Meet Tessa Schroeder

The southeastern corner of Iowa is an area rich in scenic beauty, fertile farmland and Iowa hospitality. It is also one of the hardest suffering regions of the state for homelessness and poverty. 

Tessa Schroeder is hopeful the new Thrive Iowa initiative will make some strides and bring families of her southeast corner of the state some much-needed relief. Schroeder is the newly-hired coordinator for Thrive Iowa in Lee, Henryand Van Buren counties.  

“My hope is to begin to move the needle for children and families in our part of the state,” Schroeder said. “There are a lot of wonderful efforts that have been trying to make an impact on these issues, but I think we need something that’s really going to do more to improve outcomes.” 

Schroeder lives in Fort Madison with her family and is a native of the area. When she’s not working she enjoys spending time with her family or getting on her bicycle to take advantage of the many bike trails in southeast Iowa. The network of trails is one of the many nice features of her community. She understands that the challenges faced by families here are going to take more than a single agency to help get them from hardship to thriving. 

“Socioeconomically, we are in a very poor area of the state, so poverty is a big concern here,” Schroeder said. “Both child abuse and child neglect rates are high. We have a lot of homelessness and a lot of substance use.” 

Schroeder gets that seeking help oftentimes comes with stigmas. Schroeder understands that people in vulnerable situations have fears and concerns. She wishes to alleviate some of those concerns. 

“The first thing I want (people) to know is that we are here to help. We’re not here to come down on them in any way. We really want to connect people to resources and help improve their lives.” 

Helping facilitate those connections is the software used. Hope Hub, a database accessible to local service providers, allows providers to create a detailed support plan for families in their specific areas of crisis. Personal information is strictly confidential and HIPAA compliant. 

Lee County Health Department submitted an application to receive grant funds for the Thrive Iowa initiative and received several letters in support.  

Schroeder joined Paul Chapman, executive director of Arkansas-based nonprofit Restore Hope, at a community gathering at the Lee County Health Department in February to discuss the power of collective impact approach to helping families in need.  

“Collective impact is a structured way for government and community groups to work toward the same outcomes using shared data and measuring outcomes,” Chapman said. 

Thrive Iowa will use the Restore Hope model to help families who qualify for help.   

Chapman started Restore Hope in 2015 as Arkansas was faced with an alarming crisis among young families and high incarceration rates. Through local partnerships, a for the community by the community approach, Arkansas communities were able to provide targeted support and guidance to families in need of assistance in the areas that affected them most.  

Schroeder is optimistic that this grassroots approach of helping families in Lee, Henry and Van Buren counties will make lasting impacts.  

Thrive Iowa is currently serving Iowa families in 11 counties, including Lee, Henry and Van Buren. More information on Thrive Iowa can be found at https://hhs.iowa.gov/family-community/thrive-iowa. 

Thrive Iowa of Lee, Henry and Van Buren County is also on Facebook. 

“We have a lot of great things about this part of the state. It’s mostly rural. We have wonderful, lovely people here but we also have some things that aren’t so great. Thrive Iowa is really trying to work on that and improve outcomes for the people living here.”