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Lutheran Services in Iowa warns federal cuts are straining refugee, immigrant services in Black Hawk County
Summary
Lutheran Services in Iowa told Black Hawk County supervisors on April 28 that federal funding reductions have curtailed resettlement and childcare supports locally and asked the county to help find local partners to sustain services.
Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI) told the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors on April 28 that recent federal funding cuts threaten local refugee and immigrant supports and urged the board to consider local partnerships to sustain programs.
"My name is Nick Wartz and I serve as the vice president of programs for Lutheran Services in Iowa," Wartz said, introducing a team that included Laura Taco, director for immigrant and refugee services, and Omar Balde, the Waterloo service coordinator. He outlined decades of LSI work statewide and said LSI continues to provide early childhood home visiting, foster care and mental‑health services as well as refugee resettlement in the Cedar Valley.
LSI said it served about 64 individuals in the past fiscal year in the Waterloo/Black Hawk County area, 41 through refugee resettlement; in the employment and case‑management programs 11 clients found work in the past year and 23 were enrolled in extended case management, Omar Balde said. "We have four clients enrolled in match and save" small‑asset programs for newcomers, he added.
The presenters said federal support has been reduced, costing the agency grants and prompting program uncertainty. "We did recently lose funding for the childcare program from the Office of Refugee Resettlement," Wartz said, adding that a three‑year grant will now end in September. He cited other program cuts affecting sponsor services for unaccompanied children, and said changes to federal law and benefit eligibility have reduced access to food assistance and threatened some beneficiaries' immigration status and work authorization.
Board members asked about local demographics and partnerships. LSI staff said they could not provide an exact number of residents from specific nationalities at the meeting but estimated a sizable Haitian population in the Cedar Valley and said most referrals come by word of mouth, Hawkeye Community College and local providers. They said LSI has received pilot funding from employers in the past but currently lacks sustained employer support.
LSI asked the board to consider local funding or connections with community partners. "We are turning to our local communities to help support and continue the work that we do," Wartz said, noting outreach to the Advancing Together Coalition and the United Way of the Cedar Valley. He thanked the board for a recently approved small county grant that purchased safety gates for home providers.
The presentation closed with supervisors offering appreciation and no immediate county funding commitment; LSI said it would bring a formal proposal if the board indicated interest. The board also fielded questions about program details and said it valued the agency's work in the community.
Next steps: LSI will follow up with requested demographic details and continue outreach to local partners; the board did not take formal funding action at this meeting.
