More than 40 leaders recently graduated from the West Des Moines Leadership Academy, a nine-month leadership development program through the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce. The 2026 class conducted a community-impact project as part of the program raising over $90,000 to support the nonprofit Can Play, which offers adapted and no-cost sports and recreation programming for youth and families facing barriers. The funds raised will allow Can Play to purchase a new van and reinvest funds into programming. The project included a multi-faceted campaign featuring a mini-golf fundraising event, “Can Play Fore All,” which generated over 220 volunteer hours, as well as a sports equipment drive in partnership with Play It Again Sports and 61 additional volunteer hours supporting Can Play programming.