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Inclusive Communities

Diversity Focus is excited to publishthis second edition of InclusiveCommunities. We, the board of direc-tors and our stakeholders, hope thismagazine will help stimulate reflectivethoughts and discussions. The word“diversity” may elicit a variety ofimages and preconceptions. Diversityis the differences each of us possess,including ethnicity, views of religion,cultural and family traditions, alongwith individual choices we make dur-ing our life. It may be difficult to haveone true definition of diversity,because like most facets of our complex lives, ideals and forward-thinking concepts take on greater significance and adapt as weactualize new principles.

Our organization’s goals pivot on communication. As our com-munity continues to be open to various forms of education and dia-logue, it is our hope to foster a Corridor that values diversity.Diversity Focus is a clearinghouse and a resource you can use forwork, family and personal growth. We offer programs and supportfor corporations, schools, government and any organization or indi-vidual wishing to positively impact inclusiveness where we work,live and play.

At the core is a society which goes beyond that of acceptanceand understanding, to strive for appreciation of those qualities thatmake each of us unique. From the outside, one may first notice dif-

ferences in another’s race or ethnicity; butas we delve deeper into the nature ofhumanity we can become truly inspired bythe richness of this world. Like nature itself,this biosphere of our world is strengthenedby the diversity of all people and the manycultural heritages learned over the millenniaof history.

As we move from crisis to crisis, it isoften difficult to step back from the flood ofadrenaline one must employ to ask,“Whatcan I do to make life better?” It is my opin-ion that empathy for others is paramount.Empathy is not sympathy, but rather the

capacity to think and feel oneself into the inner life of another per-son. It is the attribute that makes us human. A world where wejudge one another, show indifference and simply tolerate our neigh-bor is a world divided and without gratitude for the art of civiliza-tion itself.

Reach out to a co-worker or neighbor that you don’t know.Welcome newcomers to our Corridor. Consciously utilize empathy togo beyond tolerance to seek appreciation for the uniqueness withineach of us.

Robert D. BeckerPresidentDiversity Focus

Produced and printed entirely in the CedarRapids-Iowa City Corridor for DiversityFocus by the Corridor Media Group, Inc., 845Quarry Rd., Ste. 125, Coralville, IA 52241,(319) 887-2251.

Publisher .................................. John F. Lohman

Project Manager - Diversity Focus

...................................................... Stacie Bedford

Editor ..............................................John Kenyon

Cover Art..........'Diversity Tree' by Russ Fagle

Layout ..................................................Jill Colbert

Writers ..................................Katie Mills Giorgio

John Riehl

Ruth Paarmann

Locke Peterseim

Loren Keller

Photographer ....................................Mark Tade

Contents are registered to Diversity Focus. Reproductionor other use, in whole or in part, of the contents of thepublication without permission is strictly prohibited.While the information in this publication has been com-piled carefully to ensure maximum accuracy at the time ofpublication, it is provided for general guidance only and issubject to change. The publisher cannot guarantee theaccuracy of all information or be responsible for omis-sions or errors. Additional copies may be obtained fromDiversity Focus, 205 2nd Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401,www.diversityfocus.org

29 Kory BassettChad Simmons 7

32 Raj InaniJasmine Almoayed 10

37 Ben RogersMichael Lynch 14

41 Ife ChidebellAnne Pham 18

44 Nicole NislyJenn Sesay 20

49 Woo Jin JungAdisa Kudumovic 24Inclusive Communities 3

Contents

Inclusive Communities 5Inclusive Communities4

I was in transit to Cedar Rapids to become the Executive Director of DiversityFocus on June 11 just as the historic flood of 2008 arrived. Not only was theDiversity Focus office destroyed, the staff was displaced and, on a personalnote, I could not find housing. I arrived in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa CityCorridor unprepared for the aftermath of a major disaster and was unpreparedfor some of the personal challenges I encountered both as a new member of thecommunity and as an African-American woman.

My personal experiences confirmed that I was indeed in the right place atthe right time to carry forth the vision that brought me here… the vision thatled forward-thinking community leaders to form a one-of-a-kind organization,Diversity Focus. Those same experiences fueled my longtime passion for diver-sity and inclusion work, particularly Diversity Focus’ unique approach.

Timing is everything! Diversity Focus’ mission is to enhance diversity andinclusion throughout the cities in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Corridor.The goal is to minimize losing a population of people who are different fromthe long-term, homogenous population. This approach: to provide opportuni-ties, resources and experiences to promote understanding, valuing and embrac-ing differences.

These leaders embarked upon a novel approach to diversity, to provide thecommunity with resources to help understand Diversity and Inclusion:

What is it?Why it is importantHow to embrace itThe consequences of not embracing it

Early on, Diversity Focus created communitywide events and conferences toengage, educate and solicit input from the community to enhance and supportour mission. From that input, we developed learning and awareness opportuni-ties as well as skill-building programs and tools that continue today. They are:

Spanish Conversation Circles – network and have fun while learning Spanish (no need to be Spanish speaking) in informal settings, meets weekly.FindIt – online resource to find everything from personal grooming providers, lifestyle groups to houses of worship and everything in between, continuously available.Diversity Focus Ambassadors – helps newcomers become acclimated by matching with volunteer community members, continuously available.Crash Dialogues – workshop based on the Oscar-winning film, which brings awareness to personal attitudes and beliefs about diversity and inclusion, meets monthly.Student Diversity Leadership Conference – annual conference for high school students to empower them to embrace diversity and inclusion.

A Message from ExecutiveDirector Hazel Pegues

Brown Bag Speaking Series – community experts speak on a variety of diversity and inclusion topics, meets bi-weekly.Inclusive Communities Publication, bi-annual magazine that celebrates diversity and inclusion in the Corridor.Consulting, as requested.

In late 2008, Diversity Focus commissioned Vernon Research Group to conduct a diversityclimate study, the first study of its kind in the state. We wanted to understand how people inthe Corridor experience diversity and how they could be encouraged to develop a deeperunderstanding of its importance. We also wanted to benchmark the community’s perceptionsand attitudes on diversity and inclusion to measure the impact of our work.

The Corridor Diversity Climate report chronicles the results of the study, some of which are:

Many respondents – 53 percent – believe the community does an average or better job embracing diversity; among minority respondents the study found that discrimination persists.

While most respondents agree on which community diversity objectives are mostimportant, there are substantial perception gaps between Caucasians and non-Caucasians, especially African-Americans, on how much progress has been made.

These and other major findings in the study tell us there is work to do in making theCorridor a more welcoming and accepting community for all people. Diversity Focus is usingthese findings to prioritize and focus our efforts and resources to work toward closing some ofthe gaps the study highlighted. We are focused on finding, acquiring and making available“best- in-class” awareness and skill-building opportunities for the community at large and forsectors highlighted in the study specifically.

The Corridor Diversity Climate results provide Diversity Focus and the community withinvaluable direction and insight on how together we create the welcoming and accepting cli-mate that we want to live in. We are committed. I hope you will join us!

The University of Iowa had alwaysintrigued Chad Simmons. For thelongest time, he didn’t quite know why.

But after reflecting on the careerpath that led him back to where heearned his master’s of business admin-istration degree18 years earlier, the42-year-old Chicago native arrived atan explanation. “I came back to Iowabecause of the people,” says Simmons.“People make all the difference. That’sthe selling point of Iowa.”

It’s a good thing, because Simmonsis squarely in the people business.Appointed as the first-ever associatevice president for human resourcesfor UI Health Care, he was given thedaunting task of integrating thehuman resources functions forUniversity of Iowa Hospitals andClinics, the Carver College ofMedicine and University of IowaPhysicians, a multi-specialty physiciangroup practice.

When he began his new role inJanuary 2009, he hit the ground run-

ning — and hasn’t stopped since.With just over 180 days on the job,he and his human-resources teamsuccessfully completed a restructuringof the UI Health Care humanresources entity, negotiated three laborcontracts, implemented two voluntarycost-reduction programs, managed apotential pandemic, helped duringdifficult workforce reductions andacknowledged the first anniversary ofdevastating flooding that affectedIowa City and the UI campus.

Undaunted by the challenges hefaced during his first six months onthe job, Simmons is clear on his mis-sion: “Our goal is to be the best aca-demic medical center in the world,with the best people.”

Even with his impressive academicresume and new job title, Simmonssays he makes it a priority to checkhis ego at the door when he comes towork.

“It’s about the organization, notabout me,” says Simmons, who

eschews a “me first” attitude in favorof being a team player. “If the organi-zation fails, I fail in my mission. Mygoal is to make sure people do inspi-rational work.”

Maintaining a clear focus and sur-rounding himself with good people,Simmons hopes to take UI HealthCare to great heights. He is quick toacknowledge the talents of his teamand credits them with helping himmake such a smooth transition to theuniversity. He also plans to rely heavi-ly on them to be a major catalyst indeveloping UI Health Care’s futureidentity and culture.

“There are so many talented peopleand my goal is to help them achievetheir highest potential in serving thepeople of Iowa,” he says.

On the job, Simmons strives tonever lose sight of finding the bestsolution to a problem. “I leave mymind open and do not make deci-sions quickly,” says Simmons. “I liketo sit down with my superiors, peersand subordinates alike, and I’m opento the possibility that there are better

Inclusive Communities 7

Chad Simmons:Keeping an open mind in pursuit of excellenceBy John Riehl

Continued on page 8Chad and Carol Simmons with their dogs Champ and Chawna.

ideas out there.” A self-described “people person,”

his philosophy is to push everyone hemeets to achieve his or her absolutebest. He claims to know no other way,and says he has been driven towardexcellence throughout his life — set-ting lofty goals and working hard toachieve them.

Simmons graduated from WhitneyYoung High School in Chicago, whichhas a distinguished alumna in FirstLady Michelle Obama.

“At Whitney Young, everyone issmart,” Simmons says. “Everyone istrying to achieve a level of excellence.They taught you to always strive to bethe best.”

Simmons then headed toMorehouse College in Atlanta, theonly all-male historically black collegein the United States whose distin-guished alumnae include Rev. MartinLuther King Jr. and film directorSpike Lee. At Morehouse, Simmonsagain found that the bar was raisedvery high.

“They developed leaders,”Simmons says. He graduated in 1998with a bachelor of arts degree in busi-ness operations. A few years later,Simmons came to Iowa on a fellow-ship and earned his MBA from the UI.

Simmons, and his wife, Carol,enjoy the change of pace thatCorridor living provides. The coupletakes pleasure in sitting down to din-ner together most evenings and relish-es the opportunity to create newfriendships. After settling in, theyeven welcomed a second dog intotheir family, Churny, a young andrambunctious female pit bull. She,too, is settling into her new home andlearning the ropes from her big broth-er, Champion.

Before returning to Iowa, Simmonsendured years of long daily commutesto school and work and he says heisn’t missing them a bit. He nowsavors his short commute and jokes

about going from rush hour to “rushminute.” The time savings is one ofthe things he likes most about beingback in the Corridor. Simmons alsoappreciates close proximity to hishometown and his family, as a three-hour drive puts the couple back inChicago.

Simmons has a history of seekingout the best for himself, in his aca-demic, professional and personal life,and he’s committed to helping othersdo the same. “You have to knowwhere you want to go and remainfocused.”

Inclusive Communities8

Continued from page 7

Although I'm originally from Seattle, I hadbeen living in New York City for severalyears before moving to Cedar Rapids. Myfacial muscles were very sore after the firstweek in Iowa from returning everyone'ssmiles! I try to model this friendliness withothers, whether it is welcoming new stu-dents into our campus community orreaching out to new Iowans. Because myhusband is from Nepal, I have a great dealof empathy for the daily life challenges ofimmigrants, and I try to help in as manyways possible. As a teacher, I strive to makethe Corridor even more welcoming by

sharing with my students my cultural experiences from traveling and livingabroad in Europe and Asia, integrating global perspectives into the classroom,leading study-abroad trips to Oaxaca, Mexico, (and hopefully Nepal and India),and even “tricking” my students into eating new foods (e.g. Malaysian, Korean,Ethiopian) on field trips and area excursions. The pleasure for me is witnessingtheir immediate reaction and being there to successfully guide them through itso that they lose their trepidation in new contexts and with different groups.

