Business Notes for Sept. 29, 2024

The Gazette’s Business Notes is a compendium of the week’s promotions, new hires, certifications, added business lines and business events, among other items, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and the rest of the Corridor. Information and photos can be emailed to [email protected].

New hires

Shawna Schamberger joined the Nyemaster Goode law firm in Cedar Rapids as an associate attorney practicing in the areas of tax and estate planning and business law.

Appointments

Stephanie Hartson has been named president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cedar Rapids & East Central Iowa. Hartson joined the nonprofit in 2014 and has been the interim CEO since March. BBBS board President Pankit Kotecha cited Hartson’s passion, strategic vision and leadership in a news release announcing the appointment.

Scott Byers has been elected president of the CSPS nonprofit board, with Andrea Brommelkamp as vice president. Also, Alex Anderson and Adam Burger have joined the board in Cedar Rapids.

Donald Hansen has been appointed director of finance at the Community Health Free Clinic.

Kudos

Tom DeBoom of Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman has been recognized by Best Lawyers as "Lawyer of the Year" for Cedar Rapids in matters relating to closely held companies and family business law.

Other news

Free business training for beginning farmers: Beginning farmers looking to improve their business and marketing plans can apply to be part of Fresh Connect, a free, six-month business coaching program offered by Iowa Valley RC&D in Amana. The program is made possible through a federal USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program grant.

Participants will receive six, two-hour farm business coaching sessions, professional farm/farmer photoshoots and branding guides, access to the full Farm Commons library and other educational resources, and a $2,000 stipend to invest in marketing and management resources for their farm business.

Nine farmers will be selected to participate in the first session, which will meet once a month from December 2024 through May 2025. Most sessions will be held virtually, with additional consultations available to support farmers in achieving their goals.

The program will focus on small- to mid-scale crop and livestock farmers in Eastern Iowa who primarily participate in direct and wholesale market channels. Eligible applicants will have been in business for between one and six years and plan to continue farming.

To learn about the program or to apply, visit Fresh Connect Business Coaching — Iowa Valley RC&D or email [email protected]. The deadline to apply is Nov. 3, with selections announced Nov. 17, 2024.

Grant provides hearing screening for newborns: Variety-the Children’s Charity has awarded a $25,501 grant to UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids to provide hearing screenings for newborns.

The grant was awarded to St. Luke’s Foundation to buy a MAICO Easyscreen ABR Screener with Bearphone and EarCup Adapter. The new equipment utilizes Auditory Brainstem Response technology to detect two types of hearing loss in newborns: cochlear hearing loss, caused by structural damage in the ear, and auditory neuropathy, resulting from nerve damage. The screenings also can recognize conditions like cytomegalovirus, which can lead to long-term health problems.

All babies born at St. Luke’s will receive a hearing screening with the new screener. In 2023, the hospital delivered 2,276 babies, or four out of five babies born in Cedar Rapids, the hospital said in a news release.

Black Hawk contract: The U.S. Army has awarded a $52.6 million contract to Collins Aerospace of Cedar Rapids for maintenance and overhaul of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter components.

St. Luke’s awards rural health care grants: Nine rural Eastern Iowa health care organizations have received $25,057 in grants in the UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Foundation’s Rural Healthcare Grant Program.

This program, begun in 1980, has awarded more than 225 grants totaling more than $512,000 to support emergency medical and transportation services in Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Delaware, Iowa, northern Johnson, Jones and Linn counties.

Recipients this year are the Benton County and the Jones County volunteer programs to fund transportation expenses for volunteer drivers; the Blairstown Volunteer Ambulance Service; and six volunteer fire departments — Coggon, College-Ely-Putnam, Jefferson-Monroe, Palo, Troy Mills and Walker — to purchase equipment.

“We are extremely proud of this program,” Mary Klinger, president of St. Luke’s Foundation, said in a news release. “We continue to understand how hard it is for many of these volunteer-led organizations to have the financial support they need to operate.”

Small business of the week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last week named Dusted Charm of Pottawattamie County as her small business of the week.

Becca Wiggins, inspired by the gravel roads and street signs she saw on the way to her daughter’s doctor appointments, founded Dusted Charm in 2017 in her basement with a few T-shirts and a love of graphic design. As the business grew, Becca relocated the business to Council Bluffs, bringing her mom and sisters on board as co-owners. Today, Dusted Charm sells a wide variety of women’s clothing and home goods.

Ernst, the ranking member on the Senate’s Small Business Committee, is naming one exceptional small business of the week in each of Iowa’s counties during this congressional session.