Iowa Western Community College believes that community engagement contributes to a more meaningful education, which yields both academic and personal success.

The Civic Action Planning process, led by our Service Learning Coordinator, has provided opportunities to celebrate the great work already being done, and to identify areas in need of support, improvement and growth regarding community engagement.

Our civic action plan was developed through cross-campus and community information gathering, and is complemented by other strategic documents. The resulting plan includes five overarching goals, which are supported by measures and indicators in an effort to hold the college accountable for implementing and sustaining the plan.

By signing the Campus Compact Civic Action Statement (https://compact.org/actionstatement/) President Dan Kinney affirmed Iowa Western Community Colleges commitment to:

• Empower faculty, staff, students and partners to co-create mutually respectful   partnerships in pursuit of a just, equitable, and sustainable future for communities beyond the campus.
• Prepare students for lives of engaged citizenship, with the motivation and capacity to deliberate, act, and lead in pursuit of the public good.
• Embrace our responsibility as a place-based institution, contributing to the health and strength of our communities – economically, socially, environmentally, educationally, and politically.
• Challenge the prevailing social and economic inequalities that threaten our democratic future through our research, teaching, partnerships, and institutional practices.
• Foster an environment that consistently affirms the public purpose of higher education.

To accomplish this commitment IWCC had identified five goals:

1. Course Designation for Community Engagement.
2. Professional development support to faculty and staff about community engagement (i.e. workshops, conferences, training, etc.)
3. More established Internal campus culture of community engagement.
4. Develop platform and opportunities for faculty voice and leadership
5. Develop and sustain co and extra-curricular programs to instill and develop citizenship and leadership