— Kathryn HagyMount Mercy College associate professor of art,

chair of the department of communications, literature & arts

I was born in Bien-Hoa, (South) Vietnamand moved with my parents to theUnited States in 1990 to Ames. I wasordained a priest in 2004 and moved toCedar Rapids. It was a difficult decisionfor me to move to the Cedar Rapidsarea. My reservations about being anon-Caucasian in a new area were sooncalmed by the very accepting, open-minded and welcoming community andparishioners here. There is an energyand excitement from the people wholive here. I have observed a collabora-

tion and outpouring of social concern and outreach by all age groups. In myparish, it is very refreshing to be accepted in my professional line of work, eventhough my English is not perfect. I hope to be able to stay in the area longerthan my term of six years.

— Father Dustin VuBlessed John XXIII Catholic Church


weird. Yeah, I would fast duringRamadan, but most of my teachers wereaware of what it was, and other kidsdidn’t really seem to think it was odd.”

Almoayed found, instead, that therewere cultural differences between herfamily, with its European heritage, andthe majority of the area’s Muslim popu-lation, many of whom were fromLebanon and were of Arabic descent.

“When I was a kid,” recallsAlmoayed, “my Lebanese and Pakistanifriends were like me in one waybecause of our religion, but my sistersand I didn’t really know any otherYugoslav kids.”

Like any young person, Almoayedfound herself identifying as muchwith her friends and their Arabic cul-ture as with her family’s Yugoslavianbackground.

“Yeah, we went to the mosque,”remembered Almoayed, “but I was notreally sure what my identity was. I wastrying to be an American kid in Iowa,and many of my friends were whiteand Christian.”

But that changed somewhat in the1990s as Yugoslavia was torn apart bya civil war that pitted Serbs againstCroats, with Bosnian Muslims oftencaught in the middle.

“Suddenly,” Almoayed says, “every-one over there wanted to start dividingoff from what was once one country.Different groups were saying, ‘Oh no,I’m from Albania, I’m not reallyYugoslavian.’ ‘And I’m Bosnian.’ ‘AndI’m Croatian.’ ‘I’m this, I’m that, I’mwhatever.’ They started segmentingthemselves out.”

Though she had been born andraised in America, the tragedies of theYugoslavian civil war reachedAlmoayed’s family in Cedar Rapids.

“We had a large number of relativeskilled — a lot,” says Almoayed. “Andour parents didn’t hide any of thatfrom us — we’d hear about cousinsgetting killed as part of the genocide.”

Stories of atrocities and horrific

Identity is not always cut and dried.Growing up in Cedar Rapids, JasmineAlmoayed learned that lesson well as ayoung woman of Bosnian descent andMuslim upbringing.

Today, Almoayed is the programdirector for Kirkwood CommunityCollege’s training and outreach servic-es. As such, her duties include goingout into the Eastern Iowa businesscommunity, determining the needs ofarea employers and helping them meetongoing changes. The task requiresflexibility and a knack for connectingwith a variety of people and their chal-lenges, but Almoayed has a lifetime ofexperience communicating with differ-ent groups and understanding theirperspectives and priorities.

Amy Lasack, Almoayed’s supervisorat Kirkwood Training and OutreachServices, says her passion and person-ality also make her an effective force inthe Cedar Rapids community

“She can connect with individualsfrom all backgrounds, whether it’s eth-

nic, religious, or if someone is a CEOor a front-line worker,” she says. “She’spassionate about everything she does,from her family and friends to her joband volunteer work with the AmericanCancer Society.”

Almoayed was born in CedarRapids, but as a young girl she beganto understand that she carried with hera couple of different identities. Herfather had come to America in the1960s after learning that his father —whom he believed to have been killedin Yugoslavia during World War II —was in fact alive and living in EasternIowa. Almoayed’s grandfather hadended up in Cedar Rapids due to thepresence of the Mother Mosque, one ofthe first in the United States, and theefforts of the area’s Islamic communityto sponsor refugees.

Growing up in Cedar Rapids in the1980s, Almoayed says, “I wasn’t evenreally aware that we were different. TheIslamic community in Cedar Rapids hasbeen around so long it doesn’t seem as

JasmineAlmoayed:Communicating perspectives and prioritiesBy Locke Peterseim

Continued on page 12


killings made their way back toBosnians living in the Midwest.

“A lot of old grudges came up,” shenotes as she relates stories of how fami-lies in the former Yugoslavia that hadonce dined and played soccer togetherturned on one another to avenge per-ceived wrongs from before World War II.

The war also brought more refugeesto Cedar Rapids. “I remember being 9years old,” says Almoayed, “and wewould get phone calls from the hospi-tal asking for a translator. So there Iam, 9 years old, at the emergencyroom trying to explain to a nurse ordoctor that some guy was saying hisheart hurt.”

In 1999, Almoayed visited her rela-tives in Bosnia.

“After the war, it became so impor-tant to people to dif-ferentiate themselvesas Bosnian,” recallsAlmoayed. “I didn’tknow it was such abig deal until I waswalking down thestreet there and used aSerbian ‘good day’greeting. My cousinchewed me out.”

In Europe,Almoayed observedBosnian Muslims tak-ing on Turkish phrasesand trappings as a wayof differentiatingthemselves from Serbs and Croats.

“There was this whole new sense ofidentity,” she says.

A few years later, Almoayed experi-enced another shift in identity follow-ing the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

“I didn’t really think much aboutbeing Muslim until Sept. 11 hap-pened,” she says. “It was a doublewhammy for me because my husband’sfamily is Arabic. I had never heard theslurs and stuff like that until that point.I’d never realized how much I amgrouped into this mix of people. As far

as I was concerned, I was American,but now here I am getting lumped intothis group. And I was doing it myself— all of a sudden I’m identifying withall these Muslims and Arabs who arefeeling discriminated against, and itreally did feel like ‘us versus them.’”

Almoayed graduated from theUniversity of Iowa, where her back-ground and experiences as both aBosnian-American and a Muslim-American steered her toward an inter-est in human rights law.

“My dream job would be prosecut-ing at the Hague,” she says. “My pas-sions lie in politics, and I pay closeattention to policy in the Middle East.When a war happens, I tend to focus alot more on how the civilians are beingimpacted, because I had a good half ofmy extended family just wiped out as a

result of being in thewrong place.”

Dr. William Davishas known Almoayedand her family sinceshe was a young girland even becameordained online inorder to marry herand her husband.

“When we’d sitand discuss religionand politics, Jasminewas clearly the mostinformed and pas-sionate in her views,”Davis remembers. “I

think her well-rounded fund of knowl-edge and passionate nature means shewill always be a strong, progressiveadvocate for female equality and any-one disadvantaged. I know she realizesthat had her family stayed in Bosnia,she might not be alive.”

Almoayed herself is thankful for theopportunities the Cedar Rapids areahas provided her and her family.

“This area has a great educationalsystem that really encourages all chil-dren to their highest potential,” shesays. “I wouldn’t have gotten to where

I am if it wasn’t for the encouragementand opportunities I had as a child, likeaccelerated learning for gifted childrenand the involvement of educators.”

With so much life experiencebehind her, Almoayed has no plans toslow down.

“This area has a lot of women inhigher positions,” she says, “and I’vebeen encouraged to further my educa-tion, as someone in my 20s who has alot of working life ahead of her.”

After all, as Almoayed has learned,who you are is always a work inprogress.

“She’s passionateabout everythingshe does, from herfamily and friendsto her job and volunteer workwith the AmericanCancer Society.”

Amy Lasack


My wife and I moved to CedarRapids in 2006. I grew up inChicago, so I was a little worriedabout moving to a smaller com-munity with less diversity. In fact, Ipromised my wife that we couldmove back to Chicago after oneyear. Well, we are still here afterthree years. We stayed because ofthe wonderful people of theCorridor. Our new neighbors werevery warm and welcoming. Thepeople at Mercy Medical Centerand St. Luke's Medical Center wereextremely kind and helpful. Wejoined a church in Iowa City, andmade lot of good friends. I do missthe vibrant atmosphere ofChicago, but the people of theCorridor are what keep me here inCedar Rapids.

— Wook Daniel LeeMercy Medical Center's

Hall Radiation Center

When Pastor Michael Lynch came tothe Iowa City Church of the Nazarenein 2002, he found a congregation instagnation. Church member GinnyKing remembers, “We were a dyingchurch, set in our ways. All of uswanted something, to see change, toreach out into the community.”

What Lynch brought to his newchurch was a philosophy of engage-ment. “We have a vision of openingour doors to all people,” he explains.Seven years later, that vision has man-ifested itself in a unique and excitingarrangement at the Church of theNazarene: Three ethnically and orga-nizationally different congregationssharing the same resources and physi-cal church space while workingtogether to meet the spiritual needs ofthe diverse Iowa City community.

Today, the Iowa City Church of theNazarene is home to the EnglishChurch of the Nazarene with PastorLynch, the Hispanic Church of theNazarene with Senior Pastor JoseSegura and Co-Pastor Dayrin Lovan,and the newest addition to the fold,the African Church of the Nazarene,with Pastor Chapain Tosingilo. Eachcongregation is a separate entity andholds its own services on Sundays,though all three gather together on

special occasions such as ChristmasEve and Easter.

This arrangement was never part ofany grand plan, but rather it cametogether organically over the past fewyears.

“The first couple years were aboutopening our doors, finding out wholives in our community, and needsthey might have,” Lynch says.

One of the first things Lynch didon his arrival was bring in a parishnurse, Theresa Stecker. “Theresastepped out of these four walls,”Lynch recalls. “She began to engage

people, and you cannot engage peoplein a community without discoveringall the different cultures. She was thecontact with those cultures, cultivat-ing a relationship and portraying ourchurch as a welcoming place.”

Stecker eventually became thedirector of the Christian CultureCommunity (CCC), a partner organi-zation that addresses the needs ofimmigrants in the area.

One person who came in contactwith Stecker through the CCC wasDayrin Lovan, who had moved toIowa City from Guatemala in 2002.Lovan noticed a lack of Hispanicchurches in the area, but was pleasedto find an open and welcoming atti-tude from Pastor Lynch and theChurch of the Nazarene.

The first barrier was language.Initially, the church tried using trans-lators like Lovan during its services,but that proved unwieldy and time-consuming. It became clear to every-one that the Hispanic members of theNazarene congregation needed theirown church and own services.

“We all identify as Christians, aspart of the Nazarene,” says Lovan.“But we all have our own way to wor-ship, our own way to express our-


Michael Lynch:A philosophy of engagementBy Locke Peterseim


“Ethnic groups cominginto the communitycan’t always afford tobuy property and buildbuildings, so we havethat ready made. We’resaying,‘Let’s all livetogether and pool ourresources.’ But we allshare a common goal.”

Michael Lynch

selves.” So, the Hispanic Church ofthe Nazarene was formed in 2006.

Around that same time, Tosingiloarrived in the Iowa City area. Born inthe Republic of the Congo, Tosingilohad moved to New Orleans in the late1990s to study in a seminary andeventually form his own church. Butin 2005, the devastation of HurricaneKatrina sent Tosingilo and his familyto Dallas. While there, he heard fromfriends about the growing number ofAfrican refugees, immigrants and stu-dents in the Iowa City area and theirneed for an African church.

“God led us to the ChristianCulture Community,” said Tosingilo.“We knew we had been called to readthe Gospel to people, to preach, tohelp them worship God.”

In August 2007, Tosingilo openedthe African Church of the Nazarenewithin the existing church buildingand the current three-congregationsystem was born.

“We share the kitchen, the churchbuilding, the copy machines, every-thing,” Lynch says. “Ethnic groupscoming into the community can’talways afford to buy property andbuild buildings, so we have that readymade. We’re saying, ‘Let’s all livetogether and pool our resources.’ Butwe all share a common goal.”

The African Church ministers topeople from all across the African conti-nent, including The Republic of Congo,Guinea, Tanzania, Guyana, Togo,Central Africa, Liberia and Mali. TheHispanic Church’s congregationincludes people from Mexico,Guatemala, Columbia, Honduras,Puerto Rico, El Salvador and Costa Rica.

That makes for three very differentservices on Sundays. The African andHispanic services often use more anddifferent types of musical instruments,including guitars and drums.

“These guys don’t have the timeconsciousness we all live with,” laughedKing. “They can start a half hour late

and it’s very comfortable. And theyhave noisier services, more joyous —you have a freer type of gathering with20 people praying out loud.”

“That’s the beauty of the differ-ences,” notes Lovan. “We have ourseparate ways of how we pray andworship and we preserve our ownculture.” Adds Tosingilo, “We see thediversity and how we worship God inour manner, but we worship the sameGod in three different cultures.”

