Every year the Master's students in Urban and Regional Planning take on capstone projects to help Iowa communities through the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities. In the 2013-2014 academic year, five students created a resource on Self-Supported Municipal Improvement Districts (SSMIDs) and the toolkit is  now being used by the City of Cedar Rapids.

The Gazette newspaper recently ran a story on both the New Bohemia and Czech Village areas' proposals to create a SSMID, which will use a tax increase for the business in those areas to increase beautification and marketing.

See the full story here.