Community Partner Spotlight: Iowa Valley RC&D
In Summer 2019, three graduate students (Paul Schmitt, Marie Culpepper, and Kathleen Shaughnessy) completed eight-week internships at
Iowa Valley Resource Conservation & Development
(IVRC&D), as part of an opportunity to explore how their academic training might translate into a variety of professions and workplaces. IVRC&D Executive Director Jessica Rilley shares a few details about the organization and its efforts to support the local community.
In the context of the internship, how would you define “public good”?
The interns’ efforts expanded social networks and elevated public awareness of existing resources. Each of their projects fueled local pride, generated unique content, and contributed to the complicated and layered network of community identity. All of the communities the interns worked with are navigating succession across many sectors and each intern played an important role in finding and highlighting uniqueness that should be preserved and celebrated. In this context I would describe public good as a shared benefit.
If you could do ANY collaboration—any project or initiative—with the University of Iowa, what would it be?
Our team would love to partner on a project that connects students with small Iowa towns in a way that gives an authentic experience to the student and lifts up the local community. I think there is a niche here for individuals who are...
