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Zadok Nampala
It was a bellwether year in University Heights, where a trio of pro-development city council candidates swept from office an old guard that had opposed a controversial project along Melrose Avenue.
Among those newly elected council members is Zadok Nampala, a 30-year-old father of three who came to the U.S. from Kenya in 2006. When he joins the council next month, Nampala will become one of the youngest elected officials in the area and represent the influx of younger families to the small enclave this past decade.
And families like his, he says, will benefit from the amenities that could come with the mixed-use commercial and residential project being proposed for the current St. Andrew Presbyterian Church site.
“It was an overwhelming win for us, and I think this will really bring people together,” said Nampala, who is eager to get to work on the project with the council. “Especially when we have a lot of young folks moving in, and they need a place to get together, and we don’t have that. I think the development will bring us together closer than ever.”
Nampala came to the U.S. from Kenya in 2006 when his wife, Erin Schmidt, was accepted to medical school at UI. The two had met when Schmidt was working in Nampala’s village for two years as a member of the Peace Corps. Today, the couple have three children — a 5-year-old son, a 2-year-old daughter and a newborn daughter.
Nampala is in his final year of graduate school at UI, where he’s pursuing his master’s in social work. He’s conducting his practicum with the Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission, where he assists with investigations and community outreach and is collecting data on racial disparities.
He also works as an interpreter at the Johnson County and Linn County courthouses, and helps connect African immigrants in the community with social services. He also volunteers with local African churches and helps refurbish salvaged items to donate to people in need.
The Press Citizen also reviewed their stories to watch for 2013 and University Heights figured in to one of those as well. Here is what that article had to say:
Diversity/Equity:
• What we said 12 months ago: “Iowa City has created an Ad Hoc Diversity Committee to study the ways the local minority and immigrant communities interact with public transportation and law enforcement. ... The results of those discussions will have significant impact on city and school policy decisions.”• What we said six months ago: Local leaders “would do well to read through the report recently released by the Coalition for Racial Justice. The report, titled ‘Racial Equity in Iowa City and Johnson County,’ doesn’t take long to read — it’s only 18 pages — but the numbers and graph within show a stark contrast between the small percentage that people of color make up in Johnson County’s broader population and the large percentage they make up in arrest, incarceration, drop out, unemployment and other statistics.”
• What we say now: November’s city elections have changed at least one disturbing observation
On Nov. 5, Iowa City voters elected Kingsley Botchway to become the council’s first black member since councilor and former mayor Ross Wilburn retired in 2011. That means, in terms of the diversity of local elected officials, Botchway now joins Tuyet Dorau (who was re-elected in September to the Iowa City Community School Board) along with Zadok Nampala and Silvia Quezada, who were just elected to the University Heights City Council.
As 2013 draws to a close I'd like to wish all of our community members a very happy and healthy 2014!
Since New Year's Eve is on a Tuesday, we WILL HAVE REGULAR GARBAGE AND RECYCLING PICK UP. Christmas Tree pick up will occur on January 7th and 14th.
