A community parks and recreation master plan is “a document that provides an inclusive framework for orderly and consistent planning; acquisition; development; and administration of the parks and recreation resources, programs, and facilities of the agency that sponsors the master plan.” (Source: American Association for Leisure and Recreation.) Because Bondurant is a rapidly growing community, it looked to IISC to create a plan that includes policies and frameworks for aligning parks and recreation services to accommodate its youthful and and growing population. The student team embraced the opportunity to support health initiatives and preserve and expand spaces for pollinators and other sustainability projects.

Students in the Community Empowerment Law Project spent Spring 2024 working with a wide array of partners in Dubuque to analyze the high degree of absenteeism among K-12 Marshallese students.

As the 2023-24 partnerships between the UI's Initiative for Sustainable Communities and the City of Bondurant and the City of Dubuque come to a close, there will be events in both communities to showcase the work that has been completed. UI students from across colleges and departments and will share research and plans they have done in collaboration with representatives from the two cities. Events are free and open to all.

Students who are part of two IISC projects in Dubuque this year, one focused on affordable housing and the other on alternative transportation, led a community engagement event in the city to hear directly from citizens.

Four UI graduate students combine their interests in economic development, sustainability, and transportation to create a concise plan for affordable housing in Dubuque.

Lorin Ditzler received her MS in Urban and Regional Planning from the UI in 2011. She was part of one of the earliest IISC teams during Fall 2010, working on a project in Decorah. One of her current planning projects is in Bondurant. Today, Lorin serves as associate director of Keep Iowa Beautiful and as a planner with a Des Moines-based public art consulting firm.

The Iowa Community Integrated Geography Organization (ICIGO) is a student organization that is a perennial partner for IISC. They have mapped everything from food deserts and utilities, to insects and watersheds.

Graduate students in a UI Humanities Lab course worked with the Bondurant Historic Society to produce archival research and provide documents that capture the fast-growing community's past.

Farnaz Fatahi Moghadam officially entered the School of Planning and Public Affairs this fall but has already distinguished herself.

When the University of Iowa’s Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) visited Dubuque in early September, the day was filled with surprises. “Dubuque is an inspiring place,” says IISC director Travis Kraus. “I know we’ll be able to help the city move some of its goals forward while also learning from their innovative team.”