SERVING IOWA

The Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) is a campus-wide community engagement initiative that empowers students, faculty, staff, and community partners to co-create mutually beneficial partnerships in pursuit of vibrant, sustainable, and equitable futures. 

The program offers essential, 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 undertake full partnerships with 1-2 Iowa communities. We listen to our partners' needs and match these with the capacities of the university faculty and departments. Together, we co-develop a list of diverse projects that tap the assets of both the community and our students. Our goal is always to bring high-quality work to our partners, while providing learning opportunities for the next generation of community leaders.

IISC By the Numbers

60+

Iowa communities we've worked with

410

Community projects completed since 2009

200+

UI students working in Iowa communities each year

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Discover Our Recent Partnerships

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Dubuque StoryMap
Bondurant storymap
Bondurant StoryMap
Manchester storymap
Manchester Storymap

Voices of IISC

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Through my experience with IISC, I learned how to effectively engage with diverse communities, address complex challenges, and balance the needs of stakeholders while ensuring the success of these projects. The hands-on experience in real-world settings provided by IISC was invaluable in building my confidence and expertise in the field and led to me getting the job I wanted.

Emani Brinkman (MS Urban Planning, '23), Associate Planner, City of West Des Moines

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The Community Empowerment Law Project (CELP) is staffed by law students working under faculty supervision. Collaboration with IISC and their community partners enables CELP students to better understand the issues, culture, and strengths of rural and small town Iowa; to participate in interdisciplinary work with students from across the university; and to do meaningful work and have an impact beyond Johnson County.

Daria Fisher Page, College of Law

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Working with IISC has been so fulfilling. It was a journey--from brainstorming ideas and working with community partners on the application through the finishing touches of the last project (a permanent art installation)! I’m excited to think about the body of work we have inherited and how Dubuque can put it to continued development and good use. This work helped me better understand many things about my community as well as inspire me to continue the work IISC has started.

Gina Bell, Director, Sustainable Dubuque

Dubuque Housing team group photo

Full Partnerships

What We Offer

Each year, IISC works with 1-2 Iowa communities on full partnerships that include a minimum of 10 major projects. This work is completed by graduate students and upper-level undergraduates, usually as part of a capstone class, and with guidance from a faculty member and a community project lead.

IISC has worked with 25 different UI departments and disciplines, including School of Library & Information Science, English, and Cinematic Arts. Our most frequent campus partners include:

  • Civil & Environmental Engineering
  • Community Engaged Law Project, College of Law
  • Geographical & Sustainable Sciences
  • Journalism & Mass Communication
  • Marketing Institute, Tippie College of Business
  • Public Affairs
  • Urban Planning
  • Visual arts
  • World Languages, Literature, & Culture

For a list of past and potential projects by disciplinary area, visit the Project Types page.

Has IISC worked in your community yet? 

In addition to the full partnerships that IISC has completed with the Iowa communities listed to the left, we have also collaborated on stand alone projects with more than 50 additional communities. To learn more about our past work across the state, visit the Projects page of this website.

Meet Some of Our Network

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EPIC-N

IISC is a founding member of the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities-Network (EPIC-N). This global nonprofit and its members unite the human capital of universities with local governments and communities to improve the quality of life and social wealth for all involved. Travis Kraus, director of IISC, currently serves on the organization's board.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Senior Design

Senior Design is a cornerstone of IISC partnerships. Each year IISC staff identify and develop 10 to 15 unique, real-world challenges for these soon-to-be engineers. Recent projects that CEE students developed for our partners and which have since been actualized include a redesign of Shelly Park in Manchester; and a pocket neighborhood in Maquoketa.


 

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Office of Community Engagement & Outreach

IISC has a strong relationship with the University of Iowa Office of Community Engagement, which works to facilitate the development of mutually beneficial partnerships between faculty, staff, and students at the University of Iowa with community partners across the state, nation, and world.  

Visual Arts

A hallmark of every IISC partnership is a public art project. There are many murals dotting Iowa that were created by a UI student working with IISC, including in Mason City, Clinton, Bondurant, and Waterloo. We've also designed and installed a decorative arch for a park and created a solar sculpture. The 2023-24 partnership with Dubuque culminated with installation of a sculpture created from salvaged playground equipment. See the video above about this ambitious project.