“Our philosophy is that there is agreater sense of love from allowingpeople to worship in the context oftheir own culture, rather than try toforce them into our own,” Lynch says.“But there is also such a sense of won-derment and curiosity about our dif-ferences when we all come together.”

English congregation memberVelma Crum agrees that the Nazareneset-up is a positive part of the area.“We reflect more of what the commu-nity of Iowa City is,” she says. “It’scertainly diverse and growing indiversity, and we’re enjoying being apart of that.”

The church reaches out to the IowaCity community through its partner-ship with the CCC, which Lynchdescribes as “a safe place for people tocome to.” Open to anyone, includingthose with no connection whatsoeverto the Church of the Nazarene, theCCC aids immigrant family with food,clothing and gas vouchers, as well asspiritual counseling and legal refer-rals. The Compassion Ministry Centeroperates out of the CCC, working tohelp low-income families in the area.

All this diversity and change alsomeans continued growth and changefor the church. Though there is no setplan, Lynch says, “If we see a dooropen, we’re going to walk through it.”

Tosingilo started a new AfricanChurch of the Nazarene in CedarRapids in early June 2009, and Lynchsays they are actively looking to findleaders in the African-American com-munity who could help the church

serve that particular demographic.“Seven years ago, we welcomed

Pastor Lynch with open arms,” sayschurch member King. “We needed thevision and hope he was bringing tous. This has been a journey and we’velost a few along the way who didn’tshare the vision or maybe couldn’thandle the diversity. But those of uswho have stayed have grown andbecome more excited as the journeyhas continued.”



Our family arrived in Cedar Rapidsin 1975. With open arms our com-munity welcomed us to becomepart of an inviting growing region.Over the years, I have come to real-ize that the Corridor welcomes allwho wish to become part of it. Theopportunities are boundless at alllevels. With very few exceptions,the fact that I cannot see has notprecluded my employment andvolunteer participation. Thephrase,“To be aware is to see, tobe truly alive,” typifies the Corridorto me. The diverse cultural, artisticand community opportunitiesmake one aware of the part thateach of us may play. Our commu-nity is truly alive. It encompassessmall and medium-sized entitieswith widely differing demograph-ics, yet with this diversity, theCorridor is an entity unto its self. Itis growing and dynamic.

— Christopher ThomsNorthland Fitness Club

of Iowa for mechanical engineering. Shenotes that at graduation, she was one ofonly four other females in the group.

Professionally, Pham started as aproject engineer at Alliant in 2007.She is a Green Belt in Lean Six Sigmaand participates in Women in Scienceand Engineering and the Society ofAutomotive Engineers.

While she’s the youngest employeeand the only female project engineeron her floor, she says her coworkers

are very welcoming and open. Amongher accomplishments in supportingthe Alliant Energy power plants, Phamwas involved in implementing LeanSix Sigma process management intothe company’s engineering projects.

She looks forward to balancingwork with her involvements in theSpanish language circles and dancingthe salsa, meringue, cha cha andbachata — a Dominican dance —with Baile Latino.

“At work, everything is so logicaland structured, it’s a lot different fromwhat I do on my free time,” she says.

She hopes more local peoplewould attend the Corridor’s interna-tional events, like the ones held inMarion, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids.

“To have everyone participate andcome to these cultural events wouldbe a big step toward people under-standing other cultures,” she says.


Anne Pham, a project engineer atAlliant Energy, speaks English,Vietnamese, Spanish and AmericanSign Language. While she doesn’thave the opportunity to apply hermultilingual skills at work, she hasfound ways to share her passion forthe Hispanic culture with others.

“I feel like there is a need toadvance the Hispanic culture becauseit’s the second most-common culturein Iowa and not many people areaware of that,” Pham says.

She performs Latin dance withBaile Latino, a local dance group. Shehas met Hispanics from many differ-ent countries, including Cuba. Herfriends told her how difficult it was toassimilate into the community due tothe language barrier.

“They sometimes feel there is noplace to go where they can be under-stood,” says Pham, who emigrated tothe U.S. from Vietnam as a baby.

A true problem solver at heart, shetook action to improve understandingin the community. In a poll of hercoworkers at Alliant, she found theywere open to learning the Spanishlanguage and culture, but didn’t havethe proper channels to develop theirknowledge. So, Pham started a

Spanish conversation circle for Alliantemployees in early 2009. Once aweek over the lunch hour, a group ofhalf a dozen employees meets to prac-tice the language.

“A lot of people think, ‘Why wouldyou want to learn Spanish?’ But it’sthe third most spoken language in theworld,” says Pham. “For me, it’s notreally about learning one language orthe other. It’s about accepting andunderstanding each other better.”

“We have a range of people frombeginners to native speakers,” Phamexplains. “This is great for anyonewho enjoys being able to explore adifferent language.”

She also participates in theDiversity Focus Spanish LanguageCircle on Thursdays. In addition,Diversity Focus holds other weeklyconversation circles at Coe Collegeand in downtown Iowa City.

Pham’s experience immigrating tothe U.S. allows her to empathize withmany of her Hispanic friends. Her par-ents escaped their home country andlanded in a refugee camp in Malaysia,where she was born. The family cameto Des Moines, where they were activein the Vietnamese community.

“Since we were immigrants, we

grew up poor. There were five of us,and my mom had to take Englishclasses at night,” says Pham. “She’s myinspiration. She’s a special ed teachernow. There are always language barri-ers, and I don’t think they should pre-vent people from seizing any opportu-nities that come to them.”

Throughout her education, Phamfound a passion for language, learningEnglish, Spanish and American SignLanguage. She attended the University


Anne Pham:Engineering connections to Hispanic cultureBy Ruth Paarmann


More than 6,000 miles lie betweenPlatteville, Wis., and Lagos, Nigeria.

But the two places are separated bymuch more than geographic distance.More than 10 million people callLagos home, compared to the 10,000who live in Platteville. Lagos enjoys ahot equatorial climate in contrast tothe subzero winters of Wisconsin.And in Lagos, tap water is a luxurythat most citizens ofPlatteville probably takefor granted.

So, it’s safe to saythat diversity has been anatural part of JenSesay’s life.

The RockwellCollins software engi-neer, who turns 25 thisyear, was born inFreetown, Sierra Leone,but grew up mostly inLagos before heading to college at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Platteville atage 17.

“There are so many amenities outhere in the U.S. that you don’t have tothink about getting water for tomor-row, or electricity,” she says. “To me,life was a little better here. So, it waseasier to adjust in that way. Mybiggest hardship was missing my fam-

ily, but I was doing the right thing soI felt OK.”

After taking the SAT in her nativecountry, Sesay applied to several U.S.colleges but decided to try a “randomschool” after she tired of waiting severalmonths for her visa paperwork to clear.

“Random was Platteville, Wis.,” shesays. “I knew it was the U.S. It’s sucha small school but they were great

with international stu-dents.”

Despite being born in acountry torn by civil warfor more than a decade,Sesay says she witnessedlittle of the conflict first-hand. Her family moved toNigeria when she was 4,after her late father took adiplomatic job with theEconomic Community ofWest African States, or

ECOWAS.“Compared to what other people

saw, I was totally sheltered, and thefact that my dad had a diplomatic jobmeant there were certain securities wehad that the average person didn’t,”she says.

The transition to Wisconsin wasdifficult at first. Besides missing herfamily, the hardest part of moving to

Wisconsin was the weather.“I hated the first year, I’m not

going to lie,” she says. “It was toosmall of a town. Lagos has about 10.6million people just in the city, so I’mused to people walking all around,nobody saying ‘hi.’ Then you comeback to laid-back Platteville, Wis., andeverybody’s totally nice. I didn’t knowhow to embrace it, but then I thoughtit might not be such a bad thing thatpeople are nice here, and not such abad thing that you don’t have too

many things to do.”Despite her initial misgivings, she

stayed there to complete a bachelor’sof science degree in computer sciencewith a minor in French. She managedto graduate debt-free with the help ofscholarships, funding from her familyand working jobs as a campus tourguide, at a burger shop and as a net-work consultant who helped to debugthe campus computer network.

She found Platteville a welcomingenvironment and felt accepted

despite the fact that only “two orthree” other native Africans attendedthe same college.

“There were times I wished I hadpeople who knew where I was from,understood my background and man-nerisms, but honestly it was just goodto meet people who were different,”she says.

Sesay joined Rockwell Collins in2005 and went on to earn a master’sdegree in systems engineering fromIowa State University. She is working

to obtain project management profes-sional certification from VillanovaUniversity.

She first became interested inworking with computers as a teenagerafter opening a file with the infamous“I Love You” virus on her father’s Intellaptop and working with him to fixthe damage.

“My dad had a laptop and that wasthe coolest thing ever,” she says. “Iwas always a big fan of trying things

Jen Sesay:Looking for communityBy Loren Keller

“There arepeople like mewho have beenhere four, fiveor six years. Itis home.”

Jen Sesay


out, and I knew I had an interest incomputers. It was a luxury then,because you didn’t have computers inschool, you had typewriters.”

Sesay has emulated her father, anelectrical engineer by training whodied in 2002, in more ways than one.Like her dad, she is fluent in threelanguages — English, French (whichshe has been tutored in since child-hood) and Krio, the national languageof Sierra Leone.

It’s not a language spoken by manyAmericans, although Sesay was oncesurprised to hear her native tonguebeing spoken by a Rockwell Collinscafeteria worker.

“I thought it was my mom!” Sesaysays. “There are lots of dialects of it.There are lots of refugees from thewar – they land everywhere.”

Sesay has landed many places her-self, filling three passports travelingaround the globe. She returns to visither mother in Sierra Leone almostevery year and likes to visit her oldersister in Dublin. She has traveledmany other places abroad, fromGeneva to the Grand Canary Islands,and within the U.S. enjoys visits tothe West Coast.

At home, Sesay stays busy withafter-work activities. She is an activemember of the First Assembly of GodChurch in Cedar Rapids and theWind and Fire Ministries prayergroup. Last October, she started herown online business marketing wed-ding and party favors, Emma’s Favorsand Gifts. Inspired by her mother’swedding shop back in Freetown andher own desire to be an entrepreneur,Sesay calls her business “one of mylate-night hobbies.”

Sesay also serves as chair of theCedar Rapids/Iowa City chapter of theNational Society of Black Engineers,which aims to build a community andretain black engineers in the area byoffering activities and programs suchas tutoring for young students. She

says the group isn’t strictly for blackpeople; white engineers have alsoserved on the group’s board.

“I think a lot of people look forcommunity,” she says. “At least whatI’ve noticed is that people find it bet-ter when they have people who looklike them, who think like them. I’m alittle different, to be honest with you.I think most of my friends don’t looklike me, don’t think like me, but weget along great.”

Sesay remains somewhat surprisedthat she’s stuck around Cedar Rapidssince graduation from college.

“There are people like me whohave been here four, five or six years.It is home,” she says. “I feel a little outof place in my home country, which istotally unbelievable. Even when Ispeak the language, they’re like ‘Yeah,you’re not from here.’”



The Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor is a wel-coming and inclusive community. This isdemonstrated by the Corridor Networking andWelcome Receptions. These events are createdto welcome those new to our community.More than 200 people attend the receptions,which shows just how eager people are to wel-come new faces to the community. Besides thereceptions, there are several groups individualscan join to build their network. Examples areImpactCR, Base, Rotary Clubs, the PTDNDiversity Network, religious communities, ath-letic associations and so much more. Everyone

is always friendly and interested in meeting and connecting with different peo-ple. A diverse community is something we all strive for to build our quality oflife. Businesses, nonprofit organizations, committees, boards, you name it — con-tinuously think about how our community can be welcome and inclusive for allwho choose to make the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor their home.

— Kari LammerPriority One director of workforce initiatives

Rockwell Collins was a major influence on mydecision to move to Cedar Rapids. I did a fewco-ops/internships while in college and mostenjoyed my time at Rockwell Collins. Someother attractions for me to the IC/CR Corridorare the cost of living, proximity to family, andtravel opportunities. Within my first year ofworking, my husband and I were able to saveenough to have an elegant wedding and pur-chase a home. Spending time with family isvery important to us as well. Cedar Rapids isone-and-a-half hours from my side of the fami-ly and two hours from my husband's side of thefamily which makes it convenient to visit. I

enjoy traveling and taking weekend road-trips to other cities such as Des Moines,Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, Minneapolis and St. Louis. I feel at home in CedarRapids and welcome anyone who is interested in living here.

