todd said the Academy leases a bus and travels off-site to locations such as Peterson Park, Jester Park and local farms, and that the organization hopes to secure funding for a full-time bus driver.
Funding: Todd said roughly equal amounts come from program fees and asset funding, with additional revenue from fundraising; he described the organization’s recent growth in donor numbers after hiring a development director and noted that being a newer asset agency creates recognition challenges.
Ending: Todd asked supervisors to suggest outreach ideas and thanked the board for past support.
