Tuesday, May 24, 2016

By Jacklyn Wolf, Student Intern

The Iowa Program for Public Life (IPPL) held its final, year-end event on Saturday, April 16, 2016.

After planning for this event for almost an entire year, the hard work collecting community concerns and hosting community discussions paid off. IPPL Director, Dr. David Supp-Montgomerie, shed light on the process, “It was the culmination of several other events that began with a focus on housing, and then expanded to include transportation and other issues as community members engaged each other and named their concerns.” Each meeting leading up to the final event had a different focus that community members discussed. The biggest priority was that they needed to figure out how to better coordinate across issues and areas. The focus of the final event was on livability and inclusion across Johnson County, and again the theme that emerged was how to collaborate and form partnerships across sectors and issues.

The title given to the final event was Johnson County for All: How Can We Make Johnson County Livable for All of Its Residents? It ran from 11am to 2pm on Saturday, April 16 at the Johnson County Health and Human Services Building in Iowa City. Residents of Johnson County were able to come to learn and listen about what the community can do to ensure the highest quality of life for all of its residents. The goal of the event was to discuss priorities, action steps, and ways for communities and organizations to collaborate for the greatest impact in the community. The following University and community partners supported the event:

  • Johnson County Affordable Homes Coalition
  • Johnson County Livable Community
  • League of Women Voters, Johnson County
  • PATV Channel 18
  • Community Transportation Committee
  • UI Department of Communication Studies
  • UI Office of Outreach & Engagement, Just Living Theme Semester
  • UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

There were more than 50 people who participated in the 3-hour discussion. The first half was a World Café-style small group discussion with three rounds of discussion. After lunch, participants volunteered to host special topic discussions based on their interests. They generated 9 “Open Space” conversations. The following is the list of topics:

  • Partnerships across sectors (public/private/nonprofit/etc.)
  • Living wage initiatives
  • How to communicate about services to individuals in need
  • How to increase diverse civic participation
  • The role of the University
  • The need for centralized resources and leadership
  • Engaging private sector employers in housing and transportation needs
  • Expanding transportation
  • Housing bill of rights

Supp-Montgomerie facilitated the event, but the majority of time was spent by community members talking with each other and trained students taking careful notes. These students were enrolled in a class taught by Supp-Montgomerie called “Solving Public Problems” and will write a report based on the discussion they helped to facilitate. Courtney O’Meara is one of Supp-Montgomerie’s students who participated in the event. O’Meara explained that her role included the planning of the event and also focused on note taking while the discussions were being held. “What I learned from this event is that Johnson County locals are optimistic,” said O’Meara. “This event could have been filled with complaining, but instead the participants worked to find solutions to some common problems,” she explained.

Supp-Montgomerie says the event was successful start: “Students were able to learn about public discussion and serve the needs of local nonprofit organizations. We are still working to expand the diversity of participation and make sure we support the transition to action.” Johnson County citizens from over 30 different organizations were brought together and connected with state and local officials, community members and other stakeholders.