— Nichole McCownRockwell Collins systems engineer


small hole,” she says. “Luckily, whenyou are that young, you are braveenough to make that step.”

Leaving her entire family behind,Kudumovic and her husband lookedfor a place to relocate. Europe refusedrefugees, so when the U.S. began tak-ing applications to help the Bosnianrefugee population, they applied andgot a sponsor in Des Moines.

However, Kudumovic spoke onlyBosnian and French, and her nursingtraining and experience did not trans-late overseas. She concentrated onmaking friends through a job inhousekeeping and immersed herselfin learning English.

After discovering her nursing back-ground, friends encouraged her to gether certified nursing assistant certifi-cation. Meanwhile, her husband’s pro-fessional soccer background andcoaching ability led them first to IowaCity, then to Mount Mercy College inCedar Rapids.

He and other friends encouragedKudumovic to attend nursing school asecond time at Mount Mercy. Shefaced a huge language challenge,sometimes memorizing phrases verba-tim. Multiple-choice tests were partic-ularly difficult as she worked on herverbal, comprehension and writingskills. The outpouring of assistancehelped get her through.

“I am amazed at how many won-derful people are here to provideencouragement and support,” shesays. “The instructors were alwaysthere, giving positive feedback. Ithelped me grow as a student and takeon the next challenge.

“Without the support from myhusband and family, I would not havebeen able to be as successful,” sheadds.

As a registered nurse, Kudumovichas worked full time for St. Luke’sHospital and she’s now part of an on-call program in the intensive care unitthere. She also volunteered at the

By Ruth Paarmann

What’s a health-care worker to doabout a Muslim patient who is diabet-ic during the daily Ramadan fastingperiod?

Ask Adisa Kudumovic. TheSarajevo native is spreading herknowledge of Muslim religious prac-tices in the Cedar Rapids andWaterloo health-care communities.

Kudumovic started giving work-shops titled, “Addressing HealthcareNeeds of Muslim Patients,” severalyears ago at St. Luke’s Hospital, AllenHospital and Allen College. The infor-mation she imparts helps health-careworkers understand Islamic practicesas well as the specific Bosnian aspectsof the religion.

“At first, I was skeptical how peo-ple would respond, especially in lightof 9/11/01, but America is America.People are beautiful here, especially inhealth care,” Kudumovic says.“Everyone has been eager to learnhow to help these patients cope withillness, birth or death.”

In the seminar, Kudumovicexplains the main principles of theMuslim religion, its dietary restric-

tions (e.g. no pork or alcohol, fastingduring Ramadan) and the customarypractices for birth, death and burial.It is also part of the curriculum ondeath and dying at Allen College inWaterloo.

“It’s rewarding to see my colleagueslearn about my culture so they can bemore prepared to meet patients’needs,” Kudumovic says.

She started the talks a few yearsago, and she also has been asked totranslate for Bosnian patients while onthe job as a nurse. This has been inaddition to her duties as a full-timeassistant professor of nursing at AllenCollege and an on-call nurse for St.Luke’s Intensive Care Unit.

Kudumovic’s success follows a har-rowing experience escaping Sarajevoin 1995 when she was 21. The cityhad been under siege for more thanthree years as part of the Bosnian War.

“Living in Sarajevo, it was likebeing in a big concentration camp,”Kudumovic says. Snipers and bomb-ing were rampant when her familyhelped her and her husband, Alen,find their way out of the city throughan underground tunnel.

“We crawled out through a very

AdisaKudumovic:Enhancing cultural competency in health care



Community Health Free Clinic inCedar Rapids for about three years.

Kudumovic enhanced her health-care training by earning a master’sdegree in health education at AllenCollege. Since 2007, she has served asa full-time assistant professor there,where she teaches three courses:pharmacology, medical/surgical nurs-ing and complex nursing. The clinicalcomponent of the courses leads herand her students to St. Luke’s ICUand Allen Hospital.

Kudumovic is pursuing a secondmaster’s degree as an adult gerontologynurse practitioner from Allen College.Her master’s research has focused oncritical care and gerontology.

Her efforts earned her a peer nomi-nation and a place of honor among the100 Great Iowa Nurses in 2007. Atwww.greatnurses.org, the honor isdescribed as recognition of “demonstrat-ed concern for humanity, significantcontribution to the nursing professionand leadership through mentoring.”

As is customary in Bosnia,Kudumovic’s grandparents took careof her and her two sisters while herparents worked. While her whole fam-ily is Muslim, her grandfather, whoactively practices the Bosnian Muslimtraditions, guided her spirituality.

“Many people have an image of howa Muslim woman or man looks. Iexplain that there are over a billionadherents of Islam from diverse cul-tures, such as Chinese, Asian, African,European and American,” she says.“Bosnian Muslims are more liberal intheir practices, which may be due to themulti-religion environment in Bosnia.

“The Koran is the cornerstone ofthe Muslim faith; however, culturalbackgrounds influence the practices,”she adds. “We must understand thatnot every Muslim will have the sameneeds. Hence my desire to elaborateabout the specific needs and beliefs ofBosnian Muslim patients.”

For example, she says a patient

may favor religious practices overhealth, particularly during Ramadan,the month of fasting from sunrise tosunset. Nevertheless, adjustments inmedications and diet can help accom-modate both faith and medicine.

As far as her career influences, asuggestion from her father led her totrain as a nurse, which began in herBosnian high school.

“I wanted to be an accountant, butmy father said, ‘You’re a very caringperson. Have you ever thought ofnursing?’ He pointed out there are

many other things you can do fromthere,” she says.

At this time, Kudumovic is happyto continue her education whileteaching others.

“If I have the opportunity to con-tinue these workshops, that would bewonderful,” she says. “If there is aneed to make the workshops morefrequent, that would be okay, as well.”

She’s glad to have a positive impacton others, giving them the tools so“they can really express their truecompassion for the job.”


Being from Seattle originally and hav-ing lived in larger metropolitan areasall my life, I have been pleasantly sur-prised by how much I have enjoyedliving in the Cedar Rapids area overthe past four years. People are sofriendly here - people I don't evenknow smile and say hello, and manypeople who have lived here a longtime have been happy to show mearound and introduce me to placesand events I may not have tried onmy own, which has made it easy tomake friends. My quality of life here is

much better than I ever would have expected, thanks to the welcomingand helpful people I've met who have helped me feel at home here.

— Charisse ChincharRockwell Collins Lean Six Sigma industrial engineer

I moved my family to Iowa City in early 2005 and have never regretted doing so.In fact, Iowa City is about the best place I have ever lived. I am an administratorat the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. I find my work environment to bevery welcoming and culturally sensitive. I have been given many opportunitiesto advance my career here. I get a tremendous amount of support from my col-leagues as well as my staff. My wife and I could not ask for a better place to raisea family. My four daughters absolutely love their schools and friends.They are alldoing very well academically and participate in many extracurricular activities.As a minority, I must admit that prior to moving here from South Carolina I wasa little concerned about the demographics of Iowa; specifically the small per-centage of African Americans living here. But I must say that the people at myjob, my church and the community have made my family and I very comfort-able and proud to be Iowans.

— Tim GaillardUniversity of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics associate director and chief administrative officer

Cedar Rapids native Kory Bassett, 31,has a true passion for entertainment— acting, improv, standup and writ-ing to be exact. So, when he woke upnearly 10 years ago in a cold sweatworried that he’d never achieve hisdreams, he packed his belongings andhit the road for Los Angeles.

Once there, he worked odd jobs,started sketch-improv training andlater worked with his childhoodfriend Ashton Kutcher (yes, they aretruly friends — Bassett even lived atKutcher’s house when he first got toLos Angeles) on his MTV “Punk’d”project. Not necessarily “big time,”but down the road to stardom.

Just two years into his LA venture,Bassett got a call from a contact inNew York offering him a co-starringrole in a film. So he packed up andmoved again. It’s a move, he says,“that set everything in motion.”

That motion included spending thenext seven years auditioning in NewYork City. He’s had roles on “CSI” and“Law and Order: Criminal Intent.” In2007, he spent a month in Indiawhere he starred in an Indian-Englishcomedy, “Loins of Punjab,” that was ahuge hit overseas (he’s told there were50-foot banners with his face on themall over Bombay).

Then in December 2008, Bassett

decided to leave the stress of audi-tioning behind and moved back tothe Corridor. At home now in CedarRapids, he says he had planned towork two jobs and save up somemoney in hopes of starting his ownproduction company.

That was before he got involvedwith Theatre Cedar Rapids (TCR).

“I’ve done two productions —‘Fences’ earlier this year and ‘Hair,’which was just awesome,” he says.

It’s ironic, because he moved backto the Corridor not to act. “But I’vegrown as an actor through those pro-ductions.”

Perhaps even more ironically, hisdebut on the TCR stage was his firstattempt at performing a play or musi-cal, despite all of his previous work. “Ineeded to come all the way back

home to do that. It’s funny how lifeworks like that.”

The two TCR shows were, accord-ing to Bassett, amazing and “realintense” experiences.

“I was completely blown away. Iwas shocked at the fact they did aproduction (‘Fences’) with an all-black cast. And then, doing ‘Hair’ inCedar Rapids is almost outrageous.‘Hair’ was the greatest role I’ve playedto date, straight up,” he says.

Having never before worked withlocal talent, Bassett says he was equallyimpressed with the other performers.

“The people I met, the cast, aresome of the most talented people I’veworked with,” Bassett says. “It’s like ahuge underground entertainmentscene here.” That’s a telling statementcoming from someone who has beenin the business on both coasts.

Bassett feels the cultural and enter-tainment scene — underground ornot — in the Corridor plays a majorpart in the area’s diversity. “There’s somuch going on. And this town has somuch potential, it kills me,” he says.

Bassett now spends his days work-ing as a pharmacy technician at St.Luke’s Hospital. When he’s not onstage, you can find him riding hisBMX bike, enjoying the outdoors,


Kory Bassett:From big screen to hometown stageBy Katie Mills Giorgio


“And then, doing ‘Hair’in Cedar Rapids isalmost outrageous.‘Hair’ was the greatestrole I’ve played to date,straight up.”

Kory Bassett

playing ping-pong and writing screen-plays (he’s currently working on a dis-aster drama).

He loves that the Corridor is aninexpensive place to live. Plus, Bassett— like many urbanites reunited withthe Midwest — also truly appreciatesthe trees.

“In New York you have to go outfive doors and up the street to get tothe park.”

And while he’s not sure where hisacting career will take him next,there’s one thing he knows for sure.He can’t wait to audition for TCR’sproduction of “Rent” in spring 2010.

You see, while Bassett left the bigcity, he realizes he didn’t leave behindhis passion for acting. “I don’t careabout the fame. I just want to surviveoff the craft.”

Thus far, the Corridor is allowinghim to do just that.



I was born and raised by my parents in asmall town in northwest Iowa withthree sisters, and I always knew that Iwanted to stay in Iowa for the greatopportunities in business and friendlypeople. When I was 17 years old, I start-ed searching for colleges to attend anddecided that the University of Iowawould give me the best education tosucceed as a young business profes-sional in Iowa. Upon arriving at the UI inIowa City, I was overwhelmed by the“big city” and large university, but I soon

realized that I could make my home here as well by networking with manydiverse people and being involved in this exciting cultural community. Aftergraduating from college in 2008, I knew that the only place for me was in IowaCity. I started my career in 2008 at McGladrey & Pullen LLP as an assuranceassociate, and I have been able to experience many different industries anddiverse people in the Iowa City area through my career. Iowa City's great cul-ture and expanding business community have given me the opportunity tofollow my dreams as a business professional.

— Rachel McGuireMcGladrey & Pullen LLP associate


By John Riehl

Raj Inani learned at an early age in hisnative India that giving 100 percenteffort on the job is not nearly enough.

“You had to deliver 200 percent toget 100 percent salary,” says Inani,president and chief operating officerof the Cedar Rapids-based globalinformation technology companyInfinite Computing Systems.

Inani first exhibited that tirelesswork ethic in two-and-a-half years asa systems analyst for a bank in Indiain the late 1980s. His ambitious andhighly successful endeavor trans-formed the financial institution frompaper-driven to paperless.

That success story enabled Inani torelocate to the United States in 1990,accepting an information-technologyposition with Pacific Bell in SanRamon, Calif. Three years later, after abrief stay in Chicago, Inani found ahome in Cedar Rapids doing telecom-munications work for MCI.

“We come from a very competitiveenvironment,” says Inani, who hailsfrom Mumbai, India. “There were aless number of seats for any position,so you had to be very qualified andvery hard-working, and very commit-ted to your job to get a job.”

