Graduate students in the College of Public Health developed a public health campaign for the Mason City's North End neighborhood to combat negative perceptions in order to improve residents' health and well-being.    

This campaign seeks to improve perceptions of Mason City's North End neighborhood.  Negative stigmas attached to the neighborhood, often considered run-down or dangerous, can have an adverse effect on health and wellness.  Data suggests that perceptions don't necessarily match reality. 

As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the University of Iowa’s School of Urban & Regional Planning developed a plan for Mason City's North End Neighborhood.

Students from the School of Journalism & Mass Communication created a strategic marketing and communications campaign to encourage civic engagement among Mason City residents and to recruit volunteers to serve on local government boards. 

Students in the School of Art & Art History Graphic Design course designed a community-based mobile app for the City of Mason City.

Students created a marketing plan that presents research conducted on the blufflands than Winneshiek County aims to protect. This marketing plan details not only the research but also provides recommendations for developing and promoting a new friends group for protecting these lands.

In collaboration with Iowa Digital Engagement and Learning (IDEAL), honors rhetoric students created podcasts in sping 2014 through IDEAL's Digital Narratives project. Podcasts focused on IISC's partner community of Muscatine, particularly on the growth and development of Muscatine.

Here are the five stories told through podcasts:

Honors rhetoric students collaborated with two groups in the School of Urban & Regional Planning, and the Iowa Digital Engagement and Learning (IDEAL) program, to develop digital texts that will help tell the story and effectively message the Mississippi riverfront redevelopment project and Connectivity master plan project to citizens of Muscatine.

Students in a Fundraising and Philanthropy Communications class organized ideas for a non-profit animal shelter's fundraising campaign. Using research on the latest trends in fundraising and philanthropy, students evaluated the shelter's past special events, marketing campaigns, and donor interests. They applied concepts and trends to organize new events, update marketing pieces, and developed a donor campaign with creative ideas and key messages to better position the shelter to receive support.

Urban and Regional Planning students studied the current state of the downtown area in Anamosa, Iowa and through research drafted a revitalization plan, Vision Anamosa, for local officials to use as they continue to build upon their current efforts.