Hi,
I'm Amy Croll
I'm proud to live in Iowa and serve our community for so many years. Helping our people, businesses, and natural resources is what motivates me each and every day. I invite you to learn more about my background, then when you are ready, please contact me, and let's set up some time to talk.
Iowa is who I am.
My name is Amy Ostrander Croll. I was raised in Adel where I graduated from Adel-DeSoto High School in 1993. I earned my B.A. from Luther College in 1997 and my Master's in Social Work in 2001 from the University of Iowa. I am a Licensed Master's Level Social Worker and a Certified Prevention Specialist. This simply means I'm good at community planning around social issues.
For the past twenty four years, I have lived in Urbandale with my husband, David, where we've raised our two children, Katelyn (age 22) and Ben (age 20), both of whom graduated from Urbandale High School. Katelyn graduated in 2025 from Iowa State University and Ben is a junior at Iowa State University.
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Among the recognition that I have been honored with over the years is Business Record's Forty Under 40 (2015); Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame (2014); Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute Class of 2014; Urbandale City Council Character Counts Award (2008); Governor’s State of Iowa Afterschool Advocate Award (2004); and Iowa Jaycees Community Director of the Year (2002).
Experience and Heart.
Trained as a macro-level social worker, I've worked at the Iowa Department of Human Rights, establishing the Iowa Latino Heritage Festival and working for the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning to help run the Iowa Collaboration for Youth Development and other Division initiatives. In 2008, I co-founded Community Youth Concepts (CYC), which provides youth development programming to multiple school districts in Iowa. I was the Executive Director of CYC until my departure in 2021. When I left, we had reached $1M in our endowment, had moved into our "forever home", and had built the Stowe Heights Challenge Course. Since 2023, I have been the Community Engagement Coordinator with Homeward, the Polk County homelessness planning entity. Homeward manages federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding while coordinating and organizing multiple systems working to end homelessness for our region's most at-risk individuals. My most notable work project has been supporting the launch of the region's strategic plan to address homelessness, which can be found HERE.
Professionally, I also serve on the Iowa Nonprofit Alliance Board of Directors, the Grand View University Social Work Advisory Council, supervise Master's level practicum students, and provide consultation and coaching for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services and several non-profits in central Iowa.
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While on the Council, my skills have been used as Mayor Pro-tem, serving on the Executive Council of the Metropolitan Advisory Council (MAC), and chairing the Urbandale Human Services Strategic Plan and related committee.
Other Urbandale specific volunteer activities over the years include: Urbandale Parks Strategic Planning Committee, Urbandale Public Art Committee, Urbandale Community School District Community Leadership Committee, Sporting Iowa and UHS Soccer Team Coordinator, and Girl Scout Troop 1774 co-leader.
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I'd love to continue to utilize my skills serving you as your city council member.