A typical workday in India lasted

10 to 11 hours, including Saturdaysand Sundays.

With that willingness to work as abackdrop, Inani and his wife, Nita,took a big chance in 1997 and start-ed Infinite Computing Systems witha mere $9,700. Inani was the onlyemployee.

“Here, when you do minimumwork, you outshine other people,because the environment in the U.S.is more relaxed,” Inani says.

Inani used that laid-back Americanapproach to his advantage by making

the privately held Infinite ComputingSystems a global company. In additionto the Cedar Rapids location, thecompany has offices in Thailand,Singapore and Mumbai.

Infinite Computing Systems deliverscustomized software solutions and ITstaffing services to business and gov-ernmental entities. Infinite providesonsite, local experts to develop one-on-one relationships, backed by globalcompany resources and capabilities.

Infinite’s clients include Target, theIowa Department of Transportation,Pearson, Alliant Energy, Walmart,Bank of America and Cedar RapidsBank & Trust.

The worldwide staff has balloonedfrom one employee to between 200and 250. Inani said his company isworth more than $10 million.

“Fortunately, I have a good teamand people have very high workethics here. Yes, I like it,” Inani says.“There are negatives; we do not getcustomers here. Outside projects don’tcome. But I do have a very good teamright now.”

Inani’s team members all possess aquality that puts them in their boss’sfavor — out-of-the-box thinking. Thatis the No. 1 attribute he looks forwhen interviewing candidates for a

Raj Inani:Hard work leads to success


“We have to have people who can thinkon their feet, very smartthinking. When they gofrom customer to customer, they face newproblems. The solutioncan be different, so theyhave to learn how tothink on their feet.”

Raj Inani


position with his company.“We have to have people who can

think on their feet, very smart think-ing,” Inani says. “When they go fromcustomer to customer, they face newproblems. The solution can be differ-ent, so they have to learn how tothink on their feet.”

While Inani expects more than100-percent effort, he isn’t unrealisticin thinking his employees will have100-percent success. That’s not whatit is all about.

“It’s not how much they deliver,but how they’re sincere in delivering,”Inani says.

“Sincerity to the work is moreimportant than delivering. Sometimes,you might fail to deliver, but if you’resincere the next time you’ll do well.”

Inani demands his staff be in thetop five or 10 percent of the peopleworking around them when they goon a consulting assignment.

“You don’t have to be the smartestguy on your team, but you have to bethe most truthful and hard-workingguy,” Inani says.

By surrounding himself with thesepeople, Inani wants his company tobe worth more than $40 million infour to five years, while creating plen-ty of jobs in Iowa in the process.

Inani regularly visits his company’slocations in Mumbai, Thailand andSingapore. He has witnessed Indiabecome more Westernized, abandon-ing that never-quit work ethic that heobserved from his father while grow-ing up.

“My dad didn’t give me any directadvice. He was a very focused persontoward his work,” Inani says. “Alwaysfor him, the work was No. 1. Forhim, if he could deliver the best, hewill survive in his job. That is trans-lated in us.”

Inani is that same kind of by-example guy, and his employees takenotice.


When I moved to the Corridor threeyears ago, I wasn't sure what to expect.Having worked in various universitycommunities, I was used to beingimmersed in an environment that nur-tured different ideas and a variety ofopinions. I am happy to say that I foundthe Corridor both welcoming and sup-portive in this regard. As an arts profes-sional, I was especially interested in adiverse offering of the arts. I am pleasedon this count as well, for between Iowa

City and Cedar Rapids (and the many surrounding communities), there aremore cultural activities than one could possibly attend. The Corridor is a greatplace to live and work!

— Sean UlmerCedar Rapids Museum of Art curator

I have been blessed to have hadthe opportunity to travel, live orhave extended stays in variousregions around this world. Theprevious chapter in my life hadme living in the copper mines ofArizona. Accomplishments in mycareer and educational tenurehave subjected me to a diverselandscape of different people,thoughts, processes, ideologies,philosophies and principles.Having such experiences, onemay believe that a person wouldonly experience the pinnacle oflife in large cities and metropoli-tan areas. To the contrary, I havefound this not to be true in allcases. The Cedar Rapids -IowaCity Corridor has the necessitiesof a large metropolitan area witha personal, inviting and welcom-ing feeling. As a young profes-sional I have and can take part ineducational and social events ata top tier university, take pleasurein fishing in a clean lake andenjoy Bluesmore at theBrucemore Mansion. It is all in theCorridor; people just have lookfor it. It is my opinion that profes-sionals in the early stages of theircareers not only look at theirsalary potential but their qualityof life. My wife and I wanted tolive in an area that was economi-cally and sociably stable whilehaving an educational systemthat met our standards. We havefound the Corridor to be a favor-able fit.

— Vincent AllenMechanical engineer

I've found the people in the CedarRapids-Iowa City Corridor area to beespecially friendly and easygoing. Eventhough I didn't grow up here, I've madeso many great friends and they all havedifferent and interesting backgrounds.Cedar Rapids is a really family-orientedtown, with great schools and so manyactivities for kids that parents can beactively involved with as well. Therealso are many social organizations thatare easy to join, so you can meet peo-

ple who are engaged in the community and share similar interests, and theywill really go out of their way to make you feel welcome. Besides the greatfamily environment and wonderful people of Eastern Iowa, the other thingthat makes it easy to fit in here is there are so many things to do. My hus-band and I are interested in the cultural and outdoor activities, and ourbiggest challenge is to find enough time to do all the things we'd like to do.We often go to events together with friends, and even if we don't, we alwaysbump into several friends who are already there.

— Lijun ChadimaThorland Co. president


The people, plain and simple, are the biggest asset of this area. The majorityof the people I have met and have gotten well-acquainted with are morethan a pleasure to be around. Growing up in an area on the west side ofChicago that has a 1 percent Caucasian population and living in one of themost notorious gang-riddled neighborhoods in the city, chances of me mak-ing it past the age of 18 were against my favor. Subsequently, coming toCedar Rapids was both a huge shock and relief. People welcomed me withopen arms and I felt at home here. It was a difficult transition to say the least,but my new found friends helped me get acclimated quickly. I went to a greatcollege here that prepared me for the “real world” and I landed a great jobwith Diversity Focus!

— Daniel ArroyoDiversity Focus program associate

Ben Rogers doesn’t have a typical day.Rogers is serving a four-year term

as one of five Linn County supervi-sors. His district includes most of thenortheast side of Cedar Rapids as wellas all of Hiawatha. At the age of 29,he is one of the youngest people inthe Corridor to currently hold publicoffice. It’s an honor, he says, but also adaily adventure.

“In public service, there are notwo days that are the same,” saysRogers. “A ‘typical’ day is one inwhich I sit in quite a few meetingsand make decisions that will haveimplications for the short- and long-term. We have our regular board ofsupervisors meeting, county depart-ment liaison meetings, flood-recov-ery meetings and council meetings. Ialso attend events in the evening andon weekends and ensure that I amaccessible to Linn County residents.This is a job where you are alwayson and available.”

Rogers says the vast majority of thesupervisors’ focus is on flood recoveryof Linn County infrastructure andservices, but that remains just a partof what the board does.

“It’s a challenge to also be mindfulof priorities that were importantbefore the flood. It’s one of manychallenges,” he says.

Unlike many young professionals,Rogers has always been politicallyactive.

“In 1999, my mom ran for state-house and that’s when the bug bitme,” he says.

Before his election to public office,Rogers worked for AdTrack Corp.,developing a political software systemcalled SmartVote.

“When it changed from three tofive supervisors I thought, ‘What agreat opportunity to run,’” he says.“There weren’t any young profession-als on the board and that group ofconstituents wasn’t being represented.”

That, combined with his drive toaffect change, led him to run foroffice.

“There is a saying that has had asignificant impact on my life and oneof the main motivators for running foroffice: ‘Decisions are made by thosewho show up,’” he says. “It was notenough for me to sit and hope thatthings will change. You have to bethat change, get involved and be inthe room where decisions are madeand policies implemented. That iswhy I ran for supervisor.”

You might say things haven’t beentypical in Rogers’ life since he was 10years old. That’s when he and his fami-ly — his father Dan, mother Marcia

and brother Michael — packed up andmoved to Auckland, New Zealand.

It’s an experience, he says, thatchanged his life.

“To be at that age and have thoseexperiences, it forever changes thelens through which you see life,” hesays. “Our house was on the beach. Ilearned to surf, sail and scuba dive.You just can’t do those things here.”

When he looks back on the timehe spent living abroad, it’s the littlethings that create the most vividmemories.

“It is oftentimes the small, every-day mundane experiences that endup having a profound effect on youlater in life,” Rogers says. “Simplethings like having to wear schooluniforms at public school, living onthe beach, swimming in the oceanevery day, picking up a foreignaccent and maintaining friendshipsover distance and time. I try not toimagine my life without my experi-ences in New Zealand.”

Rogers and his family maintainties to New Zealand to this day. Hisbrother is in law school there. Hismom continues work to create col-laborations between Iowa and NewZealand. Rogers himself has severalclose friends he keeps in touch with


Ben Rogers:From the beach to public officeBy Katie Mills Giorgio


and visits. “I go back as often as possible,” he

says. The Rogers family lived in

Auckland for four years before return-ing to Cedar Rapids, where Rogerslater attended Washington HighSchool. Then it was off to theUniversity of Iowa were he receivedhis political science degree.

After graduation he moved toMount Vernon — where he joined thevolunteer fire department — beforeeventually moving back to his home-town. Rogers says he stayed in theCorridor not only because he has fam-ily here, but because of the opportuni-ties he and other young professionalshave to get involved and effect change.

“You go to a big city to be a small-er fish in a bigger pond,” he says.“Here you are a bigger fish in a small-er pond, and that helps make this abetter community for all.”

The four years he spent in NewZealand often come into play with thework he does in the Corridor.

“It helps you come to situationswith a more global perspective andapply that locally,” he says. “And hav-ing that cultural competency andhelping others become more cultural-ly competent in the end helps pro-mote diversity.”

Diversity, says Rogers, plays a vitalrole in the Corridor.

“Oftentimes, diversity is thought ofas an add-on. People will say, ‘Weneed to become more diverse,’” hesays. “But diversity truly is innate andingrained in everything we do…diversity of people and ideas. I goback to having a lens through whichwe see the world and becoming moreculturally competent. We can onlyaccomplish that by incorporatingdiversity in everything we do.”

He offers his experience of bring-ing a fresh, younger perspective to theboard of supervisors thus far in histerm as one such example.

“Diversity of thought and diversityof energy has been impactful (on theboard)… Hopefully that leads us tofind new solutions.”

Rogers says he is not alone in hisquest as a young professional tomake the Corridor a more diversecommunity.

“Young professionals are helpingmake this a more diverse community

by advocating for amenities thatappeal to families, young profession-als and businesses to attract them tostay here and to make this communitya beacon for others,” he says.

“Let’s face it, it’s a great community,a fantastic community,” he says.“There is so much to offer and stillroom for improvement. We haven’tstopped evolving.”



Almost two years ago, I was presented withthe opportunity to work at University ofIowa Health Care. Admittedly, the thoughtof moving from the comforts of mySouthern home in Raleigh/Durham was abit scary; after all, I had never lived so faraway from North Carolina. Shucks, why not,I can always return home if things don'twork out in Iowa. I've lived in the Corridorfor about 18 months now and I love it! Thecommunity is welcoming and friendly. Thepeople have shown a genuine interest ingetting to know me. I am often struck by

the many smiling faces and laughter. Generally, folks seem happier here. I ampleasantly surprised and appreciate so much the wonderful fine arts and cul-ture. I really like the beautiful landscape and often take advantage of the nicetrails. Though I am more than a thousand miles away from home, somehow itdoesn't quite seem so far. Perhaps it's the down-home feel Corridor livingaffords. In hindsight, I am glad I came to Iowa City (except for the snow!).

— Kathleen BarbeeUniversity of Iowa Health Care

I was born and raised in Cedar Rapidsand as my parents, two of the most won-derful people in my life, grew older, I real-ized to fully enjoy them I needed to be inthis area, so I moved back. For 20 years Ilived in metropolitan areas, SanFrancisco, Chicago and New York, wheremy lifestyle was more accepted. Gay menwere not overly welcomed in Iowa dur-ing the 1980s and my own bias andmemories were still in full swing in 1999,but I bit the bullet and moved back. Whata fantastic surprise. I found employers

looked at my skill set and not my orientation. I am judged on my abilities, qual-ities and strengths. God has never been kinder, as I am marrying my partner offive years in my hometown at my best friend's home, and my boss and wife arehelping host the wedding. I have the most rewarding job I have ever had help-ing families. As Dorothy on the Wizard of Oz said,“there's no place like home,”and home is the Corridor.

