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HONORING ANNE BACON AS IOWAN OF THE WEEK
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HON. CYNTHIA AXNE
of iowa
in the house of representatives
Thursday, February 3, 2022
Mrs. AXNE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask the House of Representatives to join me in recognizing Anne Bacon, Chief Executive Officer of IMPACT Community Action Partnership.
Anne Bacon and her team at IMPACT have been essential in helping Iowans keep a roof over their heads throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting Iowans in need. So much of what we do here in Congress relies on the work of public servants and communities to implement. and their work has been especially critical over the last two years. IMPACT has been serving Iowans for years. but they took on new challenges during the pandemic.
Recognizing the importance of keeping Iowans housed during the pandemic, IMPACT helped more than 1,000 families with direct housing assistance during 2020, using funding from the CARES Act. This year, working with Polk County and Des Moines, Anne's team has kept more than 6,500 households from facing eviction and homelessness, committing more than $35 million from the Emergency Rental Assistance Program Congress passed in the last year. That includes families with nearly 7,000 children who were able to keep the homes they knew thanks to the efforts of Anne and IMPACT. Their work also received praise from the Treasury Department as a high-performing program for making their program easy to use and working directly to help renters facing eviction.
Anne grew up in Toledo, Iowa, and after living in California for four years moved back to Iowa to commit her life to making sure that our social safety net would work for people going through tough times. That goal--making sure people could access services and leave feeling better than when they started--has driven her in getting her degree in Social Work from the University of Iowa and a Masters in Public Administration from Drake University, and continues to drive her work to reduce the barriers that people in poverty face. Anne's work at IMPACT includes both direct service to Iowans and looking at the systemic issues that create this kind of need in the US, and focuses on making sure that programs to help people need to recognize that the people they're helping are their most important stakeholders.
Anne now lives in Ankeny and is happily married with three adult children and one grandson.
Anne's dedication to helping others sets an example all of us can look to, and the work of Iowans like her is critical to making sure the work we do here in Congress reaches our constituents. My work on the Financial Services Committee to secure rental assistance to help Iowans recover from the impacts of the pandemic relies on dedicated public servants like Anne. I'm forever grateful for her work during this difficult time, and I will continue to work in Congress, as I did at the State of Iowa, to make sure that government truly works for the people. It is my privilege to recognize Anne Bacon as Iowan of the Week.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 22
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