We Engage People in Addressing Local Issues
Our Rural Teacher Corps provides resources and opportunities for educators to turn their passion for education into one of the biggest assets for their towns.
Our FREE 2025 Rural Teacher Summit is Tuesday, August 12. Register today!
Sarah Bradshaw doesn’t have to think hard about why she loves teaching. “I love the students!” says the Dyersville Elementary reading teacher.
Her students are the reason she attended our Rural Teacher Summit two years in a row. “There are so many different things you can learn from this event. This year, I’m learning more about things I can bring to my classroom.”
The summit is one of the benefits we offer to teachers in our seven-county region through our Rural Teacher Corps, a partnership with the Rural Schools Collaborative (RSC). In 2023, we became RSC’s Iowa Regional Hub, building our capacity to support thriving rural communities by focusing on a key driver of smalltown quality of life: teachers and public schools.
“By supporting teachers, schools win and communities win,” says Program Officer Josie Manternach, a former teacher who oversees the Foundation’s education work. “We are empowering educators to make their schools the pride of their communities.”
The Rural Teacher Summit is one opportunity for educators to reconnect with their passion and deepen their understanding of what it means to teach in a rural community.
“It’s great to learn about opportunities we can bring to kids in the classroom,” says Amy Priem, a second-grade teacher at Ed-Co Elementary in Colesburg.
The 2024 summit concluded with a keynote presentation by Andy Mink, director of the Smithsonian’s Rural Initiative. Mink discussed what it means to serve rural communities and the people who call them home.
“Rural communities are an important part of American life and history,” Mink says. “Studies have shown that rural schools strongly support civic engagement in their towns.”
As an RSC Regional Hub, we also can connect teachers with grants that can bring ideas for place-based education to life. In the past two years, five teachers in our region have received a total of $5,000 in grant funding for their classrooms.
“Our region is filled with educators who care deeply about the children they teach and the communities they serve,” says Manternach. “We are proud to offer opportunities to help support them, their schools and the towns that make up rural Northeast Iowa.”
