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Connections October/November 2009 |
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 October-November 2009 | | | Join Our List | |  | | |  Tripping Through Iowa | | | We just returned from our whirlwind trip across Iowa Sept. 29-30 to select this year's Great Places. This is the fifth year for this trip. Great Places staff accompanied the Citizens Advisory Board to help support the Board as they made their decision.
Board Chair Robin Anderson commented that she had made all of the trips; Robin serves as the Chamber of Commerce Director in Mason City. Mark Ginsberg from Iowa City, Dave Bernstein of Sioux City, Terry Lynch from Marion, and Sam Erickson from Pleasant Hill are all part of that original group as well. Ritz Vargas of Davenport has made all but one of the trips.
Some of the more recent additions to the Board are Scott Brenner of Des Moines, Dustin Embree of Estherville, Tom Hanafan of Council Bluffs, Robert Fritsch of Dubuque, Quentin Hart of Waterloo, and Ruth Smith of Lamoni. This trip is only one of many activities for the Board. They conduct a coaching session in the spring after the letters of intent are received. Some members of the Board serve on the Grant Selection Committee in July. They also select the semi-finalists from all the applications that are received in August.
Some of us boarded the bus at 7 a.m. from Des Moines so we could pick up the rest of the Board members in Iowa City. Our first presentation was by the Iowa City group at their public library. Our next stop was for lunch at Jerry's in Mt. Pleasant. Next we met at the Bonaparte Opera House in Bonaparte to hear about Van Buren's Folk School. Two down and four to go. The day wasn't over though. We bussed back up to Marion to hear their presentation. We finished dinner in Cedar Rapids at 10 p.m. The next day started at 7 a.m. again as we were off to Tama County. Then off to Waterloo for our next presentation by the Cedar Valley Alliance. The last stop was the Turkey River Corridor where we toured Clermont and Elgin and then heard a presentation at the Elkader Opera House.
It was a fantastic trip.
TOP | | The Narrowing | | | Since its inception, the Great Places program has been a process that starts with a large number of communities that express interest and ends with a few that get selected. It has taken most of these communities two years to become a Great Place. This is how it's supposed to be. Those communities that are selected as a Great Place have many special qualities. They deserve the special recognition they receive.
This year started with the e-mails that Francis Boggus sent out in January to announce that the training sessions would be starting soon. The first presentation at Cultural Advocacy Day in February was attended by over 30 different communities that were very interested. When forum training was conducted in March, the number started to narrow. By the May deadline for sending in a Letter of Intent, the number decreased down to 14. Coaching by staff and the departmental coaches commenced in June. There were 12 communities that expressed their "intent." From this group a total of nine applications were received in August and from the nine, six Great Places were selected in September.
Why do so many go by the wayside? It's because it is not easy to be a Great Place and it's not easy to get selected as a Great Place. Many will confuse Great Places with grant programs from state government. Great Places is not a grant program. Great Places is a collaborative initiative by all elements of the community. City government, county government, chamber, economic development, conservation, and the local non-profits must all be involved. These "places" go through a self-discovery process to determine why they are distinct and unique; then they prioritize projects that build on their uniqueness. Conveying all this visioning and planning in an application is by no means a simple achievement either. Finally, they must convince 12 board members in an on-site visit that they are what they say they are.
If they completed the application and were not selected, most of them try again the next year.
One of the main attributes of our Great Places is perseverance.
| | And the Designees Are... | | | After the Great Places Citizen's Advisory Board conducted their site visits, they selected six new Great Places!
Iowa's six new Great Places are: - Greater Cedar Valley Alliance (Cedar alls/Evansdale/Waterloo)
- Iowa City/Coralville/North Liberty
- Marion
- Tama County
- Turkey River Corridor (Clermont/Elgin/Elkader)
- Villages of Van Buren
This is the 5th year of the program and this makes a total of 26 Great Places that have received this special designations. The vision of the program is "to build a stronger Iowa, one place at a time."
The program is based on Great Places identifying the qualities that make them unique and to then build their future around these characteristics. After designation the department works with each place to finalize their work plans and draft memorandums of understanding that will make them full partners with the state. The state then works with them as a partner to provide technical assistance for their projects.
Each new Great Place presented a convincing argument about their qualifications:
Greater Cedar Valley Alliance: Strengthening of the Cedar Valley's relationship with the Cedar River and increasing the public's use and enjoyment of the River
Iowa City/Coralville/North Liberty: Incorporating a vision based on literature with a development called the Stories Project
Marion: Utilizing the "Imagine 8" process to focus on Marion Square Park as the center with all trails, parks, amphitheatres and public art connecting to this town centre
Tama County: Utilizing the Native American theme of "Feeding the Spirit," with a true spirit of cooperation local and tribal projects enhance the quality of life for all
Turkey River Corridor: Collaborating to develop and enhance the corridor through creation of land and water trails
Villages of Van Buren County: Developing a Villages Folk School within the unique surroundings of each village, the county would be the campus
Congratulations to these six deserving PLACES! ***************** A working session in Des Moines for the new Great Places will be Nov. 4-5, 2009. The six newly designated Great Places will meet with representatives of the partner state agencies to discuss their project plans and the state agencies will offer a list of potential services they can provide. Each place will be contacted to schedule a one hour time slot for one of those days.
| | Our First Celebration of Great Places and Their Accomplishments | | If you haven't already heard, the first Great Places Banquet will be Friday, October 16, 2009, at the State Historical Building. Baratta's is our caterer and there will be a wonderful program with lots of awards. Make sure that you have your reservations. We're hoping that each of the Great Places will have their own table of eight.
| | | | | | | | Created in 2005, Iowa Great Places is a program designed to promote bold thought, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the local and regional level in Iowa. Places - neighborhoods, cities, counties, or regions - engage in an inclusive strategic planning process to assess their strengths and areas of opportunity, create a vision for augmenting their unique attributes and quality of life, and design a roadmap to turn that vision into realty.
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