Iowa Initiatives

Iowa Initiatives
In Iowa several efforts have been underway to bring together the organizations in communities to align their efforts to ensure all Iowa children learn at high levels.

Iowa’s Promise
Iowa’s Promise is aligned with the national America’s Promise campaignwhich is focused on providing all children with:
 -Caring Adults: Ongoing relationships with caring adults—parents, mentors, tutors, or coaches—who offer youth support, care, and guidance.
 -Safe Places: Safe places with structured activities during non-school hours to provide both physical and emotional safety.
 -A Healthy Start: Adequate nutrition, exercise, and health care that pave the way for healthy bodies, healthy minds, and smart habits for adulthood.
 -Marketable Skills: Marketable skills through effective education to help youth navigate the transition from school to work successfully.
 -Opportunities to Serve: Opportunities to give back through community service in ways that enhance self-esteem, boost self-confidence, and heighten a sense of responsibility to the community.

Iowa Collaboration for Youth Development
In 2004 the following Iowa government agencies made a commitment to work together to impact the learning of all Iowa students:
 • Governor’s Office;
 • Iowa Workforce Development;
 • Iowa Department of Economic Development;
 • Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Department of Human Rights
 • Iowa State University Extension;
 • Iowa Department of Human Services;
 • Iowa Community Empowerment;
 • Iowa Department of Public Health;
 • Iowa Department of Education.

The directors of these governmental agencies reached consensus on results they would focus on together to “produce the results Iowa’s citizens want for all their children and youth—that they are:
 • successful in school;
 • healthy and socially competent;
 • prepared for productive adulthood; and
 • in safe, supportive schools, families, and communities.”
Various data reports on these results can be found under the Planners/Grant Writers button on the website.

Some of the ways to address these promises are through schools, but the IA Collaborative also identifies key principles for School-Community-Family Collaborations working together:
 • Agencies and organizations work together so that all needs are addressed.
 • Families are strengthened to help their children be successful learners.
 • Schools and community organizations/institutions align their efforts to reach student-learning goals.
 • Schools, families, and communities work together to support academic achievement and to reduce barriers to learning.

Partnering in Communities: Strong Families, Strong Communities Project
Partnering in Communities: Strong Families, Strong Communities brings together local community organizations that have a stake in the quality of life for families and children in their communities. The project nurtures individual and organizational commitments to create a strong community culture to support parents in raising children who thrive as learners.

Participants from diverse community backgrounds learn about research-based practices that impact the learning of children and youth. During this period of 4 to 5 months participants develop implementation plans to collaboratively communicate messages about the research-based practices throughout the community. During the implementation phase of the project, community organizations work together to provide opportunities for families to have access to the knowledge and skills they can use in their own homes to help their children maximize their learning at school.

The project focuses on developing community members who:
 • Exhibit in a variety of ways a personal sense of influence for strengthening families;
 • Develop/nurture a community environment for all families where all youth can thrive as learners.

Partnering in Communities: Strong Families, Strong Communities is a collaborative project between the Iowa Statewide Parent Information Resource Center and Iowa State University Extension. It is aligned with Partnering with Parents: Walking the Journey Together, an Iowa State University Extension academy designed for parenting educators who want to continually improve their programs. For more information, contact Dr. Kimberly Greder at Iowa State University Extension (kgreder@iastate.edu) or Dr. Jane Neff  at the Iowa Statewide Parent Information Resource Center (jeneff133@mac.com).