The City of Dubuque’s 175th Anniversary planning committee is coordinating a community-wide picnic day to celebrate Dubuque’s 175th anniversary.

Residents are invited to visit Comiskey, Eagle Point, Flora, or Louis Murphy Park on Sunday, Sept. 21. The event will be held simultaneously at each park from 1 - 6 p.m.  The rain date for the event is Sunday, Sept. 28. The exact locations at each park are as follows:

·   Comiskey Park, Comiskey Building

·   Eagle Point Park, Open-Air Pavilion

·   Flora Park, Steel Open-Air Pavilion

·   Louis Murphy Park, Open-Air Pavilion

This anniversary event is sponsored by John Deere Dubuque Works. Final arrangements are still being made but plans include free musical entertainment and children’s activities at each park. Free anniversary cupcakes will be served at each park beginning at 2 p.m.  Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase.

Keyline Transit will provide free shuttle service to and from the four parks from 12 noon to 6 p.m. that day.  Keyline will operate its regular route on Dubuque’s north end that day and additional details on other pick-up/drop-off locations will be announced at a later date.

For more information, visit www.dubuque175.org or call 589-4151. The website also has information on other anniversary-related events and commemorative items available for purchase.

In addition to our City’s ongoing 175th Anniversary, a consortium of local organizations is preparing to offer Dubuque’s second “Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin’ By World” program to help local low-income families create more stable, secure lives.

“Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin’By World”is a step-by-step, life-planning workbook for people in poverty that brings together three primary influences: Dr. Ruby Payne’s work on the hidden rules of class, research on knowledge transfer, and the knowledge of participants living in poverty. The program’s curriculum is designed to teach low-income families how to “create a path for making a stable, secure life for their family.”

“It’s about knowledge and skills-teaching, and families learning their own strengths and weaknesses,” said City of Dubuque Family Self-Sufficiency Coordinator Carroll Clark, a co-facilitator of the program. “Along with building up our families, we also want to help create future leaders.”

The program is being offered by the City of Dubuque’s Housing and Community Development Department, the Dubuque Rescue Mission, the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, Iowa Workforce Development, Northeast Iowa Community College, Common Good Services, and Jim Ott.

The program coordinators are planning to offer the curriculum to two groups of 15 participants each. They will meet for 16 weeks for two hours each week. The program pays participants $10 per hour to complete the curriculum, provides all course materials, and offers childcare. Program coordinators are currently seeking sponsors to fund the $400 necessary for each participating family.

Clark reports that of the 19 graduates of last year’s class, one has enrolled in college, three have received jobs, and one has moved a step closer in his field to his ideal position. “The success of this program is shown in the fact that already 25 percent of the graduates have gained stability within three weeks of their graduation,” she said.

“Next, we are taking three of those graduates who want to learn to lead and we are beginning two more groups,” said Clark. “If we continue to lead groups and train more leaders, we can potentially offer this curriculum to almost 100 low-income families in just over a year. At the completion of this next session we will be halfway there with over 55 families trained.”

To sponsor a participant, or for more information, contact Carroll Clark at (563)589-4230 or cclark@cityofdubuque.org.