MUSCATINE, Iowa —Muscatine’s positive aspects, according to the three dozen people who participated Friday in a meeting organized by Diamond Towns of America, include:

— The Agricultural Learning Center.

— The History and Industry Center.

— Fine restaurants.

— Sporting venues.

— The community’s recovery from the June 1, 2007, tornado and “everything on the riverfront.”

Concerns cited by those at the meeting at the Flickinger Learning Center included:

— Fear of losing Muscatine’s industries.

— Losing its retail base.

— School violence in a district where only 18.5 percent of Muscatine High School graduates go on to college.

— Muscatine’s unemployment rate, which was 8.7 percent in September, compared to 6.7 percent statewide.

Diamond Towns of America was founded by Tom Huber, former finance officer for Unity Health Care; Frank Kelly, retired executive director of the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine; and Paul Carroll, who has been in education and business and says: “I kind of blundered my way into philanthropy.”

Their Diamond Towns concept, which they are launching in Muscatine, involves a home office facilitator and a community facilitator to guide the formulation and ongoing activities of 11 action teams.

Those teams are: Communication and Community Resources, Community Beauty, Economic Vitality, Energy and Water Conservation, Family Effectiveness, Health, Housing, Justice and Safety, Learning, Recreation, and Social and Cultural Understanding.

“We want to do this in every town of 2,500 to 25,000, starting with Muscatine,” said Huber. He will serve as the mentor for Muscatine, and Carroll will be the facilitator.

When Huber asked Friday’s meeting participants what they would like to see happen in Muscatine, responses included addressing the high school dropout rate, encouraging engineering and design firms to locate in Muscatine, improving cultural sensitivity and creating safe places for people to gather after work and after school.

Huber said the next step in the process is to establish and train the 11 action teams by the end of January.

It’s often said, Kelly said, that “government ought to do this. The city ought to do that. But we are the government. If the government does it, it will end up being a cobbled up mess.”

Rep. Nathan Reichert, D-Muscatine, said at Friday’s meeting that government and different groups in the community all have roles to play.

“If we get them to sing from the same hymnal, everyone benefits,” he said.

Dave Hunt served on the Mayor’s Community Improvement Action Team until recently. It evolved from action teams that were part of a similar community partnership in the mid-1990s.

“Every few years, there has to be a fresh view,” Hunt said. “But this is focused at the person level, where CIAT is focused at the infrastructure level.”