— Craig ChapmanCedar Memorial flower shop manager


Nothing was created to suffer.That’s the philosophy Ife Chidebell’smother shared with her. Through theBureau for African Families (BAF),Chidebell is determined to followthrough on that philosophy.

While Chidebell grew up in Jos,Nigeria, her mother tended to childslaves and others in need, trying tokeep them out of harm’s way.Drawing on her life experiences —which include witnessing the attackon the World Trade Center on Sept.11, 2001, first hand — she is carry-ing on her legacy by helping others toovercome loneliness, stress and fear,and to focus on self-sufficiency andfamily bonding.

“My interest has always been insocial work — helping people solvetheir problems. My siblings and Ilearned that very early in life from mymother,” Chidebell says.

She is dedicated to providing a “lis-tening ear” for the distressed, lonelyand afraid, and counseling in relationto cultural differences that createstress for Africans in Eastern Iowa.She also wants to encourage jobgrowth and education, another call-back to her own childhood.

“My childhood was quite lonely

and frightening, because my motherbecame ill and my father left. Wegrew up without the two of them, sothe family became scattered,”Chidebell explains.

Because she was a child, she didn’teven know where her mother washospitalized. She was sometimes leftalone in her father’s properties, anexperience she describes as terrifying.

“My solace was in reading andstudying,” she says.

Study proved to be her path toopportunities. A Catholic schooltook her in and provided scholar-ships, which Chidebell used to beginstudying French through to the doc-toral level.

As an adult, Chidebell was marriedin 1978 when teaching as a memberof the National Youth Service Corpsprogram. Her husband disappeared in1989 during a terrorist uprising. Sheand her children were rescued by fel-low church members and taken to theairport, from where they escaped toLagos, Nigeria.

As those tensions continued, sheand her four children moved fromthere to New York City in 1999. Shetaught in the United Nations interna-tional school and felt relieved to have

escaped impending violent conflicts inNigeria.

However, New York presented manydifficulties for her family and otherAfricans she knew. When they firstarrived, crime and violence kept theChidebell family close to home. Theydid their best to avoid the negativity.

Then, Chidebell had the horrifyingexperience of witnessing the collapseof the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.As the Staten Island Ferry that shetook to work approached Manhattan,the first plane hit the World TradeCenter. She was among the throng ofcommuters near the towers when thesecond plane hit.

Torn between wanting to help andsurvival, Chidebell and several otherswho were tending to dust-coveredvictims came to realize the gravity ofthe situation. She made the franticdecision to escape to safety, flingingherself on what was likely the lastsubway to Brooklyn. In the confusionand aftermath, she focused on howshe could help.

“A lot of immigrants didn’t knowwhat to do, and most of us whoescaped the collapse were not allowedto help,” Chidebell says. “For years

Ife Chidebell:Providing aid and assistance to othersBy Ruth Paarmann



after the World Trade Center col-lapsed, many immigrants died fromdebris inhalation, loss of work, loss ofhousing and associated ailments. Thatis when my mind was made up that Ihad to do something.”

Chidebell adopted a male medicalstudent who was struggling with cul-ture shock and medical issues. Hemoved to a hostel, convinced hecould sustain himself, but while on abusiness trip, she received the callthat he had died. She attributes it to acombination of starvation, a breathingcondition, a lack of health care andthe poor-quality housing accommoda-tion he was able to afford.

She soon developed the ground-work for the Bureau of African Familiesin 2002, with the hope that it can pre-vent unnecessary deaths and sufferinglike his and promote family harmony.

She continued doing social workin New York until one of her sonsstarted working at Rockwell Collins inCedar Rapids.

“He said, ‘Mom you need to cometo live here. It is quieter,’” she says, soshe moved to Marion in 2007.

Soon after making the move,Chidebell started to hear of refugeesfrom Rwanda and Burundi who weresuffering from various problems.

“They were helped to come here,but after a while, their housing provi-sion expired and they became home-less,” Chidebell says. “I couldn’t imag-ine coming from the horrors of Africa’swars and being homeless here.”

In July 2008, she registered theBureau of African Families as a non-profit and began outreach while shap-ing program ideas.

“We target families, because a lotof families break up when they areconfused and stressed,” saysChidebell. “We provide a listeningear — a number to call when dis-tressed, confused or lonely, and weprovide counseling, particularly inrelation to cultural differences.”

She looks to build support teamsand collect people together to learn,study and work. “Self-sufficiency is agoal,” she says.

One program sponsored by CoeCollege gathers African familiestogether with international studentsto play, cook and work together.Chidebell explains that this bringspeople together to develop family andcommunity bonding.

With the help of the college’s inter-cultural communications program, afashion-design training program is inthe works. Chidebell says the bureauis seeking board members; a web siteis also being developed.

“Our challenge now is to find aplace to house the fashion-trainingprogram and an office for the organi-zation.”

She also wants the bureau to starta paid African choral group. She isseeking donations to pay participants.The choir’s goal would be to shareAfrican culture and bring comfort topeople from all cultures while provid-ing jobs (income for choristers).

Chidebell feels the enthusiasm forthe cause growing, however, sheknows it will be difficult to getAfricans to trust something good ishappening.

“In the future, I hope that wewill be able to create greater cultur-al understanding and get peopleestablished and contributing tocommunity development,” saysChidebell. “I want to see Africanfamilies learning to bond.

“I also want them to know thereare people who care and appreciatethem as people,” she adds.”We recog-nize the trouble that they’ve beenthrough and see the value in makingthe pain and anguish produce positiveresults instead of self-pity anddespondency.”


Having grown up in Iowa, I knewthere is an “Iowa Way:” friendly,community-centered and hard-working, where family and faithare important. Recognizing theIowa Way as a phenomenon hasbeen both a challenge and anopportunity. Friendliness, commu-nity, hard work, family and faithare also embedded in myupbringing. It certainly was one ofthe reasons I felt so comfortablemoving back to Iowa after 40years. It's refreshing to see andfeel the synergy of people in theCorridor saying,“We want every-one to feel welcome here.” It'sexciting to be involved withorganizations that seek to providetools for global citizenship in ourcommunity. For those movinghere, there was a time when Icould truthfully say the Iowa Waywas raising corn, hogs and kidswho could receive a quality edu-cation. While all of these attrib-utes are still important, the demo-graphics are changing rapidly. TheIowa Way recognizes change. Inmany circles of the Corridor, theIowa Way has been expanded tobe more inclusive, more welcom-ing and more inviting. I'm proudto be an Iowan!

— Dorothy Simpson-TaylorUniversity of Iowa director

of diversity services

Inclusive Communities44 Inclusive Communities 45

Dr. Nicole Nisly came to the UnitedStates from Brazil in 1990 to continueher medical education at theUniversity of Iowa Hospitals andClinics. At the time, she felt she had“exhausted the possibilities in Brazil.”As it turned out, during Nisly’s resi-dency at the UI Hospitals, sheexpanded the possibilities here whenshe brought an aspect of Brazilianhealth care with her: the use of alter-native medicines.

“In Brazil, people tend to use moretraditional medicine that you learnfrom your great grandparents, likeherbs,” Nisly says. “It’s much morecommonly incorporated.”

Today, Nisly is the director of theUI Hospitals’ Complementary andAlternative Medicine Clinic, whichshe helped found in 1998. The clinichelps patients learn how to balancethe use of herbs and vitamins withmore conventional medical drugintake and to use alternative therapiessuch as yoga, meditation, Tai Chi andacupuncture for both healing and pre-vention of disease.

Nisly had not intended to makealternative medicine her specialty inthe United States, but in the early1990s, she began working with asmall outreach clinic in Sigourney.

“I noticed that a lot of patients

asked me about it,” she says, “and wedidn’t have anything in the hospitalto address that. I thought, gosh, wehave to talk about that —that’s partof medicine.”

Nisly began to give lectures at UIHospitals about the use of comple-mentary medicine — that is, usingalternative medicines to complement,not replace, modern medical treat-ment. Around the same time, articlesin medical journals pointed out thatat least one-third of patientsemployed some sort of alternativetreatments. It was a controversialtopic in hospitals and medical schools15 years ago, but Nisly’s departmentchair gave her approval to create theclinic as long as it fulfilled the generalmission of the UI Hospitals: research,medical education and evidence-basedclinical care.

“Most patients have a desire to takecharge of their health and to find nat-ural ways to prevent disease,” Nislysays. “My goal is to try to help mypatients use traditional healing tech-niques as well as preventive tech-niques such as nutrition and stressreduction as a way of helping themlive longer and healthier lives.”

Therefore, Nisly’s clinic doesn’t justfocus on patients’ ingestion of herbsand medicines — it also helps them

create a strong mind-body balancethrough the use of techniques such asmeditation, yoga and Tai Chi.

Still, the biggest task of the clinic isto help patients use herbs and vita-mins correctly, especially in conjunc-tion with other drugs they may betaking.

“As people age, they accumulatemedications,” Nisly says. “The prob-lem is, how do these herbs and med-ications get along? A lot of the issues I

address in the clinic have to do withherb-drug interactions.”

The issue of using herbs safelybecomes more important if a patientis undergoing major medical treat-ment, such as chemotherapy, surgeryor ongoing conditions like diabetes orkidney problems.

“Many physicians don’t discussthis, so it can be hard for patients tofind reliable information about herbsand supplements, with so much

advertising around them,” Nisly says.“A lot of people get information frominfomercials, and they become easyprey, especially if they are sick andvulnerable.”

In addition to running the alterna-tive medicine clinic, Nisly and hercolleagues have worked with IowaState University to study the effective-ness of herbs such as echinacea andSt. John’s Wort. She also helped createcurriculum electives for medical stu-

dents to teach them about comple-mentary medicine.

“We need to educate a new genera-tion of physicians to address patients’use of these things,” said Nisly.“Surveys have shown that youngerphysicians are much more interestedin and open to complimentary medi-cine and want to learn how to incor-porate it into their practices.”

Nisly’s interest in promotingContinued on page 47

Nicole Nisly:Exploring alternativesBy Locke Peterseim

diverse alternative treatments alsoextends to the make up of the medicalclasses and student body. A strongadvocate for diversity and culturalcompetencies within the UI College ofMedicine, Nisly says, “Our goal is tosee that our college is producing aclass of very diverse students from avariety of backgrounds who are bothwell-prepared to address a variety ofcultures, and are themselves diverse.It’s very important that physicians areaware of other cultures both outsideand inside the United States, and howthings like cultural background inter-relate to health care.”

When Nisly came to the UnitedStates nearly 20 years ago, one culturalshock for her was the long hours med-ical residents were expected to work.

“It left very little time for family,and Brazilians are very much aboutfamily and relationships,” she says. “Itwas very hard to adapt to theAmerican idea of work until youdrop. But now we’re seeing medicaltraining moving toward a morerespectful division of work and per-sonal life and care. More people findthat their community and family areessential to maintaining a mind-bodybalance on a professional level.”

In fact, Nisly’s husband, JamesNisly, shares her interest in increasingphysical — and therefore, mental —health. He operates Nisly’s OrganicSprouts, a greenhouse-based businessthat produces sprouts and other micro-greens for sale to both local restaurantsand health-food grocery stores.

The first of his family born outsidethe Amish church, James Nisly’s par-ents instilled in him an interest inhealth, diet and alternative medicine.Later, his involvement with an agri-culture project at his church inKalona led him to commercially growitems such as soil-grown sunflower,snow-pea and radish sprouts, as wellas wheat grass and micro-greens oftenused as garnishes.

James Nisly is also president of theJohnson County Local Food Alliance,a nonprofit volunteer organizationthat works to foster a more sustain-able local food economy.

“Local sustainable food can andshould be a part of a healthy commu-nity,” he says. “Food is the basis ofhealth and if you’re going to have ahealthy community, that starts withhealthy people.”

The wife and husband’s healthinterests mesh together neatly.

“Eight of the 10 most prevalentdiseases in the United States have astrong connection to diet and nutri-tion,” he points out. “People need to

realize that it’s less expensive to eatbetter and develop healthy nutritionhabits than to spend a small amountof money on food and then a largeamount of money on health care. Plusthe benefits of personal wellness andproductivity.”