News

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Planning for a Creative Future

Friday, February 7, 2025
Along with land use, housing, and transportation planning, many cities are adopting arts and culture plans. They recognize the power of arts and culture to bring people together and provide a sense of shared belonging. Evidence shows that communities with vibrant opportunities to experience the arts and co-create culture often attract new residents and retain existing ones, see decrease in crimes and increase in health and well-being. This year, a group of University of Iowa students in the School of Planning and Public Affairs is undertaking is creating the first ever arts and culture master plan for the cities of West Burlington and Burlington. Through these communities’ yearlong partnership with the UI’s Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC), the group is assessing existing strengths, talking with residents about their visions, and researching planning models and best practices.
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Five Questions with Caleb Smith

Thursday, February 6, 2025
After growing up in a western Chicago suburb, Caleb Smith attended the UI. Smith was active not only in his home department of Political Science, but also as a senator in the Undergraduate Student Senate, chief justice of Interfraternity Council life, a member of Homecoming Court, and through multiple campus jobs. In 2022, he became a member of the first cohort of the Masters in Public Affairs program. Today, Smith continues to hone his interest in public service as part of the City of Chicago’s Office of Inspector General.
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Public Invited to Help Map Accessibility in Iowa’s Cultural Destinations

Monday, December 16, 2024
A new statewide initiative from Pathfinders Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) aims to help individuals with disabilities and their caregivers better navigate opportunities to enjoy Iowa’s parks and cultural spaces. Project designers encourage anyone with knowledge about accessible features to help build the crowdsourced database and map. The survey can be accessed directly at https://bit.ly/ADAmap and on Pathfinders’ website, www.pathfindersrcd.org.
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New Guide Provides Introduction to 'Complete Neighborhoods'

Thursday, December 5, 2024
In 2023, the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which is tasked with reviewing and approving transportation investments in the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area, reached out to IISC to learn how they might tailor a 15-Minute City model to suit their needs. Now, a guidebook to “Complete Neighborhoods” that focuses on mid-sized, U.S. cities provides resources and inspiration. Created by three students in the School of Planning and Public Affairs’ Transportation Certificate program, the nearly 80-page guidebook provides overviews of concepts like supportive development regulations, infill development, and parking requirements.
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Healthcare Careers for Rural Youth

Wednesday, December 4, 2024
Professor Theresa Bechtel’s community health class, a three-semester course in the College of Nursing, focuses on the social, behavioral, environmental, economic, and medical factors that contribute to a population's health and well-being. As part of IISC’s collaboration with the South Central Iowa Workforce Development Board and Pathfinders RC&D, Bechtel’s class aims to provide analyses of the gaps in healthcare career training and awareness among high school and college-aged students in the region.
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Students Restoring Prairies Across Iowa

Thursday, November 21, 2024
West Burlington
Students receive hands-on experience, such as preparing the site, distributing seeds, and maintaining the prairie. The course also fosters interdisciplinary learning opportunities across the university. “The class is evolving, but its primary focus is to get students outside and to identify plants, identify insects, and learn the basics of restoring prairie and other native landscapes,” Fallon said. Mike Fallon and his students recently worked with the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities in West Burlington to create a pollinator garden. This project continues Fallon's longtime work on campus and the community to restore prairie to Iowa.
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UI Receives Gold Rating for Sustainability Efforts

Thursday, November 21, 2024
The University of Iowa has received a top rating for sustainability efforts by a national association focused on sustainability in higher education. According to the STARS report: "The UI also offers faculty, staff, and students across all departments the opportunity to work with Iowa communities on sustainability efforts through the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC). UI faculty and students partner with one or two communities across the state to tackle real-world projects related to sustainability. IISC has worked with more than 60 Iowa communities on more than 400 projects since 2009."
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Rooting for Prairies

Thursday, October 31, 2024
West Burlington
Students in the Earth and Environmental Sciencse class "Prairie Restoration" worked directly with the city of West Burlington to plant a pollinator garden. Filled with 400 plants, the garden is the culmination of the students' learning about the Tallgrass Prairie ecosystem, its ecological importance, and how to restore land that's been used for agriculture and other purposes to its original state.
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Our growing list of 2024-25 projects

Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Each year, we complete 30-40 projects with communities across the state of Iowa. IISC works with many UI college and departments, including the Colleges of Engineering, Business, Nursing, Liberal Arts & Sciences, and the Graduate College. We add to our projects throughout the academic year. These are our projects for this year, to date. Many more will be added next semester.
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5 Questions with Lilli Scott

Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Lilli Scott talks food systems with us. The MPA student is part of a team working with Iowa Valley Resource Conservation & Development to analyze a possible CSA voucher program that would be in partnership with the University of Iowa.
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