The Jasper County Hometown Pride Program, in conjunction with Keep Iowa Beautiful, has hired a coach, Jeff Davidson, to aid each community of the county participating in the program in meeting goals set by the community. Davidson started with his duties Apr. 13.
Hometown Pride is a community development program designed to assist clusters of communities across Iowa. In Jasper County, seven cities are participating in the program – Baxter, Colfax, Lynnville, Monroe, Newton, Prairie City, and Sully.
Lynnville’s representatives in the program are Linda Russell and Faye Brand.
Sully’s representatives are Lori Zylstra and Diane Vos.
Jasper County is the third county in Iowa to join the Hometown Pride five-year program.
The primary objective of the community coach is to help each city participating to learn how to get grants, how to get volunteers, how to raise money, how to communicate properly, and other avenues that can help the community achieve their goal.
Davidson brings extensive experience in economic development and community planning. He is knowledgeable about community planning and programs and resources communities may be eligible for, attentive to detail, and friendly.
Davidson has been the Economic Development Administrator for Iowa City and is "ready to return to the practice of planning and community development." His principle responsibilities in that position were to coordinate Iowa City’s economic development team and implement the new economic development policy directives of the City Council and City Manager. Prior to that position, he had spent seven years as the Director of Planning and Community Development. He has several years of other economic development experiences as well, having extensive knowledge working with federal, state, and private grant programs, as well as developing implementation plans.
Davidson has two children. His son will be graduating from Portland State University in June, and his daughter is a freshman at the University of Minnesota.
“In my spare time, I like to go for a run or a motorcycle ride,” he said.
“I am really excited about my new position in Jasper County,” he concluded. “Everyone has been very welcoming”