Nicole Nisly has noticed a changein Americans’ attitudes toward healthand alternative healing practices.

“We see people live longer andlonger, so as they age vision and hear-ing declines,” she says. “People arenow interested in how to live wellinto their 100s and how to preservethe body’s functions a longer time.The baby boom generation — whichhas been one of the driving forcesbehind complementary medicine — isgetting old.”

“Every culture has traditionalhealing practices,” she says. Her goalis to help Americans integrate thosealternative treatments with the bestmodern medicine has to offer.Simply put, she wants to use every-thing she can to “help people livelonger, healthier lives.”



I moved to Cedar Rapids in 1989, freshout of high school, and I feel that there isno other place in the United States thatoffers as much as the Corridor. BetweenIowa City and Cedar Rapids, there aremany educational and entertainingactivities one can engage in. I found thateven walking through the University ofIowa campus and downtown Iowa Citywhile being a student was a gratefulchange compared to walking throughthe universities in El Salvador. At the timeI left, the civil war in El Salvador was infull swing and walking anywhere left me

with bad memories and haunting images. The peaceful and welcoming envi-ronment in the Corridor was and has been life changing. As an immigrant, Ifound the Corridor provides opportunity for advancement to anyone, no mat-ter their origins. I am confident that my children will receive the highest quali-ty of public education, life values, and cultural diversity while living in theCorridor.

— Reyna Martinez-Narhi St. Luke's Hospital pharmacist

“Most patients have adesire to take charge oftheir health and to findnatural ways to preventdisease.”

Nicole Nisly


Woo Jin Jung wanted to be one of the“good guys.”

He wanted to go to a land wherehard work was rewarded. That placewasn’t his native war-torn Korea.

After witnessing the brutality of theKorean and Vietnam wars, Jung, atage 29 with just $35 in his pocket,made a life-changing move to theUnited States, landing in CedarRapids on Dec. 31, 1971.

“The United States has more equalopportunity. Anyone can achieve theAmerican dream,” Jung says. “InKorea, money, wealth and family sta-tus dictate your course in life. If yourfamily is rich, you get everything. Ifyour family is poor, you have nochance for advancement.”

Jung’s farming family didn’t havefinancial stability or social status. Butevery member welcomed hard work.

“We were poor and had choresseven days a week from sunrise tosunset,” Jung said. “At six years old,I was in charge of one cow. I learnedthe lesson of hard work and I stillwork six to seven days a week, 12hours a day. My childhood taughtme that you have to work for whatyou want.”

To this day, he hasn’t stopped

working regardless of the task.Jung’s first job was as a pump man

at a gas station. Today, he’s known asone of the most successful tae kwondo masters in the United States.

Jung, 67, operates seven fitnessclubs and owns several shoppingmalls. He runs a 36-acre tae kwon dotraining site in theRocky Mountainsand is the publisherof Tae Kwon DoTimes. The maga-zine’s home office isat 3950 Wilson Ave.SW in Cedar Rapids.

He opened hisfirst tae kwon doschool in 1973, andhis first testing hadonly 11 students.That number grew to20, then 30 andfinally 100 after oneyear. Despite nothaving any money toadvertise, he tested 700 people inseven years at the school.

In 1980, Jung started Tae Kwon DoTimes and still serves as CEO andpublisher.

Even with his success, Jungremains grounded. He doesn’t shyaway from getting his hands dirty athis clubs, picking up garbage andcleaning pools.

Jung’s business philosophy is basedon two principles he calls, “Apple

Tree” and “NotAlways Blue Skies.”

“My ‘Apple Tree’philosophy tells thestory of how youcannot sit under theapple tree and waitfor the apples to falland feed you. Youmust be ambitiousand go after theapples on your ownif you are to succeedin anything,” Jungsays. “‘Not AlwaysBlue Skies’ is areminder that lifeisn’t always easy. Youmay be cruisingalong, succeeding in

life and business with no speedbumps, but that won’t last for long.There will always be a new obstacle toovercome. You must find a way to

Woo Jin Jung:One of the good guysBy John Riehl

“At six years old, Iwas in charge of onecow. I learned thelesson of hard workand I still work six toseven days a week,12 hours a day. Mychildhood taughtme that you have towork for what youwant.”

Woo Jin Jung



work around the obstacles and hard-ships, instead of consistently trying togo through the obstacle.”

There were hardships at every cor-ner when Jung arrived in CedarRapids. He lived in a rough neighbor-hood, didn’t know the English lan-guage very well and didn’t have muchmoney. But he kept his chin up anddidn’t compromise his work ethic,which is a large part of his identity asa successful businessman.

“In the U.S., people expect hand-outs from the government. In Korea,you worked for what you had andthat was it,” Jung says. “People could-n’t believe how hard I worked here,but it was the only way I knew. I did-n’t have much money and ate onlyrice almost every day. Each day, Iwould lean against a large tree infront of Kentucky Fried Chicken andenjoy the free smell of chicken.”

Friday was his big meal day. Hespent 99 cents and purchased onepiece of chicken at the fast-foodrestaurant.

“I still visit that tree to this day,whenever I feel I’m getting a little lazyor a little too comfortable with theeasy life,” Jung says. “I go there toremind myself what I have beenthrough and where I have come from.I go there to become humble onceagain.”

Despite leaving his home countrybehind, Jung says he will never forgetthose wartime memories.

In 1967, he fought in the VietnamWar and witnessed a man get blownup by a booby trap. That experiencemade his decision to leave forAmerica an easy one.

Jung also saw countless Americansdie in the Korean War for his coun-try’s people. In his own way, this mar-tial arts master is giving back to theAmerican people, while contributingto diversity in the Corridor.

“I helped bring the multi-milliondollar Korean owned business, PMX,

to Cedar Rapids. I also brought theNorth Korean Tae Kwon DoDemonstration team to the U.S. forthe first time ever,” Jung says. “I didthis so Americans and North Koreanscould see a side of one another, otherthan politics.”

That’s not the full extent of hisoutreach efforts.

“I also have established the JungFamily Foundation, which helps chil-dren all over the world, paying forcleft palate surgeries that they other-wise could not afford,” Jung says.“Giving back is important to me.”

It seems as if Jung has become oneof the good guys after all.


There are many places I have calledhome, and the Corridor is one of themost welcoming, inclusive cultural andreligious communities of them all. I havebeen on the board of directors of theIslamic Center of Cedar Rapids for nineyears. The local Muslim community isextremely diverse. I am proud to be onthe board of the Inter Religious Councilof Linn County, founded 15 years ago bya Muslim, a Christian and a Jew. It haslong constituted a wide diversity offaiths, and is a shining example of peoplewith similar strong beliefs interacting in apeaceful and constructive manner forthe greater good, as God intended. As

the multilingual son of an English father and a Brazilian mother and the hus-band of a beautiful Moroccan from my Peace Corps days, I have longembraced diverse cultures and thinking. I am grateful that our current adoptedhometown does, too.

— Timothy HyattMidamar project manager

The vignettes sprinkled throughout the magazine featurepeople who live and work in the Corridor and were asked to respond to the question, "What is it about the Corridor

that gives you a sense of welcome and inclusion?"

Cedar Rapids is a special place to mebecause it is my adopted home. In otherwords, I wasn’t born here, I chose to livehere. When I told my family and friends thatI was moving from Bridgeport, Conn., toIowa, I was bombarded with their concernsand questions.“Why would you want tomove to Idaho?”“Do they have black peo-ple in Iowa?”“Aren’t you worried about rais-ing your kids there?”That was 34 years ago,and I am happy to say that it was a greatdecision to move to Iowa. I believe the keythat makes the Cedar Rapids-Iowa CityCorridor so special is the spirit of communi-

ty and caring that individuals show to each other. I experienced the caring quali-ties of our community firsthand when St. Luke’s Hospital gave me the opportuni-ty to be one of their loaned executives for United Way. Like The Grinch WhoStole Christmas, my heart is still bursting with pride when I think of the outpour-ing support that our businesses and citizens continue to provide to those lessfortunate in our community. A caring community is a great community, which iswhy I am proud to call Cedar Rapids home.

— Gwen RandallSt. Luke's Hospital director of education/OD

Many areas are inviting places to livebecause of business opportunities or theeducational system and institutions. Otherplaces beckon with arts and entertain-ment, and still others because of the safetyof their community. Friendly people seemparticularly abundant in a few places.What happens when you find an area thathas all five of those characteristics andmore? You have found The Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Corridor! Fourteen years ago,when my family and I moved to Iowa Cityfrom Colorado, the first thing that

impressed me was the neighbors who stopped by to introduce themselves andlend a hand to help make our transition as smooth as possible. Parents withchildren the age of ours came to meet the new boy and girl on the street.When some of them found out that soccer was part of our DNA and that weneeded to kick a ball more than we needed air to breathe, they put us in con-tact with recreational and competitive teams that provided an instant outlet tomeet people. We soon made friends who cheered and yelled “GOOOAL!” whenour children scored, or watched out for them walking home from school, orstopped to chat when we took our evening walks. Work and pleasure havetaken our family to many places in the world, but Iowa City is truly our home.

— Jairo Muñoz Rockwell Collins program manager – displays

Ethnic Clubs &Organizations

African AmericanAfrican American HistoricalMuseum & Cultural Center of Iowawww.blackiowa.org

Iowa Commission on the Statusof African-AmericansDepartment of Human Rightswww.state.ia.us/government/dhr/saa

University of Iowa AfricanStudents Associationwww.uiowa.edu/~uiafrica

AsianCommission on the Status of Iowans of Asian and PacificIslander Heritage www.iowacapi.org

Iowa Asian Alliancewww.iowaasianalliance.com

BuddhistCedar Rapids Zen CenterCedarrapidszencenter.org

Wat Lao Buddhavath of Iowa The Lao Buddhist www.watlaoiowa.org

ChineseFriendship Association ofChinese Students & Scholars(FACSS)Chen Zhou, presidentwww.uiowa.edu/~facss/

Iowa Chinese Language Schoolwww.iowachineseschool.org

Czech/SlovakThe National Czech & SlovakMuseum and Librarywww.ncsml.org

DanishThe Danish Immigrant Museumwww.danishmuseum.org

FilipinoFilipino-American Association of Iowawww.filamofiowa.com

German Amana Heritage Societywww.amanaheritage.org

GreekChurch of St. John the BaptistGreek Orthodox Churchwww.stjohncr.org

HinduHindu Temple Association of Eastern Iowawww.iowahindutemple.org

Hindu Temple & Cultural Center of Iowawww.iowatemple.org

Hispanic/LatinoIowa Division of Latino Affairswww.latinoaffairs.iowa.gov

Indian/IndiaFriends of India Associationwww.foicr.org

University of Iowa —Indian Student Alliancewww.uiowa.edu/~isa/

IndonesianIndonesian StudentAssociationwww.stuorg.iastate.edu/indo/

IrishSAPADAPASOwww.sapadapaso.org

ItalianItalian-American Cultural Centerwww.iaccofia.org/

International Student ProgramsIntercultural Life OfficeOffice of Intercultural LifeCornell Collegehttp://www.cornellcollege.edu/intercultural-life/

Kirkwood InternationalStudents Officewww.kirkwood.edu

University of IowaInternational Programswww.intl-programs.uiowa.edu


Legion Arts / CSPSwww.legionarts.org

Museum of Natural Historywww.uiowa.edu/~nathist/

The New Bohemia Group Inc.www.newbohemia.org

Old Capitol Museumwww.uiowa.edu/~oldcap

Old Creamery TheatreCompanywww.oldcreamery.com

Paramount Theatrewww.uscellularcenter.com

Prairie Lights Bookstorewww.prairielights.com

Professional and TechnicalDiversity Network (PTDN)www.ptdn.net

The Quire — Eastern Iowa’sGLBT Choruswww.thequire.org

Red Chamber Musicwww.redcedar.org

Riverside Theatrewww.riversidetheatre.org

Science Station www.sciencestation.org

SPT Theatrewww.spttheatre.org

Summer of the Artswww.summerofthearts.org

Theatre Cedar Rapidswww.theatrecr.org

University of Iowa Division of Performing ArtsSchool of Musicwww.uiowa.edu/~dpa

University of Iowa Museum of Artwww.uiowa.edu/uima

Urban Theatre Project of Iowawww.urbantheaterproject.org

Ushers Ferry Historic Villagewww.cedar-rapids.org/ushers

Young Footliterswww.youngfootliters.org

EducationalACTwww.act.org

Coe Collegewww.coe.edu

College Planning Centerwww.collegeplanning.org

Cornell Collegewww.cornellcollege.edu

Cultural Understanding and Explorationwww.cornellcollege.edu

Department of Educationwww.iowa.gov/educate

Grinnell Collegewww.grinnell.edu

Iowa State University: LinnCounty Extension Officewww.extension.iastate.edu/linn

Kirkwood Community Collegewww.kirkwood.edu

Kirkwood Training & OutreachServices (KTOS)www.kirkwood.cc.ia.us/ktos

Mount Mercy Collegewww.mtmercy.edu

University of IowaOffice of equal opportunity & diversityrelationswww.uiowa.edu

University of Iowa Center onAgingwww.centeronaging.uiowa.edu

High SchoolsCatholic Education Officewww.cr-cath.pvt.k12.ia.us

Cedar Rapids CommunitySchool Districtwww.cr.k12.ia.us


University of Iowa Office of International Students and ScholarsUniversity of Iowa International Programswww.intl-programs.uiowa.edu/oiss/

