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Governor Kim Reynolds will allocate 11.5 million dollars from federal COVID-relief funds to build up mental health services in Iowa schools and to support community college job training programs.
In a statement, Reynolds said expanding support services in PreK-12 school will help address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on students’ mental health.
She says increasing tuition assistance for job training will allow more Iowans to quickly fill high-demand jobs in industries such as health care, information technology, and trucking.
The Iowa Department of Education will create grant programs to distribute the funds.
Woodbury County was among 21 Iowa counties that declined new COVID-19 vaccine allotments from the state this past week because they did not have the demand to use them, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. Other Northwest Iowa counties that declined allotments were Crawford, Clay, Lyon, Osceola, and Sac.
State officials say that may be evidence of demand for the vaccine slowing down. District Health Deputy Director Tyler Brock said Tuesday that upcoming clinics scheduled to use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have either been postponed or switched because of concerns about side effects from that vaccine.
An Iowa nonprofit for Asian American and Pacific Islanders released their findings from studying the community’s attitudes and perceptions of sexual violence. The participants reported barriers in reporting and preventing sexual violence within their communities. And they need more resources from the state.
The first round of listening sessions began last July and ended at the beginning of this year. The group plans to host more community listening sessions in the future for other underrepresented populations in Iowa.
