Most of the Steering Committee members were strangers to one another, although some were acquainted through working within the Southwest Iowa Coalition. They ranged in age from 15 to 70, and their occupations included student, school superintendent, county development directors, accountant, utility manager, council member, foundation director, county supervisor, retail store owner, homemaker, nurse, tourism representative, business people and farmers.

The Steering Committee met on an "as needed" basis. Minutes of the meetings were not formally maintained. By late August, when the evaluator met with the Steering Committee, members admitted that one o f the weaknesses of the committee's structure was that too much responsibility had been concentrated among too few members. Later, one committee member said that because some people were professional practitioners they were expected, or they expected themselves, to do most of the "grunt work" and organizing.

It also appears that the committee, which communicated primarily through e-mail, tended to be somewhat passive during the early months, assuming that the information generators (usually Susan Judkins, who handled most of the organizational responsibilities in Warren County, and Lana Pals) would take any follow-up action required. Judkins felt that the project needed "someone in authority" to make decisions because often Lana Pals would put out certain choices by e-mail and get no response.

To the Steering Committee's credit, they did make good use of existing technology. A MIRA web site was created by an Indianolateam member. Visitors could access team members' e-mai1' get updates on the latest workshops, and link to workshop presenters' sites.

At times, however, communication was problematic for the Steering Committee. There was often confusion over details and process when communicating with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Some committee members were frustrated because they felt that information coming from the Foundation was not always clear or consistent. One team member from Greenfield admitted that she was delighted with the Battle Creek training session, but she was unsure of why she was sent. The committee also failed to express clearly to the participating teams the ultimate goals of the MIRA program. At the end of the second workshop, an open discussion was encouraged by the trainer, Patrick Finn. The comments could be summarized by the simple question, "What are we doing here?"

When formally interviewed, the Steering Committee expressed disappointment in the workshop experience. Each member of the Steering Committee offered complaints and suggestions for improvement. Committee members said that initially they thought that the leadership and technology workshops would be a great learning experience. Committee members agreed that it would have been very helpful to have received some kind of technical assistance or training on the subject of how they as a Steering Committee could best facilitate a good workshop.

In an attempt to make the workshops more effective, the Steering Committee decided to split the workshop audience into two concurrent sessions, and have each trainer present twice to the two different groups. This method was used from the third workshop on. However, teams continued to have great difficulty getting members to attend the workshops, and many people who were not formal team members often were recruited as substitute attendees. Nearly every individual team interviewed used the metaphor of the "dangling carrot" in describing the workshop requirement forthe $15,000 project grant.

While a number of productive community collaborations have developed within individual teams, few formal collaborations developed among representatives of the Steering Committee. The committee was further fragmented when two teams failed to qualify for a grant award due to lack of attendance at the workshops. Two teams, Indianola and Mt. Ayr/Ringgold County, failed to have enough people at the fifth workshop. Neither team was willing to disqualify itself, forcing the Steering Committee to take the formal action of declaring them ineligible. This resulted in some "powerful outrage and mutiny." A flurry of angry e-mails were sent, and the chair of the Grants Committee resigned his assignment. This leadership vacancy, however, was filled rather quickly, and the team grant process was carried out successfully, although it was delayed by about one month. The delay caused considerable angst for certain teams whose projects were time-dependent upon the school year calendar. The fairly simple application process, however, helped to expedite the awards. (The team project grant application form is attached.)

The Steering Committee can be proud that it was able to navigate some rough waters during this crisis, but it was not accomplished without a lot of hurt feelings.

In spite of some difficulties, which should be expected when attempting to implement a program of this magnitude, the Iowa Cluster achieved the broad objectives it set out to accomplish. Southwest Iowa did become more "interconnected" through the use of information technology and through formal training. More than 100 community leaders came together to launch various technology projects which will serve their communities and encourage further development. On May 15, 1999 a grants celebration for all Cluster members was held in Clarinda. Nearly 80 MIRA participants joined in the festivities which included dinner, dancing and even a hypnotist!