In order to determine the community embeddedness of Central Iowa residents, the Greater Des Moines Partnership, Drake University, the Robert D. and Billie Ray Center, and the Institute for Ethics and Excellence conducted the Human Capital Survey, which focused on the beliefs and experiences of area residents. With approximately 4,000 responses, 93 percent said they are proud to be a member of the community and would recommend it to others. The survey also found that 92 percent of respondents feel safe in this community and that 89 percent of respondents believe they can achieve the things in life that are important to them. Other highlights from the survey are available here, while the full report is available here.

In his role as Assistant Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs with CenturyLink, Michael Sadler routinely works with Central Iowa business and community leaders. Still, through his service on the Physical Capital team, he has found Capital Crossroads “helpful to partner with other industries and learn more about their areas of focus.” Actively involved in numerous nonprofit and business groups, he explains that Capital Crossroads has provided him with one more link to be helpful in the area’s growth. In his words, “It is critical that every community take the time to study its strengths to learn what is being done right. At the same time, the collaboration of partners from a diverse group of industries helps to uncover weaknesses and creatively find ways to overcome those.”

Though Central Iowa is generally considered an affordable area, workforce housing remains a challenge in the region. Join with Capital Crossroads and the Polk County Housing Trust Fund for a community tour of workforce housing throughout downtown Des Moines to learn about some of these issues and how Capital Crossroads is helping address them. Registration for the tour is available here, while the full list of Affordable Housing Week events is available here.

Community leaders across the country continually face huge challenges that Washington cannot or will not address. As a result, groups of metropolitan leaders are stepping up and moving the nation forward. These leaders are working to create jobs and help their communities flourish.

We are pleased to facilitate a conversation on such efforts in Central Iowa and across the nation with Bruce Katz, founding director of the Brookings Metropolitan Planning Program and co-author of the new book, The Metropolitan Revolution. The book is a distillation of his work on the emerging metropolitan-led “next-economy” and its practitioners around the country working to produce more and better jobs driven by innovation, exports, and sustainability.

Senator Cory Booker says the book is "a must-read for anyone working toward a brighter future for our cities and our nation," while past U.S. Conference of Mayors President Scott Smith says the book "brings to life how America’s cities and suburbs drive innovation to solve problems and seize opportunities. This book is a call to action beyond Washington, where metro leaders join together and simply get stuff done." 

The discussion on metropolitan policy innovation and action will be held Tuesday, May 5 at the Windsor Heights Community Center. More details and registration are available here.