Cedar Rapids Donates Hotel-Motel Funds to Local Non-Profits

For the first time since the pandemic halted travel in Cedar Rapids and around the world, the city of Cedar Rapids has once again handed out money to local non-profits with proceeds of the city's hotel-motel tax.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that the Cedar Rapids City Council last week handed out $520,000 to 17 non-profit organizations in the city. They range from entertainment and recreational venues to the arts. The money awarded is the hotel-motel tax revenue for the fiscal year 2023, from July 1st through June 30th, 2023. The Gazette reports that the following organizations received the funding

African American Museum of Iowa: $42,000
Brucemore: $45,000
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art: $41,500
Cedar Rapids Opera: $5,000
CSPS Hall: $17,000
Five Seasons Ski Team: $3,100
Freedom Festival: $50,000
Hawkeye Downs: $35,000
Indian Creek Nature Center: $39,500
National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library: $45,000
NewBo City Market: $35,000
Orchestra Iowa: $40,000
Revival Theatre Company: $15,400
SPT Theatre: $5,000
The History Center: $31,500
Theatre Cedar Rapids: $50,000
The District: Czech Village & New Bohemia: $25,000

The city handed out funding from the fiscal year 2020, but had to pause the program when the COVID pandemic shut down travel worldwide. And even though the payments are back up and running, the Gazette reports that they are down from previous years. The city council handed out $1.3 million in 2019, and another $1.465 million for the fiscal year 2020.

Non-profits say that the money is coming at just the right time. Many received funding through the government during the pandemic, but those loans and grants are long spent. Other non-profits, like Brucemore, will use the funding to help repair from the derecho, according to the Gazette.