Meet the staff
Ashley Coffin, CNP (she/her)
Green Iowa AmeriCorps Program Director
ashley.coffin@uni.edu | (319) 273-7273
Ashley has been with Green Iowa and served as the Program Director since 2010. Her role mainly focuses on large scale program funding projects, grants, member training, and future planning of GIA.
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One of Ashley's favorite memories is the 10 Year Anniversary, "To see members and alumni, program partners, and staff all come together to celebrate what a decade of service to Iowa has been felt really incredible. It was a great representation of how far the program has come and the impact it has made."
Another gratifying part of Green Iowa for Ashley is seeing members transition into professional careers within this sector. Those moments always make her feel like Green Iowa is making a difference that is exponential.
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Ashley became involved with AmeriCorps through serving as a VISTA and VISTA leader in Wyoming and Texas. She wanted to bring her take-a-ways back to her Iowa roots and make that same impact at home. The opportunity for this program to evolve, grow, and work alongside incredible staff has kept Ashley in Iowa for the last 9 years. She believes her role with Green Iowa truly is a dream job.
Carmen works closely with Green Iowa AmeriCorps members in school districts, waste agencies, and non-profits as well as interested K-12 Iowa School Districts who are enthusiastic about adopting more environmentally-friendly, sustainable practices.
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Her favorite experience with GIA was the ability to work with kids one-on-one and see their passions and interests in environmental stewardship grow. Throughout her time as a member, young children were very responsive to connecting with the outdoors and protecting our natural environment. Carmen wanted to follow that passion by placing AmeriCorps members directly into school districts. She is "so thankful to be able to offer this service to districts here in Iowa, as well as people who are passionate about environmental education."
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Carmen first got involved with Green Iowa as a member over 5 years ago, and has states that "it was meant to be."
Leah works with our Green Iowa AmeriCorps members to promote sustainable practices related to urban and rural storm water issues, conservation, and land management.
She began her journey with Green Iowa in January of 2019 and served two AmeriCorps service terms before joining the program staff in 2020. Her favorite experience with Green Iowa so far was partnering with The River Network to host a rain barrel workshop event for her community in Iowa City. The opportunity to spread awareness of sustainable water practices and engage with community members was one of the highlights of her service.
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She is "so thankful to be able to work alongside members, community partners, and host agencies that are doing such great work throughout the state!"
Originally from the Chicago suburbs, Shawn has been with Green Iowa since May 2018. He completed a summer term, followed by two full-time terms, before joining program staff in 2020. When Shawn first applied to the program, he had no idea what an energy audit was or what one was used for. All these years later, and being inside countless homes, Shawn now realizes what a great utility an energy audit can be to a homeowner.
One of his favorite experiences was an energy audit in the summer of 2019. His team spent five and a half hours weatherizing a home, and reduced air infiltration by 25%, saving the homeowner almost $300 in utility bills per year. While $25 a month saved might not seem like a whole lot, for the community members Green Iowa primarily targets, that is a huge difference. That is the benefit of getting an energy audit.
Shawn says, "This experience showed me that, with a little bit of time and effort, you can completely change someone's life."
Brandy first became involved with GIA as a Sustainable Schools member, but has extensive experiences with AmeriCorps as a whole.
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In her role with GIA staff, Brandy helps with trainings and civic engagement discussions, site visits, reviewing monthly reports and logs, and supporting members throughout their service terms.
Brandy's favorite experiences with Green Iowa were guest teaching opportunities in a high school level wildlife ecology class, and hosting goats for a targeted grazing project around her host sites school pond.
She believes that "the work members do at GIA is so valuable for Iowa communities and ecosystems" and can't wait to see what our members accomplish next!
Laura joined the Green Iowa AmeriCorps staff in the spring of 2022 because she was so drawn to Green Iowa’s mission of empowering communities to make conservation-minded decisions and implement change that works for them.
In her role with “all things recruitment” she is most grateful for all the different people she gets to converse with - the applicants, the members and the host site staff. “Speaking with new people every day who are committed to community service and action is incredible and heartwarming – their energy is tangible. And catching!”
