The Iowa Economic Development Authority has awarded $400,000 in grants to 26 projects that will help revitalize rural communities statewide and help them grow. The awards were announced today in a news release from the IEDA and Gov. Kim Reynolds. “The Rural Innovation Grant program and the Rural Housing Assessment Grant program help turn innovative ideas into reality for so many small communities across Iowa, paving the way for opportunity and prosperity for generations to come,” Reynolds said in the release. The programs were established in 2019 to help communities of fewer than 20,000 people. The grants announced today will help projects such as the creation of a reverse scholarship program by the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque to partner with local universities to attract new teachers to rural eastern Iowa, and for Al Exito, a nonprofit organization, that will use the funds for a yearlong program to educate Latino youths in Hampton, Perry and Tama on leadership skill development, foster community connections, and establish a cohort of leaders. Other communities receiving grants are the cities of Atlantic, Grinnell, Livermore, Mount Ayr, Onawa, Rock Valley, Sheldon and Shenandoah.