Students enrolled in the School of Planning and Public Affairs Public Policy and Persuasion course worked with key stakeholders in Maquoketa to develop a set of proposed policy initiatives to enhance youth civic engagement opportunities and involvement in the community.  

Young people under the age of 21 make up 28.3% of Maquoketa’s population. Opportunities for youth civic participation in Maquoketa are limited, and community leaders are looking to find new, more effective ways to engage with the young population.  

Students enrolled in the School of Planning and Public Affairs Public Policy and Persuasion course worked with Maquoketa leaders to develop a set of proposed policy initiatives for welcoming newcomers to the Maquoketa community.  

Students enrolled in the School of Planning and Public Affairs Public Policy and Persuasion course worked with Maquoketa leaders to develop a set of proposed policy solutions for increasing civic volunteerism across all demographics in Maquoketa.  

Students enrolled in the School of Planning and Public Affairs Public Policy and Persuasion course worked with Maquoketa leaders to develop a set of proposed policy solutions to balance the gender distribution of individuals in public positions.  

In conjunction with the Maquoketa City Council, second-year students in the Master of Public Affairs program assisted the Council in goal setting, updating best practices for governance, and developing onboarding materials for future elected officials.  

The City of Maquoketa has a population of about 6,100 and is located in Jackson County in east-central Iowa along Highways 61 and 64. Maquoketa is a county seat and a regional leader in arts and entertainment, healthcare, historic preservation, and recreation. 

As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the School of Planning & Public Affairs created a watershed management plan for the Maquoketa River Watershed.  This project was completed as part of IISC's partnership with the City of Manchester for the 2020-21 academic year.  

Through an independent study project, second-year Urban & Regional Planning student Zach Harland worked with the Jackson county Economic Alliance and the City of Bellevue to assess downtown parking and make recommendations for improvements.

Courses from two University of Iowa departments - the Department of Theatre Arts and The School of Planning & Public Affairs - merged to explore the role of arts & culture in community and economic development, with a focus on economic inclusion and Black advancement in Iowa City.  

Working in conjunction with the Jackson Clean Energy District (Jackson CED), graduate students in the School of Planning & Public Affairs developed a Clean Energy Plan for Jackson County, Iowa.  

Jackson CED exists to strengthen Jackson County communities in Jackson County by leading the transition away from fossil fuels toward local and inclusive clean energy.  Jackson CED has a three-pronged community building mission:

As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the School of Planning & Public Affairs developed a second phase of a watershed management plan for the Maquoketa River Watershed.  This phase focused on prioritizing subwatersheds for site-specific interventions. 

Background

The Waterloo Public Library sought to understand how account holders were spread across Waterloo in order to identify areas that may need to be better served.  Addresses of existing account holders were mapped with GIS, which provided several opportunities for further analysis, including account holders outside of city boundaries, households not using WPL services, and more.

Students in the School of Planning & Public Affairs graduate course Transportation Demand Analysis completed a parking study for Waterloo’s downtown district.