Green Iowa AmeriCorps: Our Story

We are a state-wide community service program that was founded in 2009 to address sustainable usage of energy resources in several Iowan communities as they struggled to rebuild from a series of devastating floods in 2008. At that time our members were trained as Energy Auditors and contributed to a comprehensive home energy assessment program, as well as deconstruction projects, energy and environmental education, and the development of community outreach events.

Our program has significantly expanded over the years and now focuses on a much wider variety of sustainability and environmental efforts throughout the state. We partner with many different organizations including school districts, non-profits, city and county governments, and conservation organizations. Our members are engaged in unique service experiences based on the host site they are placed with. These service experiences could include energy efficiency and sustainability efforts on homes and businesses, conservation work including tree planting, prairie maintenance, water quality monitoring, and prescribed burns, waste reduction efforts like food waste auditing in schools, recycling efforts, and composting, greenhouse gas inventorying and climate action planning with city governments, and local food access work with non-profits and community gardens. All of our members complete community outreach projects and environmental education activities to better engage the community in the work they're doing.

Green Iowa AmeriCorps is headquartered at the University of Northern Iowa's Center for Energy and Environmental Education in Cedar Falls, IA but you can find our members serving all across the state!

Check our our social media to keep up with our members and see the amazing things we're getting done for the community and the environment.