Heart & Soul

Residents are the heart of our community, and they belong at the core of conversations about solutions and improvements in Muscatine.

Muscatine Community Heart & Soul is a City-wide initiative to involve all residents in conversations to improve our community. Heart & Soul will enable our City to build on the valued strengths of our community to continually improve Muscatine in ways residents want to see.

Community Heart & Soul is a tested community-development model that has been used in over 90 small cities and towns across America. It focuses on three key principles: involve everyone, focus on what matters, and play the long game to uncover areas for improvement while building lasting relationships across our communities, organizations, and neighborhoods. These principles are at the core of Heart & Soul, and keep the staff on track to focus on the residents throughout the process.

Heart & Soul uses an inclusive, affirming approach to strengthening communities. Our focus is on building upon what is working and valued in our community while ensuring all voices are incorporated into solutions.

The entirety of the City of Muscatine will be included in the project by three geographic phases to provide an in-depth delivery of Heart & Soul in each unique area. This strategy will allow all residents to share their thoughts and perspectives on their neighborhoods as well as the overall community.

• Phase one is the Grandview Corridor/South End area (Hershey St. south to the City limits. Indicated by pink on the map).
• Phase two is the east area of town (Hershey St. north to Mulberry Ave., stretching to the City limits. Indicated by yellow on the map).
• Phase three concludes the project in the central and downtown area (Mulberry Ave. north to University Ave., stretching to the City limits. Indicated by blue on the map).

Each phase area will take between 5-8 months to complete.

Heart & Soul is an exciting process for a community! It is a way to meet our neighbors at events such as block parties, community forum events, competitions for kids and families, at common gathering places, etc. Hosting these events, and having meaningful conversations along the way, will help us involve citizens in generating ideas to take action upon to make Muscatine a stronger place to live, work, and play. 

Muscatine Community Heart & Soul is not possible without the hard work of our many, dedicated volunteers! These individuals plan community events, conduct surveys and interviews with their neighbors, analyze data, and provide other unique strengths to our team. We need volunteers from ALL areas, groups, and communities within Muscatine to connect this project across groups that otherwise may not communicate. If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out this volunteer form: https://forms.gle/r9tpx7hhtwxoFmif8, or contact Meghan Custis at cdintern@muscatineiowa.gov.

A community-wide survey is coming soon! Like the City of Muscatine Facebook page for additional updates on this project.

Read more about the national model here: https://www.communityheartandsoul.org/