Institute for Decision Making
Guiding you and your community to make the right decisions through thoughtful strategy and tailored services.
The Institute for Decision Making (IDM) is the economic and community development outreach unit of Business and Community Services at the University of Northern Iowa. IDM has over three decades of delivering tailored and innovative planning, technical assistance, applied research, and training to over 850 communities, economic development groups, chambers of commerce, state agencies/associations, convention and visitor bureaus, community planning groups and other similar not-for-profit organizations throughout Iowa and beyond.
Jordan Cook
City Administrator, City of Nevada
"The City of Nevada really enjoyed the working with UNI to provide a vision on the future of Nevada. Bringing residents, stakeholders and local leaders to the table as part of the process helped identify our future priorities and build support for the strategic plan we developed. This is the community's plan with multiple organizations collaborating for a better community and quality of life for our residents."
Carla Eysink
Executive Director, Marion County Development
“IDM has been an amazing partner when we needed economic impact information for our expanding industry. The report they provided us was done quickly and yielded the information needed to leverage funding for the expanding business. Being able as an economic development organization to provide this to our employers positions us as a valuable partner in their growth plans.”
Jenna Petersen
Neighborhood Impact Coordinator, Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity
"The Institute for Decision Making at UNI has been a valuable resource for organizing community-led projects with neighborhoods in Waterloo. Their guidance in one of the neighborhood Action Teams was valuable in directing this large group to learn what it means to achieve consensus among many different voices. They are also helping the team to take steps towards self-sustaining leadership."
