Creating Great Places (CGP) is a non-profit founded in 2008 in west central Iowa to support the ongoing vitality and sustainability of rural communities and rural cultures. We carry out environmental, rural arts, historic preservation, recreational and diversity initiatives. We also offer support to other public and nonprofit organizations in the areas of planning, fundraising and communications. 
 
The volunteers that founded CGP have been leading the Coon Rapids-Whiterock Great Place Initiative since 2005. So far, this Coon Rapids' based inter-institutional effort has raised more than $6.5 million for projects that include a City-owned Assisted Living Facility, a five-mile Whiterock trail loop, a City shelterhouse, a Whiterock visitor center, a County RV park bathroom, a county canoe launch, a major public art piece for the new Coon Rapids entry way streetscaping, a Spanish language and cultural assistant for our school, and an annual art fair. During 2008, we secured an additional $360,000 for a Whiterock sustainable trail network to serve mountain bikers and equestrians.
 
In 2009, CGP started to take its skills beyond the immediate Coon Rapids area, first with communications consulting for the Bosques Pico Bonito rainforest project in La Ceiba Honduras, then with its leadership of the statewide "Khrushchev in Iowa" commemoration. 
 
Next, we will be providing planning and fundraising support to Guthrie County for a 17-mile bike trail to tie the existing Raccoon River Valley Trail (RRVT) system out of Des Moines, to the major Coon Rapids-Whiterock rural tourism destination area. This segment will represent an important link on the cross-country American Discovery Trail.
 
Other upcoming projects include promotion of the original theatre production "Peace Through Corn," development of a "Railroad Park" along the Coon rapids entryway, diversity promotion and dark sky education.
 
News & Press Releases
-  CGP Executive Director Rachel Garst was the featured speaker at the recently-held Iowa Bike Summit. To learn more about what was included in her talk, see our Recreation page.
 
- COON TAIL FASHION is all the rage! Check it out at http://coontailfashion.weebly.com/.
 
- CGP is offering special prices on memorabilia from the 50th Anniversary "Khrushchev in Iowa" event. Click on Merchandise/Tickets to order your books, t-shirts and postcards!
 
-  CGP helped sponsor the 7th annual Coon Rapids Migrant Welcome Picnic, held Sept. 12, 2009 in Coon Rapids. Thank you to local niche producer Scott Sibbel for donating excellent free-range pork. Thank you to our excellent hispanic cooks. Fortunately, it seems that all the migrant families managed to find housing this year. Thank you to those local residents who have allowed migrant families to share your homes! Your support is greatly appreciated, especially because migrant student enrollment is a significant help to our struggling school district.
 
-  CGP is very pleased to have helped our partner organization, Whiterock Conservancy, to secure a $360,000 federal appropriation to build an extensive mountain bike trail system just south of Coon Rapids. On Sept. 19, 2009, Whiterock Conservancy hosted a "Trails and Ales" event to further the cause of sustainable trail development in Iowa. See centraliowatrails.com for more information.
 
-  The Garst Farmstead was officially listed to the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 12, 2009. The ceremony featuring Tosh Lee, Sergei Khrushchev and Wes jackson was beautiful!
 
-  Russia is Iowa's 5th largest export market and business is booming. Iowa sales to Russia rose from $48 million in 2004 to $380 million in 2008. We hope that "Khrushchev in Iowa" helped support personal connections that may lead to more trade in the future.
 

Headline News

Join CGP in Supporting Iowa Natural Resources  
 
Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy is a diverse group of participating organizations, agencies and individuals who are supportive and committed to coalition objectives that were developed in the interest of protecting and enhancing Iowa’s water, soil and wildlife habitat. Creating Great Places supports Iowa's Water and Land Legacy, and encourage you to do the same. In doing so, you're helping to pass the trust fund legislation that establishes a constitutional amendment that ensures a dedicated and permanent source of funding for Iowa’s natural resources and outdoor recreation opportunities, and helping pass a Constitutional Amendment Ballot Measure with a simple majority, showing Iowa voters support dedicated funding for Iowa’s natural resources and outdoor recreation opportunities.
 
To find out more about this great Iowa natural resource cause, click here or follow the links below.
Iowa's Water and Land Legacy Coalition Objectives & Principals
Iowa's Water and Land Legacy Coalition Fact Sheet
Iowa's Water and Land Legacy Coalition Presentation
 

Khrushchev in Iowa - 50 years

 

"Khrushchev in Iowa"

50th Anniversary Celebration a Success

 

In August 2009 Creating Great Places led more than 30 Iowa organizations in carrying out a state-wide "Khrushchev in Iowa" commemoration. Four days of events marked the 50th anniversary of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to our state, which in turn was the product of farmer-to-farm citizen diplomacy that aimed to create human dialogue during the icy depths of the Cold War. 
 
Khrushchev's unprecedented 13-day U.S. tour was his first contact with the United States. The Soviet Premier visited Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Pittsburgh; New York and Iowa. In the corn state, Premier Khrushchev rode in a baby blue cadillac and visited Des Moines, Ames, and small-town Coon Rapids (70 miles Northwest of Des Moines). 
 
Khrushchev came to Iowa at the invitation of colorful hybrid seed corn pioneer Roswell Garst, who, as a private entrepreneur and citizen diplomat, was reaching out to Eastern Europe with an approach he called "Peace through Corn." Garst became an important reference for Khrushchev as the communist leader tried to increase Soviet food production by modernizing Soviet agriculture.  
 
The improbable friendship of Comrade Khrushchev and Farmer Garst showcases the power of agricultural innovation, trade and direct human relations to reach across ideological differences and help thaw Cold War tensions. "Khrushchev in Iowa" celebrates and promotes an approach to international relations that focuses first on on what all people have in common: families, food production, trade, and a desire to improvide their lot. 
 
Visit our extensive Khrushchev in Iowa pages to see historic photos and film, press coverage (old and new), read background documents and see our sponsors.