Valley Junction is a "Great Place"

The State of Iowa's Great Places grant program is back for its second year and has set aside $3 million plus the technical expertise and potential grant money of 20 state agencies to help make selected cities 'great'. At the end of September, Valley Junction submitted a written application demonstrating its vision for the future and already established strong foundation. Valley Junction was selected as one of 12 finalists, of which up to 6 will be designated as Great Places.

A 12-member Citizen's Advisory Committee will be visiting Valley Junction on October 23 at 8:30 am at the Community Center, 217 5th St, to learn about the plans for Valley Junction's future in the Oscar-themed presentation "VJ Awards." For those of you who joined us at last year's presentation, the movie premier made a lasting impression on the judges and we hope this year's awards show will have the same effect.

Community support is a large factor when considering which place will receive this unique designation so please join us at the presentation to show your support for Valley Junction!

Valley Junction's application includes the following components. The Valley Junction Foundation and the City of West Des Moines, along with numerous other partners, propose to purchase the original West Des Moines City Hall and rehabilitate it for community use; install a fire sprinkler control room system for parts of Valley Junction’s business district; purchase WI-FI equipment to make the Valley Junction residential area wireless; develop a pattern book for residents to use as a source of information for appropriate updates and logical ways to expand their homes; install public art; enhance streetscaping on Railroad Avenue; redevelop Railroad Park to make it more pedestrian- and event- friendly; enhance the VJ area with streetscaping; restore a historically significant building for a small business incubation center; implement a community-based design/build project to replace playground equipment for Phenix Early Childhood Center; and link Valley Junction to the City of West Des Moines’ trail system. Please help us demonstrate how many people think Valley Junction is a great place by attending the "VJ Awards" on Monday, October 23!

Government Blog Directory

Click here to reference a Directory of Government Blogs. See my Municipal Blogging entry from July for more explanation of the current trend in city blogging. Our city blog will be on this list soon! More and more public officials are taking advantage of this great opportunity to speak directly to people about City activities, services, events, and just general questions we get regarding how the City works.

Make a Difference Day

People typically don’t think of the City of West Des Moines as a place with a great need for human services like homeless prevention, energy assistance, and food and clothing support. However, we have residents who fall on hard times just like any other City, and we provide support for the rest of the western suburbs as well. Our Human Services department is very busy this time of year especially. I’d like to describe some of their current programs here. Keep an eye out for something you might be interested in helping with.

Human Services provides handyman services year-round, with a special emphasis on winter weatherization this time of year. They also provide free evening meals in collaboration with the Church Opportunity Group and the Eddie Davis Community Center every Tuesday from 6-7 pm at the Community Center at 14th and Maple in WDM. These meals are open to anyone in need of a free meal. As they do every Fall, Human Services is collecting toys and donations as part of the extra packages they put together for the holidays.

One important event coming up for Human Services is Make a Difference Day on Saturday, October 28. This national day of helping others—of neighbors helping neighbors—often sees great participation in our City. Human Services has suggested a “wish list” of ways our residents can get involved on this day, including participating in:

• The Personal Hygiene Drive, for items that will be distributed throughout the Western suburbs;
• Warm Winter Coat distribution for all ages (you can donate coats, gloves, scarves, and hats anytime);
  Yard work and clean up: many elderly and disabled households need general help with yard work (like raking leaves) and fall clean up;
• Baby Shower: donate baby items, including diapers and bottles, to the Closing Closet;
• Coins for Kids: team up with the school district to collect coin donations for low-income youth scholarships; and
• Help Stop Hunger in Your Community! Work with the WDM schools to collect food items for the Food Pantry.

Please contact our Human Services Director, Sue Paterson-Nielsen, at 273-0633 or email her at sue.paterson-nielsen@wdm-ia.com to set up your Make A Difference Day project or volunteer to help out.