The Western Iowa Journalism Foundation (WIJF) was established in August 2020 and classified as a 501(c)(3) public charity in February 2021. Our mission is to support community journalism that ensures long-term access to accurate local news and investigative reporting throughout western Iowa.
Our philanthropic endeavors have been designed to promote and protect democracy and meet the following objectives:
Improve operational/financial efficiency of community newspapers
Articulate importance of maintaining a local news source
Assist with succession planning to keep local newspapers locally owned
Elevate underrepresented and diverse voices
Combat mis/disinformation with verified local news
WIJF is governed by a five-person board that includes a veteran journalist, small-business CEO, journalism professor, community college provost and a diversity and inclusion consultant. Current board members include:
President
Kyle Munson
Slater, Iowa
Kyle Munson is a lifelong journalist, storyteller, writer, and content creator.
He spent 24 years in daily news with The Des Moines Register, including eight years as the Iowa columnist. Since 2018 he has worked as a senior content strategist and writer for Principal Financial Group.
A fifth-generation Iowan, Kyle was born in Cedar Falls, where he spent all of six months. He was raised in southwest Iowa, where his work in community journalism more or less began with his first articles in the “6th Grade News Flash,” published on a mimeograph in Macedonia.
Kyle is a proud alumnus of Central College in Pella, Iowa, and studied Shakespeare in London. (Kenneth Branagh remains his favorite Hamlet.)
During his Register career, his journalism blended news, personality, investigation, and opinion. He won numerous awards, including Midwest Emmys for documentary video and regular accolades as a top columnist and reporter. He co-produced and hosted public issues forums on topics such as immigration reform and racial justice. He was a founding member of the Des Moines Storytellers Project. He helped launch and produce the “Just Go Bike” podcast. In 2017 he won a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to travel to China and produce an in-depth series on U.S.-China relations. Earlier in his career he served as an editor on the Register’s first digital news team and spent a decade as Iowa’s chief pop music critic, spending time with the likes of Bono, Paul McCartney, and Slipknot. He launched his first features column in 1995 and another in 2002. He covered many years of the Iowa caucuses, the Iowa State Fair, and the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).
Kyle lives in central Iowa with his architect wife, Ann Sobiech-Munson, and their undergraduate son, Frankie.
Vice President
Dr. Joel Lundstrom
Carroll, Iowa
Since 2014, Dr. Joel Lundstrom has served as the Carroll Campus Provost at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC). He earned a master’s and doctorate degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Kansas State University and bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Northern Iowa. Joel worked for 14 years in Kansas as a professor, Associate Dean of Distance Learning at Barton Community College, and Vice President of Student Services at Manhattan Area Technical College. In Carroll, Joel and his wife Kristen created the Carroll Summer Fun Camp, which specializes in integration and summer support for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Joel enjoys camping and boating with family and friends and his two sons, 17-year-old Tyson and 13-year-old Charlie.
Secretary
Dr. Andrea Breemer Frantz
Storm Lake, Iowa
Dr. Andrea Frantz is a professor of Digital Media at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. She teaches journalism studio courses, including photography and audio production, as well as digital journalism and media law & ethics. Frantz has won numerous awards for her teaching and First Amendment advocacy including the national Louis Ingelhart First Amendment Award from the College Media Association in 2016 and BVU’s most prestigious teaching award, The George Wythe Fellowship, in 2018. She serves as the Executive Director for the National Society for Collegiate Journalists organization and is an advocate for civic engagement.
Treasurer
Claudia Schabel
Des Moines, Iowa
Claudia Schabel, President of Schabel Solutions, combines over a decade of experience as a Diversity and Inclusion practitioner and strategist with Fortune 500 companies, and her multicultural background to offer coaching and consulting services in the areas of equity, cultural competency, diversity and inclusion to businesses, educational and not-for-profit organizations.
Schabel lived in Brazil and in Japan before relocating to Des Moines, Iowa, about two decades ago. Schabel speaks Portuguese, English, conversational Spanish and some Japanese. Schabel earned a BA degree in International Relations from Drake University.
Director
Todd Partridge
Auburn, Iowa
Todd Partridge is a business owner, musical performer, writer and recording engineer, living in a renovated and repurposed school building in Auburn, Iowa.
As a logistics professional, with 30 years of transportation experience, Todd currently serves as CEO, and owner of The MoveIt Companies, 3 independent logistics providers. His skill set includes, Vendor Development, Sales and Marketing, Systems Integration and Development, Insurance and Contracts and Transportation Solutions Analyst.
Todd has served on local boards and councils, including 8 years as a member of the Auburn, IA City Council. He also manages a recording studio, and has served as producer and engineer on many recording projects. Todd has traveled throughout the US and Europe, sharing and collecting stories as a solo performer, and with his band, King Of The Tramps. He has released 5 CD's of original songs.
Todd Graduated from The University of Northern Iowa with degrees in Public Relations, Marketing and Journalism.
Executive Director
Becky Vonnahme
Breda, Iowa
After a brief career as a sportswriter, Becky transitioned to work in public relations and eventually rural nonprofit fundraising and management. She specializes in grant writing and has garnered more than $8 million for her rural clients – most hailing from towns with populations of under 10,000. She has a passion for rural development and a deep understanding of rural culture that has resulted in multiple successful capital campaigns, annual appeals, and special event fundraisers. She understands the importance of maintaining small-town newspapers to preserve a community’s identity.
Becky received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa, double majoring in Journalism-Mass Communication and Communication Studies. She was a staff member of the university’s award-winning Daily Iowan newspaper. Sticking to yellow and black school colors, she later earned a master’s degree in Communication from Wichita State University. Her thesis, “Reporting about children’s health in Kansas: A content analysis of children’s health articles in Kansas daily newspapers” was awarded Best Graduate Thesis by the Elliot School of Communication. She was also a “Year 10” graduate of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Public Health Leadership Institute.
Her family’s farm serves as the home office of the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation. Surrounded by cornfields, cattle, pigs and windmills, she and her husband Bill, a third-generation Iowa farmer, are parents to five boys.