When I returned to Iowa in 2012, I had spent more of my adult life outside the state than here. After working outside the country, in Washington, D.C. and in other states, coming home to the state where I was raised was an affirmative choice. I knew I was returning to a statewide community that offered tremendous economic opportunity and affordability, along with people who genuinely care about their neighbors.
While away, I became familiar with how outsiders view our state, which made it clear their opinions were not based on actual knowledge. I became an ambassador for my home state, sharing our history as one of the most welcoming places.
Those who thought they knew Iowa simply as farm fields didn’t realize that the University of Iowa was the first public institution to admit men and women on an equal basis. It graduated one of the first female lawyers in 1873. They were not aware that the Iowa Supreme Court determined slavery was an illegal restraint on liberty a generation before the 13th Amendment in 1839, or that in 1868, our highest court determined that separate was not equal nearly 90 years before Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. I explained that the Smithsonian was missing the counter from the Katz Drug Store in Des Moines from 1948, where Edna Griffin staged her successful sit-in over a decade before the more well-known sit-in in Greensboro. I battled assumptions about Iowa’s diversity that didn’t realize the state graduated one of the first African-American lawyers in the country and helped found the National Bar Association to fight racism within the legal profession. Even fewer people knew that Iowa accepted 80 acres in trust for the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa in 1857, nearly three-quarters of a century before the federal government chose to protect other Native American tribes’ land. They learned Gov. Bob Ray’s leadership in accepting marginalized Southeast Asians in the 1970s.
I chose to come home because I’m incredibly proud of this legacy. For those who dismiss these items as part of the past, I’d point out that the Varnum decision was a decade ago or ask them to take a look at the last three Democratic candidates who won the Iowa caucuses. Iowans have been, and continue to be, leaders in understanding differences, encouraging productive dialogue, and welcoming all. Since I returned, I have advanced rapidly in my profession while also reengaging in the same small community where I grew up. That includes a mortgage for half what I was paying in rent and an excellent school district for my kids within five minutes of our home.
The most significant economic challenge facing the state is the need for widespread talent attraction. Iowa is in a battle for talent, and our economic growth will be inhibited without it. Our state offers nearly unrivaled economic opportunities. Native Iowans, like myself, understand what makes us unique. To those non-native Iowans who have chosen to move here, welcome. I hope you are seeing what people call “Iowa nice.”
Dustin Miller is the executive director of the Iowa Chamber Alliance, a non-partisan coalition representing leading Chambers of Commerce and economic development organizations throughout Iowa that focus on promoting economic growth policies and initiatives.
