Through a partnership between Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) and East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA), eight University of Iowa graduate students collaborated with Delmar city officials, residents, and 4th-6th grade students to record interviews of longtime Delmar residents, or “storytellers”. The purpose of the project, conducted during the Spring 2017 semester, was to discover common values that serve as a the foundation for a community-wide vision and a tool for decision-making. The project brought together a variety of campus departments (School of Urban & Regional Planning, University of Iowa Center for the Book, Art Education, IDEAL) and community organizations (Delwood School District, Delmar Economic Development Group, and the City of Delmar). For more information visit https://iisc.uiowa.edu.

The graduate students who created the videos are Todd Bagby, Tasha Beghtol, Sylvia Bochner, Jazmine Dirks, Daniel Elder, Michael Farley, Maggie Richardson, and Emily Seiple. The class was taught by Dr. Charles Connerly.