Through a partnership with Buena Vista University, Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc. offers additional opportunities and educational benefits for its employees and their eligible family members.
Buena Vista University (BVU) and Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc. have entered a Strategic Partnership that provides new opportunities to strengthen their communities and the people they serve.
This partnership allows for employees of Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc., as well as eligible family members of full-time employees, to receive grant funding to lower the overall cost of education while enrolled in classes at BVU’s Storm Lake campus. Partner grant funding also lowers the cost per credit hour for students enrolled in BVU’s convenient online undergraduate programs or the organizational leadership graduate program.
“This Strategic Partnership with Buena Vista University will be great for our staff who not only really want to grow and improve some of their skills, but it will also be a great opportunity for their children,” says Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc. Human Resources Director Miranda Monroy. “We have staff who have kids who might want to go to school, and taking some of that financial burden off of their families helps tremendously.”
"I would not have had the opportunity to live close to home and continue my education if it wasn’t for BVU and all the online programs they have to offer. Everyone from the professors to the advisors were amazing and definitely made me feel individualized and important as a student even when I was not directly on campus.”
Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc. Financial Management Consultant Callie Brainard, '21
Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that strives to fight poverty at a local level by assisting low-income families to become self-sufficient. Based in Remsen, the organization partners with the state and federal government to serve individuals in five Northwest Iowa counties: Cherokee, Ida, Lyon, Plymouth, and Sioux.
The organization—which belongs to a collective of community action agencies established under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964—has about 120 employees focused on serving children and families affected by the conditions of poverty through various programs, including early childhood, health, family development, housing, weatherization, and community enrichment and outreach services.
“BVU holds a special place in my heart as it allowed me to be close to home and near my family all while pursuing my education and degree,” says Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc. Financial Management Consultant Callie Brainard, ’21. “Being from small town Iowa, it was very important to me to attend a university that felt like I was at home. With BVU’s all online programs, I was able to do just that. I would not have had the opportunity to live close to home and continue my education if it wasn’t for BVU and all the online programs they have to offer. Everyone from the professors to the advisors were amazing and definitely made me feel individualized and important as a student even when I was not directly on campus.”
“Buena Vista University is thrilled to join forces with Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc. through our Strategic Partnerships initiative,” says BVU Director of Strategic Partnerships Laura Todd. “Providing educational benefits that will further strengthen Mid-Sioux Opportunity, Inc.’s employees and their families as they work to serve those in Northwest Iowa serves all of us in our mission to build stronger communities.”
For more information about BVU’s Strategic Partnerships and partner opportunities, please visit the BVU website at bvu.edu/strategic-partnerships or contact Strategic Partnerships at StrategicPartnerships@bvu.edu.