1000 Friends of Iowa . . .

. . .Programmed to make a difference!!

Educational Outreach

  1. Our 12-member Speakers Bureau has given nearly 400 presentations in 65 counties. We now have 950 members and supporters in 72 Iowa counties.

  2. We produced a video called ìCornerstones,î which discusses urban sprawlís impact on Iowaís cities and towns. The video was previewed in twelve Iowa cities and continues to be used by our Speakers Bureau and by educators in classrooms across the state.

  3. Our ìFarmaSaveî roadside sign campaign is taking messages of responsible land use to Iowaís highways in a creative and catchy manner. We have seven sets of signs that we rotate to locations throughout Iowa.

  4. Our ìBuy Localî campaign is educating shoppers about the economic and land-use benefits of supporting independent merchants and Main Street businesses. A directory of local businesses has been published serving the Parks neighborhoods in Des Moines, and posters are being displayed in many Iowa towns.

  5. In 2001, we established ìBest Development Awardsî for both new and rehabilitated commercial and residential projects that exemplify smart-growth principles.

  6. With a focus on ag education and its relation to land use, we continue to offer tours of a Polk County farm threatened by urban encroachment. So far, 6,000 people have taken this tour.

  7. The Land Use Bulletin is published bi-monthly and mailed to more than 1,000 people.

 

Citizen Empowerment

  1. In Van Buren County, we facilitated a county-wide citizensí dialogue to identify land-use challenges and build consensus toward practical solutions.
  2. In every corner of the state, we continue to provide advocacy for local citizens involved in specific land-use problems. We have helped in nearly 90 local land-use disputes in 45 Iowa counties.
  3. We worked with a coalition of Des Moines neighborhood groups to call attention to the detrimental effects of a proposed highway extension through a flood plain..

 

Public Policy

  1. In 2000, our Iowa Caucus Project sent 300 supporters to Republican and Democratic precinct caucuses to introduce resolutions supporting various aspects of responsible land use.

  2. During the legislative session, we e-mail Public Policy Updates every two weeks to inform our members about the status of bills relating to land use.

 

Development Projects

  1. A grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation is enabling us to spearhead a partnership of 35 organizations working to revitalize one blighted residential block in Des Moines as a showcase for sustainable redevelopment.

  2. We initiated a commercial redevelopment project to build a grocery store featuring Iowa-grown food in Des Moinesí inner city. Our work included assembling a business plan and building a broad community-based coalition of both urban and rural interests. While the City eventually chose a different model, our effort has had positive influence on the current project.

  3. We worked in coalition with groups in Waterloo and Des Moines interested in building community kitchens. These kitchens would provide farmers and other entrepreneurs a certified facility to add value to agricultural products.

  4. We are working with the Parks Area Foundation to revitalize the streetscape in the Highland Park Business District of Des Moines, which is the site of our office.

 

Events

  1. We worked with the Des Moines Downtown Partnership to co-sponsor a successful forum on land use featuring Mayor John Norquist of Milwaukee.

  2. With Quad Cities Interfaith and twelve other groups, we co-sponsored a smart growth conference in Davenport.

  3. Our members have helped organize three îTours de Sprawlî by bus of both good and bad development practices in Des Moines and Dubuque, and a tour by canoe of Dallas County.

  4. We worked with AFSCME to organize a visit from Don Turner, retired president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. Don met with union leaders, legislators and the press in Des Moines, Waterloo and Davenport to talk about why national labor leaders are concerned about urban sprawl.

  5. With the American Planning Association, we arranged meetings between Sam Edwards and planners, city and county officials, and the state legislature. Sam helped draft Tennessee's Growth Policy Act, which requires cities and counties to plan cooperatively for future growth while preserving farmland and natural areas. It is the model for the Land Management and Planning Act, a bill that has been in the works in Iowa since 1999.

 

Updated April 2, 2003.  Call (515) 288-5364 for more information