Hiawatha Foundation for Economic Development

05/22/2026

Today’s the day!

If you’ve ever wanted to directly impact the look and feel of Hiawatha and Brown County, this is your chance.

With your support during Match Day, HFED can continue helping local businesses improve and restore their storefronts through our Facade Improvement Grant Program.

We already have another local business on the waitlist, ready to move forward with their improvements as soon as funding is available for the next $2,500 grant.

Our goal is to raise enough to fund 3 more grants and continue building pride and investment in our community.

Every donation makes a difference, no matter the amount. Please consider a gift to HFED at this weekend's Match Day event or at https://www.givebacktomoveforward.com/nonprofits/Hiawatha-Foundation-for-Economic-Development

See below for how this grant helped Next Generation Financial Advisors and Carl's Body Shop improve the fronts of their buildings! A 3rd project is underway at Edward Jones Investments - Brad Edwards.

05/21/2026

When you donate to HFED on Hiawatha Community Foundation's Match Day, your donation directly funds HFED’s Facade Improvement Grant Program — the only funding source for these grants.

The program offers $2500 in assistance to qualifying local businesses for exterior storefront improvements that help revitalize the community and preserve buildings, encourage reinvestment, increase foot traffic for businesses, improve curb appeal, and strengthen the overall look and feel of our community.

Last year, we were proud to award grants to 3 local businesses thanks entirely to donations from Match Day. Help us be able to award 3 more!

We invite you to consider making a donation to HFED during the Match Day event or online to help us continue investing in Hiawatha and Brown County, one project at a time.

04/30/2026

We were honored to have Maren Lagaly from the Office of Rural Prosperity at Kansas Department of Commerce stop by the HFED office last week to officially present us with a $25,000 check for the SEED Grant.

We are excited to accept this grant on behalf of Northeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging to be used to provide tables and booths for its new cafe which is set to open at its new facility in a few months!

04/13/2026

***Shared from the City of Hiawatha's page***

Join us to learn more about the Villas of Beautiful Maples Duplex Project near Bruning Park in Hiawatha.

➡️ Have questions about the project? Submit your questions now: https://forms.gle/btVLY3h5g9Q9gwsz6

We encourage respectful, constructive questions in advance via the link so we can provide the most helpful information possible.

To make the meeting as productive as possible, questions submitted through this form will be given priority in the meeting. This ensures we can provide complete, accurate answers to the topics the community cares most about. There will aslo be time for questions after all pre-submitted questions have been answered.

⏰ The form closes at Noon on Friday to allow time to review and compile complete answers.

Leaders from the City of Hiawatha, HFED, and the developer of the project will be present to walk through the project and answer questions.

We encourage you to attend to be part of the conversation.

03/24/2026

Employers — this one’s for you.

ROZ isn’t just a county program that HFED sponsors and administers. It’s a recruitment and retention tool.

Our budget allows us to fund only a limited number of recipients each year. Once those spots are filled, applicants go on a waitlist but here's what many employers may not realize. You can sponsor an employee directly.

If an employer commits up to $7,500 over five years, the State matches it — bringing the total benefit to $15,000 toward that employee’s student loan repayment.

Here's why that matters:

Employer sponsorship:
• Bypasses the waitlist
• Gets your employee enrolled immediately
• Provides a powerful recruitment and retention incentive

This isn’t just a benefit; it’s a competitive advantage.

If you’re struggling to recruit or looking for meaningful ways to retain key employees, ROZ sponsorship is a tool worth exploring.

This is Workforce Development in action — strengthening our local talent pipeline and supporting the employers who keep our economy moving.

Interested in how employer sponsorship works? Let’s talk.

03/19/2026

Workforce Development can mean making it easier for talented people to choose our communities.

In Brown County, HFED sponsors and administers the Rural Opportunity Zone (ROZ) Student Loan Reimbursement Assistance Program. This program helps attract and retain college graduates in Brown County — strengthening local employers and stabilizing our population and workforce.

Through ROZ, eligible individuals can receive up to $15,000 in student loan repayment assistance over five years.

If you think you may qualify, full eligibility details and application information are here: https://www.kansascommerce.gov/program/taxes-and-financing/rural-opportunity-zones-roz/

The ROZ is Workforce Development, HFED's second pillar, in Action.

03/17/2026

🍀 What better way to celebrate our good luck than by an appreciation post for our latest members to join us in 2026 on St. Patrick's Day! 🍀

HFED welcomed several additional members last month , and we’re grateful to have them as partners working to strengthen our local economy.

Welcome to our 2026 members who joined us last month!

Silver Members:
Brobst Accounting, LLC
Highland Community College Highland Scotties

Bronze Members:
Brown County Title Company
Chapel Oaks Funeral Home
Heartland Realty Midwest LLC
James T. Scherer, CPA

HFED Membership remains open year round. Contact us @gmail.com if you'd like to be a part of it!

03/12/2026

Business Growth isn’t always flashy.

It’s not always as newsworthy as awarding a facade grant. Many times, there’s no headline. Often, it happens behind the scenes — visible only to those in the trenches doing the work.

It’s the sometimes unglamorous, but always critical, work of Business Recruitment and Retention that's happening in meetings, phone calls, relationship building, site visits, and problem-solving conversations.

Supporting the businesses already here protects jobs and stabilizes our population and our tax base; recruiting new ones expands opportunity and keeps our local economy moving forward.

That work looks like:
• Connecting businesses with state resources
• Partnering with small business support services
• Helping remove barriers before they become bigger problems
• Facilitating lot sales for new businesses or expansions

That work can be hard to quantify, but it’s essential. It creates the conditions for the visible wins everyone sees later.

The projects you see are the result. The work you don’t see makes them possible.

That’s Business Growth in action.

03/11/2026

If you’ve seen the before-and-after photos we've shared recently of businesses making improvements to their storefronts with the help of HFED's Facade Improvement Grant, here’s the full story.

The Hiawatha World highlighted three businesses benefiting from HFED’s Facade Improvement Grant and the investments being made in our business community.

https://www.hiawathaworldonline.com/hfed-facade-improvement-grants-support-local-business-reinvestment/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQdqiJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeVMaOTDrkyW5dJ1_WYweJ93UHhxdrnLPu3UQsoTzHWGzZZxTNToPfpzDGij8_aem_sOyhZvlyiBQwi_Nzfy1mBg

Three local businesses are benefiting from the Hiawatha Foundation for Economic Development’s (HFED) Facade Improvement Grant, reinforcing ongoing investment in the business community.

03/06/2026

Good luck to our Hiawatha Red Hawks boys and girls basketball teams competing in the Sub-State Championships tonight and tomorrow night! 🏀

RedHawk Pride is on full display and the whole community is cheering you on! Moments like this are part of what makes Hiawatha so special. We are already so proud!

Let’s go Red Hawks! ❤️💙