End marks new beginning

Jeff Davidson isn’t saying goodbye to Jasper County any time soon.

The community coach of the Keep Iowa Beautiful-affiliated Hometown Pride Program in Jasper County will have his five-year contract expire by the end of March, but his stay in the region has only just begun.

From now until the foreseeable future, Davidson will be working directly within Jasper County to improve economic development opportunities for the same communities he served for the past five years under Hometown Pride.

Until recently, Davidson has been serving as the interim director of the Jasper County Economic Development Corporation (JEDCO) after its previous leader, Chaz Allen, stepped down last year to manage the Iowa Utilities Association.

Davidson has since been named the new executive director of JEDCO.

He will take on his new responsibilities March 31, which is also his last day as a community coach for the nine Hometown Pride communities:
Baxter, Colfax, Kellogg, Lynnville, Mingo, Monroe, Newton, Prairie City and Sully.

For the past few years, it was Davidson’s job to serve as mentor and form the committees in each town to direct these groups in carrying out planning efforts, community beautification projects and economic development.

Toward the end of the program cycle, Davidson needed to make sure the groups were well set for when his contract would inevitably expire. From what he can gather, the Jasper County committees “are in really good shape.”

Most — if not all — of the local Hometown Pride groups are expected to form into a conglomerate non-profit organization called Jasper County Hometown Pride. Davidson’s proposal received strong feedback from the board of supervisors.

Within the next few weeks, Davidson said, there is a steering committee that’s going to meet to determine what it will take to meet the 501(c)(3) status. Even though the group will be under one name, the towns can still work individually.

“So, in other words, if Baxter goes after a grant, they want to make sure that grant stays with their committee and their accounting,” Davidson said. “So it is set up to allow that. But they’ll be one umbrella organization.”

Although he helped formed the initial Hometown Pride committees and provided them with resources and guidance, Davidson is quick to credit those groups for following through with projects. He said they’ve been “so great” to work with.

"When you're in a profession like mine to be able to work with volunteers that are so committed to their communities — that is just the best," he said.

One of the most important things the Hometown Pride committees have done is “provided a roadmap of the future,” Davidson said. Volunteers know to complete projects they need a plan and they need to find funds.

Being involved in the committees has helped them do just that.

Davidson noted there are some similarities between Hometown Pride and JEDCO. Many of the goals, he said, are the same. One of the things he has asked the JEDCO board to do is to “take a broad definition of economic development.”

Creation of jobs and property tax is what Davidson would describe as a narrow view of economic development. Even though those things are important, he argues it needs to be more than that. Community building helps make a more attractive Jasper County, one others may be encouraged to move to.

“We need to get that word out and make sure that those people know about us,” Davidson said. “It’s really nice that we’re starting with some extremely strong school systems. I think all five of our community school districts in Jasper County are good, solid school districts.”

If there was one thing Davidson would miss about leaving the Hometown Pride program, it’s the people of Jasper County.

“Fortunately, I don’t really have to leave since I’m going to be staying here!”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com