JapaneseJapan America Society of Iowawww.japaniowa.org

JewishAgudas Achim Congregationwww.agudasachimic.org

Iowa Jewish Senior Centerwww.seniorlifecenter.org

Temple Judahwww.templejudah.org

LebaneseSt. George Orthodox Churchwww.stgeorge.ia.goarch.org

MuslimIslamic Center of Cedar Rapidswww.crmosque.com

The Islamic Center of Iowa Citywww.iowacitymosque.org

ScottishHawkeye Area Grand GaelicIsles Society (HAGGIS)www.haggis-iowa.com

Cultural Venuesand Amenities

Amana Colonies Visitors Centerand Convention & VisitorsBureauwww.amanacolonies.com

Arts A La Cartewww.artsalacarteic.org

Arts Iowa Citywww.artsiowacity.org

Bijou Theaterwww.bijoutheater.org

Brucemore Historic Site andCommunity Cultural Centerwww.brucemore.org

The Carl and Mary KoehlerHistory Centerwww.historycenter.org

Cedar Rapids DowntownDistrictwww.downtowncr.org

Cedar Rapids Museum of Artwww.crma.org

Cedar Rapids Opera Theatrewww.cr-opera.org

Cedar Rapids Symphonywww.crsymphony.org

Children’s Theatre of CedarRapids / Playtime Poppywww.playtimepoppy.org

Chorale Midwestwww.choralemidwest.org

City Circle Acting Companywww.citycircle.org

Diversity Focuswww.diversityfocus.org

Englert Theatrewww.englert.org

Hancher AuditoriumUniversity of Iowawww.hancher.uiowa.edu/

Herbert Hoover PresidentialLibrary-Museumwww.hoover.nara.gov

Humanities Iowawww.uiowa.edu/~humiowa

International Writing Programwww.uiowa.edu/~iwp

Iowa Children’s Museumwww.theicm.org

Iowa City Community Theatrewww.iowacitycommunitytheatre.com

Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliancewww.culturalcorridor.org

Iowa Writer’s Workshopwww.uiowa.edu/~iww/

The James Gangwww.thejamesgang.ws


Downtown Association of Iowa Citywww.downtowniowacity.com

Entrepreneurial DevelopmentCenter Inc.www.edcinc.org

Friends of the ImmigrantIowa City, IAwww.friendsoftheimmigrant.org

Goodwill Industries of Southeast Iowawww.goodwillseiowa.org

Grant Wood Studio and Visitors Centerwww.grantwoodstudio.org

HACAP Corporate Officewww.hacap.org

Health Info IowaState Library of Iowawww.healthinfoiowa.org

Herbert Hoover PresidentialLibrary Associationwww.hooverassociation.org

Immigrant Rights Network ofIowa & Nebraskawww.departments.central.edu/servicelearning/students/courses/

Interfaith Worker Justice Centerof Eastern Iowawww.iwjiowa.org

Iowa Center on HealthDisparities — University ofNorthern Iowawww.Iowahealthdisparities.org

Iowa City Area Chamber ofCommercewww.iowacityarea.com

Iowa City Area DevelopmentGroupwww.iowacityareadevelopment.com

Iowa City/Coralville Convention& Visitors Bureauwww.iowacitycoralville.org

Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Centericgov.org/senior

Iowa Civil Rights Commissionwww.state.ia.us/government/crc

Iowa Commission on the Statusof Women www.state.ia.us/government/dhr/sw

Iowa Cultural Coalitionwww.iowaculturalcoalition.org

Iowa Department for the Blind www.blind.state.ia.us

Iowa Department of Cultural Affairswww.culturalaffairs.org

Iowa Department of Human Rightswww.iowa.gov/dhr/ds/index.html

Iowa Department of Human Serviceswww.dhs.state.ia.us

Iowa Department of Public Healthwww.idph.state.ia.us

Iowa Division of Criminal andJuvenile Justice Planning www.state.ia.us/government/dhr/cjjp

Iowa Legal Aidwww.iowalegalaid.org

Iowa Peace Corps Associationwww.uiowa.edu/~pcorps/

Iowa SMP – Seniors FraudProtectionwww.stopmedicarescams.org/

Iowa United NationsAssociationwww.iowauna.org

Iowa Workforce Development www.iowaworkforce.org

Jane Boyd Community Housewww.janeboyd.org

Johnson County Historical Societywww.jchsiowa.org

Johnson Countywww.johnson-county.com

Junior League of Cedar Rapidswww.juniorleaguecr.org

AM Association of Gay Men inIowa — First Friday BreakfastClubwww.ffbciowa.org

LGBT Student Serviceswww.dso.iastate.edu/lgbtss

Linn Countywww.co.linn.ia.us


Clear Creek Amana Community School Districtwww.cc-amana.k12.ia.us

College Community SchoolDistrictwww.prairiepride.org

Grant Wood Area Educationwww.aea10.k12.ia.us

Grant Wood Area Education —Coralville Officewww.aea10.k12.ia.us

Iowa Afterschool Alliance www.iowaafterschoolalliance.org

Iowa City Community School Districtwww.iccsd.k12.ia.us

Linn-Mar Community School Districtwww.linnmar.k12.ia.us

Marion Independent School Districtwww.marion.k12.ia.us

Regina Catholic Education Centerwww.icregina.com

Solon Community School Districtwww.solon.k12.ia.us

Trinity Lutheran Schoolwww.trinitycr.org

Business,Government & CommunityServices

10,000 Hours Showwww.uiowa.edu/~tenk/GetStarted/index.html

Access Iowa/ImpactCRwww.impactcr.org

The Arc of East Central Iowawww.arceci.org

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cedar Rapidswww.beabigcr.org

Big Brothers Big Sistersof Johnson Countywww.extension.iastate.edu/johnson/bbbs/

Boys & Girls Clubof Cedar Rapidswww.bgccr.org

Bureau of Refugee Serviceswww.dhs.state.ia.us

Catherine McAuley Centerwww.catherinemcauleycenter.com

Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commercewww.cedarrapids.org

Cedar Rapids AreaConvention & Visitors Bureauwww.cedar-rapids.com

Cedar Rapids Civil RightsCommissionwww.cedar-rapids.org/civilrights

Cedar Rapids Freedom Festwww.freedomfestival.com/

Children’s Home Society & Family Serviceswww.childrenshomeadopt.org

Churches United Inc.www.churchesunitedcr.net

City of Cedar Rapidswww.cedar-rapids.org

City of Coralvillewww.coralville.org

City of Iowa Citywww.icgov.org

City of North Libertywww.northlibertyiowa.org

Community Foundation of Johnson Countywww.communityfoundationofjohnsoncounty.org



Linn County Blues Societywww.lcbs.org

Mercy Medical Centerwww.mercycare.org

Mount Vernon/LisbonCommunity Theatrewww.mvlct.com

Mount Vernon/LisbonMarketing and TourismAssociationwww.visitmvl.com

New Iowan Center — IowaWorkforce Development www.iowaworkforce.org/centers/newiowan

North Liberty Community Centerwww.northliberty.org/rec/

Old Brick Church and Community Centerwww.oldbrick.org

Priority Onewww.priority1.com

Persons withDisabilities

Deaf Services Commission of Iowawww.state.ia.us/government/dhr/ds

Iowa Department of HumanRights www.iowa.gov/state/main/disabilities.html

Standing by Words Centerwww.standingbywords.org

Systems Unlimited, Inc. – Serving People with Disabilitieswww.sui.org

University of Iowa Center onAgingwww.centeronaging.uiowa.edu

Waypointwww.waypointservices.org

MediaArt Scene Iowawww.artsceneiowa.com

Corridor Business Journal www.corridorbiznews.com

Daily Iowanwww.dailyiowan.com

Des Moines Registerwww.desmoinesregister.com

Gazette Communicationswww.gazetteonline.com

Iowa City Press-Citizenwww.press-citizen.com

Public Access Television – Iowa Citywww.patv.t


The Diversity Focus board of directors. Front: Christopher Lindell, Michelle Niermann, Robert Becker, Sister SusanO’Connor Back Row: Ruth White, Jim Friel,Kathy Hall, Hazel Pegues, Marcella David, Ron Kirchenbauer, Benita WolffNot Pictured: Timothy Gaillard, Kay Halloran, Shannon Meyer, Kevin Burke

Many organizations in our community sup-

port diversity. However, our communities

will progress and grow more quickly if we

work together to draw from the vast cul-

tural experiences we have here, in Eastern

Iowa, and look to other areas of the coun-

try and world to expand our focus.

To spearhead this activity, Diversity

Focus was proposed and then established

in 2005 as a new entity to integrate and

coordinate existing efforts as well as identi-

fy or create other activities and programs.

Diversity Focus is a nonprofit organiza-

tion devoted to enhancing the diversity of

the Cedar Rapids - Iowa City Corridor with

the following goals:

• Communication - Promote awareness,

inclusion and that diversity is welcomed,

necessary, and valued in the community

• Findit! Connect to All Things Diverse -

Findit! is an online repository of ethnic and

diverse resources and services, for new

and not so new community members

• Program Enhancement - Advance new

ideas and opportunities through interac-

tive programs to enhance diversity and

inclusion within the community

For a complete listing, please visit:

www.diversityfocus.org/findit

StaffDaniel Arroyo, Program Assistant

Hazel Pegues, Executive Director of Diversity Focus

Stacie Bedford, Communications Manager


What are you looking for?Thinking about moving to the Corridor and looking for ways to get connected to others

with similar interests? Have you been looking for specific ethnic foods? How about

resources to develop a diversity and inclusion plan for yourself, department, community

or business? Diversity Focus provides an easy way to find what you are looking for,

Findit!

Findit! at www.diveristyfocus.org is a Diversity Focus online resource that provides an

easy way to find whatever you are looking for, ethnic restaurants in the Corridor, personal

care, diversity resources, civil rights groups, arts and culture, and many, many more.

Searching for “African” provides possible places of worship, arts and culture, social

clubs and ethnic organizations in the Corridor.

The power of Findit! lies in the ability for contributors to keep information up-to-date

and relevant. Like Wikipedia, Findit! is built on wiki technology that allows anyone inter-

ested in contributing information to provide new entries or make corrections to existing

information.

It can be hard to get “connected” in any community. Findit! provides a way to see

what’s going on in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Corridor and get to know people with sim-

ilar interests.

�Findit!Comprehensive lists of All Things Diverse in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor

Adoption Services

Arts & Culture

Child Care Services

Civil Rights Groups

Disability Resources

Diversity Resources, inclusion training,strategic planning

Education, includes minority grants & scholarships

Employment

Food Markets

Gay & Lesbian Resources

Healthcare

Housing

Nightlife

Personal Care, e.g. hair care, etc.

Recreation & Sports

Restaurants

Shelters

Social Networks — Connecting with Others in the Corridor

Translation Services

Volunteer Opportunities

Worship Centers

www.diversityfocus.org/findit

Become a Findit! ContributorDiversity Focus is seeking people interested in being part of Findit! Go to

www.diversityfocus.org/contact-us. We’ll set you up to make new entries and keep

existing information always up-to-date. Help others in the community and those think-

ing about moving to the Corridor to connect. Share what you've learned and places

you’ve found that make the Corridor home.

Findit! Categories:


Diversity Focus thanks its generous sponsors.

For more information on becoming a Diversity Focus sponsor or member,please visit our website at www.diversityfocus.org/sponsor-levels.