| Great Places offer a vibrant, integrated
quality of life where people choose to live, work, visit, stay and play.
The Great Places goal is to work in collaboration with local leaders, combine
resources for high impact and deliver results.
State government and Iowans will work together to synchronize and streamline
programs to fit a place’s vision, not to make the vision fit state programs.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Great Places?
Why be an Iowa Great Place? What's in it for me?
How does my place become a Great Place?
What funding is available for Great Places?
How will the pilot Great Places be selected?
What if my place is not selected as a pilot Great Place?
Where can I find more information about Great Places?
What is Great Places?
Great Places is a Vilsack-Pederson Administration initiative designed to promote
bold thought, innovation and entrepreneurship to cultivate the unique and authentic
qualities that make places in Iowa so special. The initiative turns the state
into a new kind of partner with Iowans—demystifying government, combining
resources for impact and delivering results.
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Why be an Iowa Great Place? What's in
it for me?
It's all about high impact, visible results, and a one-stop shop! As an Iowa Great
Places participant:
• A team will come together just for your place, from a whole span
of state agencies, to work and think together with you about how the state can
partner to help your place achieve its vision.
• State agencies come to you with the help they can offer,
rather than your having to seek out each possible type of assistance.
• You'll have a one-stop shop for state programs—we
will help you find the state services that fit your vision, and walk you through
the process to access them.
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How does my place become
a Great Place?
Send an invitation to Great Places-this invitation needn't be more than
a 1-page letter (see Sample
Great Places Invitation  ).
You'll be given proposal guidelines to submit your place's offer. Written
offers will be presented to the State Agency Partners and Citizen Advisory
Board in September-and if selected as a finalist, you'll have the opportunity
to have the board come to your place to show how it shines.
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What funding is available for Great
Places?
Governor Vilsack's Executive Order 39 creating Great Places calls on state agencies to focus financial and technical resources, identifying ways to package together resources under their control into a competitive effort to be awarded to Great Places. In other words, the Great Places initiative provides a "one stop shop" for existing state programs-helping identify appropriate funding and services and helping places secure them. Beyond that, the Legislature appropriated $3 million for the next Great Places to help them kick-start their infrastructure initiatives.
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How will the pilot Great Places
be selected?
State agency partners and the Citizen Advisory Board will come together to review proposals, considering offers in context of seven dimensions: A Unique Sense of Place, Engaging Experiences, A Rich Social Fabric, A Vital Economy, A Pleasing Environment, A Strong Foundation and A Creative Culture (see Dimensions
of a Great Place ).
In up to 20 pages and 20 PowerPoint slides, each place will submit a written proposal that details the updated status of the project, a timeline, budget, list of partners and a description of community buy-in. The State Agency Partners and the Citizen Advisory Board will assess each place's level of readiness to be a Great Place (see Your
Great Places Offer ). The Citizen Advisory Board will do a finalist bus tour of those places that are ready to determine who will go on to become this year's Great Places.
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What if my place is not selected
as a pilot Great Place?
Coaches are available to any place that is not selected and wants some assistance. The coaching process and place profile will still help your place identify strengths, gaps, potential resources and next steps needed to increase your place's level of readiness. Furthermore, Great Places hosts various workshops, conferences and identifies resources for all who are interested in continuing.
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Where can I find more information
about Great Places?
Contact AAron Todd at Aaron.Todd@iowa.gov
or Louis McGinty at louis.mcginty@iowa.gov.
You can call them at 515.281.8800.
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