House District 65

Des Moines

Contact: 515-280-9034

Ruth Ann Gaines was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1947. She was educated in the parochial school system. She received a BA degree in Drama/Speech in 1969 from Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa and a M.A. in Dramatic Art from the University of California in Santa Barbara in 1970. She has been teaching drama at East High School and Speech and Drama at Des Moines Area Community College since 1971. Ruth Ann has served on numerous boards and commissions throughout the years. She was appointed to the State Foster Care Review Board by Governor Tom Vilsack in 2000 and is currently serving on the Iowa Arts Council where she was appointed by Governor Chet Culver in 2008. She is also currently a Des Moines Human Rights Commissioner. She has been a Commissioner since 2004.

Ruth Ann has created many initiatives in the educational arena. She has taught diversity courses to teachers since 1979 at the Heartland Area Education Agency in Des Moines and most recently at Viterbo University Iowa Center in West Des Moines. She has also been recognized as a national diversity trainer for colleges and universities, businesses, corporations and churches.

Among the many initiatives she has created for the Des Moines Public Schools is Sisters for Success, a mentorship program for African American middle and high school girls. This program has been used as a model for other like programs in schools throughout the state.

She is also well known throughout the state for her acting and directing endeavors. Last fall she directed a 32 episode radio drama that was a part of the Iowa Initiative to prevent unwanted pregnancies, chaired by Christie Vilsack and Sally Pederson. This program aired in various communities throughout the state and will also be made available to schools. She has hosted her own radio and television shows, and is an accomplished public speaker.

Ruth Ann was a 1987 YWCA Woman of Achievement and the 1993 Rotary High School Teacher of the Year.  She was the 1998 Iowa Teacher of the Year and one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year. During the last few years, she has also been inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame, the Iowa African American Hall of Fame and the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2002 she was selected as a Central Iowa Woman of Influence. She was given the key to the city by Mayor Preston Daniels in 2003 and received an Iowa Character Counts Award in 2005. She served on the Loras College Board of Regents from 2001-2004 and was the recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. Ruth Ann is also a graduate of Leadership Iowa in 1996 and a 2002 graduate of the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute.

Ruth Ann is a single adoptive parent of a child with multiple disabilities. In 1984, she was one of 15 single persons to adopt in Iowa. She has worked for and served on numerous committees and boards to help the disabled. She served on Very Special Arts Iowa Board and has sponsored many special needs artists in the Des Moines community.

Ruth Ann has sought political office in the past. She ran for the Iowa Senate in 1994 and the Des Moines City Council in 2004. She is a lifelong Democrat.

From Kiplinger:

“A likely worker shortage sparked by retiring baby-boomers has lit a fire under Des Moines’s civic leaders. The city is working to lure back young Iowans and attracting global talent by developing its downtown and promoting the jobs available in the many industries that flourish there. Other big draws: low-cost housing, plus the city’s long-touted reputation for family-friendliness and a “19-minute commute.”

For more information regarding Iowa’s newest ranking visit:
http://content.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/10-best-cities-2010-for-the-next-decade.html?topic_id=40
http://content.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/best-cities-2010-des-moines-iowa.html

The Great Recession ravaged almost every big city across the United States in 2009. Home prices were down in 182 of the 200 largest metro areas, while household incomes fell in 94% of these areas. The employment picture was even tougher: only four areas posted positive job growth with a paltry gain of just 4,300 positions created–combined. The other 196 metros together lost 3.5 million jobs last year.

The worst may be over, but businesses on both coasts still face outrageous costs and indebted state governments with budget shortfalls that will have to be filled from the flesh of local firms. Those problems won’t be resolved anytime soon.

What to do? Our 12th annual ranking of the Best Places for Business and Careers has an answer: Move to Middle America.

The top of this year’s list is filled with cities in so-called flyover states, areas with reasonable business costs, strong economic outlooks and a solid quality of life.

Leading the way is Des Moines, Iowa, which grabbed our top spot after ranking seventh last year. Iowa’s capital has 562,000 people in the metro area and features business costs 15% below the national average (living costs are 10% below the national average). It has an educated labor supply as 33% of adults have college degrees (ranking 46th among the 200 largest metros) and 92% possess high school diplomas (ranks 19th).

The financial industry has set up shop in Des Moines, with Wells Fargo and Principal Financial being the largest employers in the area with 19,000 employees between them. Other big employers include insurers Nationwide Insurance and Marsh & McLennan.

The economic outlook is bright in Des Moines as well. Employment is expected to increase at a 2.7% annual clip over the next three years, 10th best in the country. Meanwhile, household incomes are projected to rise 2.9%, which ranks 11th.

Des Moines city manager Richard Clark points to the area’s quality of life as a big draw for corporations. Housing is affordable with a median home price of just $149,000, one-quarter the price of a home in the San Francisco area. Commute times, according to the Census Bureau, average 19.8 minutes, one of the fastest in the U.S.

Getting outside is easy, too. Des Moines designed a system of more than 300 miles of trails in and around the city for running, walking, biking or in-line skating. A 4.4-acre public park and sculpture garden opened downtown in September. Local venture capitalist John Pappajohn and his wife Mary donated $40 million of sculptures to the project from their personal collection. The park is surrounded by the offices of Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Nationwide and ING.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa – Construction on two Iowa Army National Guard facilities and an undersized Iowa Air National Guard building are expected to create more than 1,000 construction jobs.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved more than $10 million for the three Iowa facilities last week. Confirmation from the full Senate could come by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The construction will include work on a 35-year-old Armed Forces Reserve Center in Davenport, the Security Forces Facility in Des Moines and a building that houses administrative staff for the National Guard in Johnston.

Separately, the Senate committee approved more than $77 million to replace facilities in Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Muscatine and move units to other centers.

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