WASHINGTON, Ind. — Daviess County leaders and residents and Indiana University faculty and students are off to a swift start in their new partnership, launching 20 community-identified projects this fall as part of the IU Center for Rural Engagement’s Sustaining Hoosier Communities initiative.
Sustaining Hoosier Communities (SHC) partners local communities with Indiana University faculty, students, and staff to improve and enrich the health, prosperity, and vitality of the region. Pairing courses on the IU Bloomington campus with community-identified projects, SHC infuses energy and innovation into projects that address local goals. SHC is an internationally recognized program by the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities-Network.
“I think there are a lot of long-awaited dreams that people have been holding close that they'd like to see come to fruition for Daviess County,” said Purdue Extension-Daviess County director and SHC coordinating committee member Cindy Barber. “Linking and leveraging what we can between the universities, the students, and the faculty is really going to push projects forward that people have been eager to see happen for a very long time.”
Linking and leveraging what we can between the universities, the students, and the faculty is really going to push projects forward that people have been eager to see happen for a very long time.
Cindy Barber, Purdue Extension-Daviess County director
The community has launched several initiatives through SHC this fall, including placemaking design and installations in Elnora, Montgomery, and Washington, Black heritage oral history recordings, business development strategies for the I-69 corridor and a cross-dock and transload facility, planning for increased childcare options, and new recreational opportunities.
“The relationship between Daviess County and the Center for Rural Engagement will bring community goals and vision to the surface and create a collaboration that will elevate our region as a whole,” said IU Center for Rural Engagement executive director Denny Spinner.
More than 25 courses and campus programs across IU Bloomington schools are engaged in SHC this fall, and more than 275 students will support local efforts alongside faculty and community partners.
“The experience students have working with Daviess County is going to shape their understanding of themselves, of what civic participation looks like, and how earning a college degree can contribute to the public good,” said Center for Rural Engagement director of student engagement Colleen Rose.
Daviess County partners include Purdue Extension, the Indiana Landmarks Black Heritage Preservation Program, Daviess County Economic Development Corporation, Daviess County Community Foundation, the City of Washington, Washington Carnegie Public Library, Discover Downtown Washington, Odon Winkelpleck Public Library, the Town of Elnora, the Town of Montgomery and the Town of Odon.
Several IU initiatives will support projects in Daviess County including the Rural Placemaking Studio, the Indiana Resilience Funding Hub, the Laurie Burns McRobbie Serve IT Clinic in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, the Rural Scholars Program and Discovery Café.
Learn more about Sustaining Hoosier Communities
Media contact:
Kyla Cox Deckard, IU Center for Rural Engagement
(812) 855-4992 office (812) 219-9993 cell
knblanke@iu.edu