About Us
“How many communities have an opportunity to dream big from a position of strength?”
– Suku Radia
Central Iowa began its visioning back in 1990 when the Des Moines Vision Plan laid out a framework for development to place “moments of brilliance” throughout the city of Des Moines. In 1998, the Major Projects Task Force worked to define the projects imagined in the Des Moines Vision Plan. Five years later, in 2003, Project Destiny sought to advance collaboration across Greater Des Moines businesses and improve arts and culture, quality of life, and recreational trails. In 2007, the What’s Next, Downtown strategy identified future downtown opportunities and developed strategies to increase investments in downtown Des Moines.
Finally, in 2011, work began to develop Capital Crossroads, a dynamic, strategic planning process targeted at leveraging the region’s key advantages while addressing our challenges. The initial implementation of the strategy was bold. We’ve since achieved hundreds of successes – but we know that more work can be done.
In 2016, we established a Steering Committee of 63 community leaders to guide the development of Capital Crossroads 2.0. The new strategy built on the many achievements of the initial Capital Crossroads implementation and in fact, maintained the same framework of the ten Capitals, or project platforms. We recognized that the bar for success had been raised based on our past successes, and we remained steadfast in our commitment to pushing Central Iowans to think big, not settle for good enough, think long-term, and work together.
Beginning in the June 2022, Capital Crossroads launched the next regional vision and action plan undertaken by a broad cross-section of community leaders from the private, public, nonprofit, and social sectors. Through a robust landscape analysis of current plans around Central Iowa, stakeholder engagement, and public listening sessions, the Capital Crossroads Roadmap was created.
The Capital Crossroads Roadmap is meant to serve as a rallying cry not only to enhance and celebrate work that is already underway, but also to reaffirm a set of regional goals, create new community connections, establish partnerships, and provide spaces and timelines to share successes and pivot as new challenges arise. It provides a comprehensive vision to inspire community members, leaders, and organizations to focus on select goals that not only elevate the quality of life for our neighbors but also fortify regional distinctiveness, drive economic growth, and attract and retain top talent. Follow our progress here.
