Site assembly and demolition of slum and blighted properties to make way for Charles E. Lakin Health & Human Services campus.
Through the foresight of community leaders, the city of Council Bluffs, the Iowa West Foundation and generous donors, five highly respected nonprofit human services agencies decided to come together and co-locate on one campus in Council Bluffs, IA. and jointly serve the area’s most vulnerable residents. The agencies included American Red Cross, Boys and Girls Club, Heartland Family Service, MICAH House and The Salvation Army. The Chalet Motor Lodge was a highly dilapidated site that community leaders found ideal to revitalize and provide urban renewal to a vulnerable area of the community. The 712 Initiative kicked off the project with site assembly and demolition of the lodge, the largest land area for the development along with neighboring smaller parcels including a salvage yard.
The Charles E. Lakin Human Services Campus is an innovative and cost-efficient complex where all children, families and individuals in need can find assistance, resources and training to better enable them to become productive and contributing residents.
Lead Developers: Iowa West Foundation and Charles E. Lakin Foundation, Inc.
5 Agencies: The American Red Cross, Boys & Girls Club, Heartland Family Service, MICAH House, and The Salvation Army
