College of Law students who are part of the Community Empowerment Law Project will work with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque to better understand the issue of chronic absenteeism among Marshallese students. They will seek to understand the relationship of these students and their families to the schools, establish current policies that may be affecting the situation, and make recommendations for new policies and improved communication.

Students in a course in the School of Planning and Public Affairs developed recommendations for revitalizing Clinton's alleyways with improved pavers, public art, and other modifications.

Downtown alleyways often serve important functions, such as waste management or service entrances for businesses. However, communities are increasingly recognizing alleyways as opportunities to create unique public spaces while also improving water runoff.

Students in a course in the School of Planning and Public Affairs examined ways to reignite Clinton's Mayor's Youth Commission. They made recommendations about this entity, as well as other ways to better engage teens in the civic fabric of the community.

Marketing students in the Tippie College of Business Marketing Institute developed a marketing strategy to promote the West Delaware County Community School District and to help stem recent open enrollment out of the district.

The West Delaware County Community School District (West Delaware CCSD) is based in Manchester, Iowa and serves the communities of Dundee, Greeley, Manchester, Masonville, and Ryan. The district operates three schools, all in Manchester.

Students from the School of Urban & Regional Planning course Community Development in the Upper Midwest worked with Latinx teens in Columbus Junction's Upward Bound program to produce videos and books that help tell the 150 year story of the community through interviews and historical artifacts.

Graduate and advanced undergraduates in urban planning, the social sciences, the humanities, and the arts examined the many challenges facing small- to medium-sized towns in Iowa and elsewhere in the Upper Midwest and work towards community-based solutions.

The University of Iowa Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination (CHEEC), through its Grants to Schools Program, partnered with the Keokuk Community School District to test for lead in school drinking water and provide assistance for the minimal remediation determined to be necessary. 

Students conducted walkability assessments in two rural Woodbury County Communities. Using data from the assessments, students used ArcGIS Online to create a map of each community’s walkability strengths and weaknesses.

Students in the School of Library and Information Science partnered with Sioux City Public Library Director Betsy Thompson to identify potential community partners who had a stake in and wanted to develop community partnerships in support of early childhood literacy. 

Students in the School of Planning and Public Affairs partnered with the City of Dubuque and the Dubuque Community School District (DCSD) to study the relationship between housing policy, neighborhoods, and elementary school student achievement.