Photographer: Justin Rogers of West Des Moines, IA

Hometown Pride enhances long-term community cultural and economic vitality – strengthening the community and increasing its chance for not simply survival, but growth with increased pride.

Keep Iowa Beautiful’s Hometown Pride program was developed in 2012, as an effort to assist and improve communities through a five-year coaching commitment. Hometown Pride programs and projects enhance the community while giving local residents the skills and desires to make their communities better. The program walks alongside qualifying Iowa communities and coaches them to a more vibrant, stable future.  

How Hometown Pride Works

The Hometown Pride program works when everyone involved is committed to furthering the economic and cultural vitality of the county and its communities. The truth is, it does take a village. This partnership strategy is only successful when it is mutually supported, facilitated, and coordinated. Every decision, even determining which coach the Hometown Pride community will work with, is made locally.

Keep Iowa Beautiful’s Vital Role

When working with local government, local businesses, community members, volunteers and Keep Iowa Beautiful, Hometown Pride communities achieve more.

This is how the Hometown Pride program works; once a coach is selected…

1. Keep Iowa Beautiful will contract with that dedicated community coach to help serve the needs of the Hometown Pride community for a five-year term.
2. An agreement, written by Keep Iowa Beautiful outlines the commitment for both parties to agree upon and sign.
3. A full assessment of county and community plans, along with developing programs, services and financial opportunities are all ways the Hometown Pride coach helps communities realize their potential.
4. Our coaches then serve the Hometown Pride community by helping local leaders recruit and select local steering committees to lead certain areas of the developed action plan and programs. Monthly committee meetings of each community committee will be required along with the establishment of formal officers, procedures and recording of minutes. These committees meet with their Hometown Pride coach regularly to ensure objectives are being met.

Hometown Pride Coaching

The Hometown Pride program offers leadership training, youth service learning and a variety of educational components, tools, and solutions for community development. Qualifying communities receive five years of long-term technical and professional coaching assistance. During that time, our trained Hometown Pride coaches work to deliver a sense of stability and empowerment. 

Interested in learning about our current Hometown Pride Community Coaches? Click here.

Coaching Iowa Counties 

The Hometown Pride program serves Iowa counties through comprehensive coaching that adapts to the individual and unique circumstances of its communities. Local leaders select the coaches and are integral in planning and decision making. The coach provides support and assistance, customizes innovative resources, and uses development tools to make certain community plans and initiatives get developed, funded, implemented, and completed. 

The Hometown Pride coach works with the community to coordinate strong advocates and activists for the mission. Each team player is assigned distinct roles and duties to act on the Hometown Pride coach’s plan, turning action into success for their Hometown Pride community.

To learn more about this vital program, contact Keep Iowa Beautiful.