Iowa Center for Economic Success

Credit + lending. The Iowa Center supports entrepreneurs with business coaching and technical assistance for borrowers pursuing traditional lending options, as well as access to alternative flexible lending options. Certified by the sba as a microlender, and home to the Iowa Center loan fund (iclf) community development financial institution (cdfi), the Iowa Center provides loans up to $50,000 with flexible underwriting guidelines and technical assistance at every step of the loan process. In fy2023, iclf originated 8 unique loans to clients totaling $258,686.12. And the sba microloan program originated 9 unique loans totaling $296,919.00.

Tax services. As the leader of the statewide volunteer income tax assistance (vita) coalition, the Iowa Center provides thousands of low-to-moderate-income (lmi) iowans with access to income tax return preparation services. The vita grant and matching funds are awarded to coalition partners as sub-grants to make vita available in communities statewide. In ty22, the Iowa Center has 24 partners who operated 74 sites and filed 12,629 tax returns. Sites were centrally located within communities and surrounded by other human service organizations. Low-income taxpayers were our primary focus for ty22. Over 85% of the returns filed were for clients in the target population. Increasing services to the elderly was our secondary focus. We exceeded the irs goal of 3,500 returns for elderly clients by preparing returns for 5,850 elderly taxpayers.

Business coaching. The Iowa Center provides skill-based coaching resources in both the classroom and the 1:1 settings to build knowledge, skills and confidence in small business fundamentals. The Iowa Center is also home to the Iowa Center women's business Center (wbc) which is part of the us small business administration's national network of entrepreneurship centers throughout the united states. In fy2023, the Iowa Center supported 468 clients in 60 classes and 413 one-on-one coaching sessions. Our clients launched 22 new small businesses and created 31 new jobs. The business coaching team is increasing its capacity with in-person and online classroom programs and 1:1 coaching. We are continuously updating our curriculum to ensure that our classes and coaching are meeting our clients needs in the marketplace.

The organization provides other small business education and coaching opportunities that are dependent on current events and funding opportunities.