Nearly 2,000 students from Northeast Iowa schools now have an opportunity to learn firsthand about Iowa’s rich agricultural heritage. This year Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area awarded $10,280 to 37 schools within the Heritage Area, helping cover the costs of field trips to 21 different SSNHA Partner Sites. Some of the sites that will be visited throughout the school year include Hansen’s Farm Fresh Dairy, Living History Farms and Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum.
The bus grants, which help to cover the transportation costs associated with field trips to SSNHA Partner Sites, are awarded on a first-received, first-funded basis to accredited Pre K-12 public, private or charter schools located in the Heritage Area, with a maximum of $350 per school building. Funding for this program is made possible through individual contributions, corporate donations and federal funds.
Aurora Heights Elementary in Newton received one of the grants.
Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area is one of 49 federally designated heritage areas in the nation and is an Affiliated Area of the National Park Service. The Heritage Area covers 37 counties in the northeast quadrant of Iowa. Through a network of sites, programs and events, SSNHA interprets farm life, agribusiness and rural communities — past and present.