The Polk County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday presented a $100,000 Community Development Grant to the UNI@DMACC Partnership. The grant will be used to offset construction costs of the new UNI@DMACC Partnership office and learning space located inside the Student Life & STEM Center at the Des Moines Area Community College Urban Campus in Des Moines. The 2 + 2 program, announced in November 2019, is designed for students to complete their first two years at DMACC, with the remaining two years completed through UNI on the DMACC Urban Campus. The program is designed to make degree completion easier for DMACC students by eliminating the obstacles of relocating from Des Moines. Todd Jones, marketing director of DMACC, said the grant will be used for debt reduction on the new facility. Polk County also donated $200,000 to the project through the Community Development Grant program in October 2019. The new 60,000-square-foot center, completed in late 2020, is part of a $24 million expansion and renovation project on the campus. UNI has a 20-year lease with DMACC for space within the building for the UNI@DMACC program. More information about the UNI@DMACC program can be found at this link. A Business Record article about the Student Life & STEM Center project can be found at this link.