The state has awarded $400,000 in Rural Innovation and Rural Housing Assessment grants to 21 Iowa cities to support creative, nontraditional ideas that focus on challenges faced by rural communities, and for the communities to use publicly available data to help implement changes to development codes and ordinances, and housing incentives. The grants, part of the Governor’s Empower Rural Iowa Initiative, were announced Tuesday by the Iowa Economic Development Authority. According to a news release, examples of grants and how they will be used include the Bellevue Community School District, which will develop the “Innovating Bellevue” program to connect local entrepreneurs and business owners with students within a new Innovation Lab to foster creativity and collaboration. Another example, according to the release, is La Luz Hispana in Hampton, which will develop the new La Luz Centro Cultural building into a welcoming space for the Latino community and offer classes in English, nutrition, finances and cooking, as well as being a space for support groups for victims of crime, and other programming. A list of communities that received grants can be found here.