MASON CITY | Tiffany Jacobson has lived on the North End for 13 years. She likes her neighborhood, enjoys seeing kids play outside on her block and takes pride in where she lives. And with the Blue Heron Bar & Grille and Little Chicago opening on North Federal Avenue within the past few months, she hopes the city and community can continue to build and improve her end of Mason City. "It's gotten a...

MASON CITY | Forty North End residents will have the opportunity to eat for free at three nearby restaurants on Thursday night. The catch? Offer input and suggestions to University of Iowa students on how to better their neighborhood. Travis Kraus, assistant director for the Iowa Initiative of Sustainable Communities at the University of Iowa, is one of the organizers of "Taste of the North End."

BELLEVUE, Iowa (KCRG-TV9) -- Jackson County is looking to attract more young families to its communities. The county has teamed up with University of Iowa graduate students to discover what young people look for in a city. In Bellevue, Kelsey and Geoffrey Kaiser are examples of a young couple who moved to the town from a big city. Geoffrey Kaiser is the principal at Marquette, and Kelsey Kaiser...

SIOUX CITY, Iowa - Sioux City has dedicated its newest park, and it's located downtown. Parks and Recreation officials holding the grand opening ceremony for Pearl Street Park. It's located at 620 Pearl Street, and city leaders believe it will nicely compliment the Launchpad Children's Museum, which sits right across from the park.

MAQUOKETA, Iowa — Iowa’s urban communities are known for having more entertainment, dining, education and networking options for young professionals. But Jackson County leaders say they have amenities to offer that big cities can’t. And they want young people to know about them. The Jackson County Economic Alliance is teaming up with the University of Iowa Outreach’s Iowa Initiative for...

Washington, IA, an IISC community partner in 2013-2014, passed a hotel/motel tax this week, which is another example of a successful IISC project. Prof. Rachel Young and her Strategic Communications Campaigns course worked with the Chamber of Commerce to identify appropriate messaging to ensure the tax would pass a public vote. For many years the residents of Washington were opposed to a hotel...

Two University of Iowa art students celebrated the completion of their mural in Downtown Clinton, Iowa with a ribbon cutting ceremony on July 6th, 2017. Ali Hval was selected by the Office of Outreach & Engagement to design and install the mural, and she recruited fellow artist and MFA student Marina Ross to provide assistance. The project was made possible by a collaboration between two...

Through a partnership between Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) and East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA), eight University of Iowa graduate students collaborated with Delmar city officials, residents, and 4th-6th grade students to record interviews of longtime Delmar residents, or “storytellers”. The purpose of the project, conducted during the Spring 2017 semester...

Driving down Main Street in Delmar, Iowa, is a lot like the drive through many small rural towns across the state. There a few remaining buildings from a bygone era: the church, the school, the convenience store. But to understand Delmar—to really get to know what it’s all about—you have to get out of the car. You have to walk around. You have to find the people who call it home and, when you do...

Lucie Laurian, associate professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning, received the 2016-2017 annual Faculty Service Award presented by the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC). The award is presented to one faculty member each academic year and recognizes the recipient's commitment to community engagement and the impact of his or her project on students and the partnering...