| Connecting Iowa communities with UI faculty and students to advance shared goals. | IISC is a campus-wide community engagement initiative that empowers students, faculty, staff, and community partners to co-create mutually beneficial projects in pursuit of vibrant, sustainable, and equitable futures. The program offers energizing and applicable learning experiences to graduate and upper-level undergraduate students, while simultaneously providing valuable services and substantial outcomes to communities. Each year, we facilitate 30-40 community engagement projects with units across campus, involving more than 200 UI students and faculty.
See the list of ever-growing projects for this academic year. | | | | Lilli Scott is a second-year student in the Master of Public Affairs program. A native of Fort Madison, IA, Scott received her undergraduate degree in Environmental Policy and Planning from the University of Iowa in 2023. We spoke with her about her interest in food policy and the project she's doing in collaboration with Iowa Valley RC&D.
"Learning how climate change impacts communities helped me see that it’s at the local level that you can do something," says Scott. "Commercial ag is such a big factor in climate change, and as an Iowan it’s an obvious place to plug in."
MEET LILLI
| | | Oskaloosa Visit Kicks Off Planning Project A team of Urban & Regional Planning students kicked off their yearlong capstone project with a visit to Oskaloosa on September 20. They toured downtown, met with city leaders, and engaged with the public at a downtown space and a high school football game. They are developing a comprehensive document to guide the future of Oskaloosa's downtown, with emphasis on public spaces, public support, and ways to enhance the downtown district.
A member of the team, Emmanuel Nakihinga, said he was impressed by how much the people they met "deeply treasure their historic community." The city of about 11,000 people is the county seat for Mahaska County. In the late 1800s, there were 38 coal mines in the county, making it the mining leader of Iowa. Today the city has a 700-seat auditorium and an industrial park, among other assets.
LEARN MORE | | | | Pathfinders Resource Conservation & Development is part of the national RC&D programs that were first established by the Agriculture Act of 1962 and built around the idea that local people could work together to protect and develop their economic, natural, and social resources in ways that improve quality of life. The south central nonprofit has been serving communities since 1978, with a mission to “create vibrant communities by strengthening local economies and encouraging natural resource conservation.” Their application to work with IISC focused on engaging and retaining younger community members and reducing citizens' burden of accessing social services. As the director of an organization that serves more than 20 counties, Pathfinder's Ashley Utt says they are interested in scaling the work that's done this year: "We are eager to see how the work done in a few communities can be scaled to a regional level, and how collaboration among regional partners can enhance the sustainability and resilience of rural communities.”
FOLLOW OUR PROJECTS WITH PATHFINDERS | | | The neighboring communities of West Burlington and Burlington are providing multiple structural and site-specific learning opportunities for UI students this year. These include multiple projects undertaken by teams from Civil & Environmental Engineering and development of a new prairie that will serve as an educational site. Several projects reflect a growing interest in collaboration between the municipalities, such as an Arts and Culture Master Plan and an analysis of the potential for shared governmental services. Chad Bird, City Manager of Burlington, says, “I am excited about exploring inter-jurisdictional collaborations and service sharing opportunities with West Burlington. These projects have the potential to make a significant difference, and I'm eager to see them come to fruition."
FOLLOW OUR WORK IN W. BURLINGTON & BURLINGTON
| | | |
