Dave, is the eldest son of a hard working class family. Understanding that to survive (and thrive) one must work, he paired high school with work detasseling corn, working in a chicken hatchery, and in Quality Control at Agristar Meat & Poultry. His commitment to education and hard work made it possible for Dave, at the age of 19, to become one of the youngest self-made first-generation independent farmland owners in the United States.
Dave is also a well-regarded American folk/labor musician and songwriter. While you may not hear him on the radio, you will find him traveling around the United States playing music for striking workers on picket lines, collecting and sharing stories on the history of labor union organizing, training workers how to unionize their workplaces, and documenting historical sites in rural and remote places.
Dave spent the years from 2014-2019 developing his squash farm, Solidarity Fields, before turning his full attention to community organizing. Dave was also a Rural Field Organizer in 2019-2020 for Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina.
A proud, born and raised, life-long Iowan, from the town of West Union.
Recognizing the need for working class Iowans to have a strong voice in local and statewide decision making, he joined United Today, Stronger Tomorrow, where from 2020-2025, he single-handedly built their midwest operations into a nationally recognized state-based organization that won hundreds of millions of dollars for Iowans and improved transparency, accountability, and community inclusion at the hyperlocal government and decision-making level, particularly in regards to watchdogging the spending of Covid Recovery Funding and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding.
After UTST, and still to this day, Dave is helping community members build Concerned Citizens of Pottawattamie County, an independent Western Iowa organization working to address the blocked railroad crossing crisis and the dire economic and health impacts caused by failing and inadequate rail infrastructure and industry regulation in Council Bluffs, La Porte City, Sioux City, and all across the state and country. Dave was also instrumental in continued efforts to secure a disaster declaration, the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, to address the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
Dave is also the Co-Founder of Real Men’s Circles, a project that addresses the unique challenges men in our communities face. RMC is building a base of active and engaged men by developing brotherhood and working on life skills that are grounded in integrity, accountability, honor, emotional intelligence, and community power.
