BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Iowa Cluster originally consisted of 10 teams located within seven different counties in the southwestern quadrant of the state. The area contains roughly 3,745 square miles. All participants are within one-hour driving distance of a central location. Approximately 120 highway miles separate the two communities furthest from one another. Three teams comprised of six different communities and their outlying areas are all located in Warren County, just south of Des Moines, Iowa.
Southwestern Iowa is in the heart of America's midwestem farm country. Major commodities include corn, soybeans, pork, and other grains and livestock. Each of the seven counties has some light manufacturing industries producing products such as insulated glass and mechanical parts, however, most non-farming industrial jobs are related directly to agriculture, ".. feed and fertilizer production and transportation, egg processing, and farm equipment sales and service. Health care, education and municipal services are also primary employers.
The MIRA communities in southwest Iowa face the same challenge shared by so many other small towns in rural America: loss of population due to the changing structure of American agriculture. As private farming operations have grown, population has decreased because fewer families are required to work the land. Historically, children of farmers and small town residents have moved to large cities for education and employment opportunities, instead of building opportunities in their own home towns. Thus, population has been on the decline in southwest Iowa for more than five decades.
Loss of people - rather than unemployment, which averages about 3%- is the overriding concern of every Iowa MIRA team except for those located in Warren County. Four of the six communities in Warren County that comprise MIRA teams have actually gained population during the past ten years. Many residents of Indianola, Norwalk and Carlisle work in Des Moines, located less than 20 miles to the north, and consider themselves members of "bedroom communities." For those who work in Warren County, wages are generally higher than for residents of MIRA communities outside of Warren County.
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