Hometown Pride coach introduced to local-level leaders at program kickoff forum

COLFAX — Leaders and community members from multiple Jasper County cities gathered at the Colfax Historical Society Museum Monday night to take part in a kick-off forum with newly hired Hometown Pride Community Coach Jeff Davidson.

Davidson — who retired this month as Iowa City’s economic development administrator after 34 years with the eastern Iowa town — was introduced Monday by State Sen. Chaz Allen (D-Newton).

“I’m excited about this — just to have everybody here,” Allen said. “If we can keep everybody excited about this for the next five years, show baby steps, and get a few things done each meeting ... if each community can get that low-hanging fruit and show our citizens that it is working, it will be a big deal.”

Allen said each community is in a different stage of development — some with comprehensive plans and some that can work with Davidson to develop a city strategy. As executive director of the Jasper County Economic Development Corp., Allen has hit the ground in the last year, lobbying individual towns to join the Hometown Pride Partnership Agreement.

Jasper County cities signed to the partnership are collectively paying $20,000 per year for five years to commission Davidson to write grants, organize and seek private investment for local and county-wide projects. Keep Iowa Beautiful — a nonprofit which operates Hometown Pride — contributes the remaining $60,000 per year.

Before creating a county-wide vision, Davidson told the community leaders he wants to get to know each member town and their individual goals. Over the course of the five-year coaching period, Davidson will meet monthly with town-level committees. He wants each meeting to be productive, and will help the communities put together “to-do lists” consisting of achievable goals before the coach’s next visit.

Following the community-level work, Davidson and a county-level steering committee will find commonalities to forge a “county-wide identity.” Davidson said he has not yet engaged the Jasper County Board of Supervisors, but will do so after a foundation of local projects are identified.

“We are going to take our time and we’re gong to do this right,” Davidson said. “We’re going to build something that stands on its own, and becomes something that perpetuates itself for Jasper County as it moves forward. That’s the way the program is set up, and that’s how we’re going to bring value to all of you — creating that organization that, after I’m long gone, years from now, will still be doing good things in Jasper County.”

Davidson is already taking action to forge public-private partnerships for Jasper County. He wants to take advantage of the Iowa Legislature’s mandate to the University of Iowa to engage the state outside of Iowa City.

The community coach said this relationship could lead to trail programs, farm-to-table initiatives, sustainability project or green initiatives for the county, but he made clear any initiative created through Hometown Pride will be conceived and agreed upon by county communities and not dictated by himself.

Newton is the largest city to date to benefit from Hometown Pride. Mayor Mike Hansen said Newton has identified several projects in the city’s comprehensive plan that could be chosen to benefit from the program, but Hansen said Newton’s committee and city council will decide which projects to push. As a whole, Hansen is pleased to see Jasper County towns coming together.

“It’s encouraging that we can come together and work as a community and as a county,” Hanson said. “But each individual city is on their own to develop whatever they think will be helpful to draw individuals of interest to their communities.”

Prairie City Mayor Chad Alleger said he was encouraged by Monday’s forum. Prairie City was the second Jasper County town — after Newton — to join the partnership. Alleger expects a healthy local debate deciding whether to focus on multiple project or one larger initiative within Hometown Pride. The mayor would like Prairie City’s committee to look at locating funds for a proposed recreation and transportation trail connecting Monroe and Prairie City with Polk County, but the mayor also hopes to see ideas from many community members.

“We were excited to get on board, and we’re excited to finally get moving,” Alleger said. “Now it’s deciding where the priorities lie within the cities. That’s where we have to narrow it down.”

Gerry Schnepf is the executive director of Keep Iowa Beautiful. He told the group gathered in Colfax it’s critical the program find private funding from people eager to invest in small-town Iowa and in small-town economic development.

“We need to change this whole thing around attitudes about small-town America,” Schnepf said. “It’s the old story: it takes a community to raise a child. It doesn’t take a city to raise a child.”