STATEHOUSE (Dec. 11, 2018) – Today, Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch announced the two regions who are designated a 2018 Stellar Community, the Health and Heritage region and the New Allen Alliance.
“Stellar applicants were given a unique task this year, and that was to partner with their neighboring communities to come up with a plan that can benefit a larger range of Hoosiers,” Crouch said. “Through this collaboration, brilliant ideas came forth and I cannot wait to see their plans come to life.”
Greenfield, Fortville and Hancock County make up the Health and Heritage region and are going to put a plan into motion that improves health, heritage and heart in their communities. A focus on substance abuse treatment, expanding trails and revitalizing their downtowns are just a few of the facets of their plan to help create the front porch of Eastern Indiana.
Grabill, Leo-Cedarville, Monroeville, New Haven, Woodburn and Allen County are the region named the New Allen Alliance. The plan they will implement through Stellar funding will focus on increasing economic growth while also developing the quality of place in their area.
Crouch said that each designated region will receive $4.5 million from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural affairs, and will receive additional set amounts from the Indiana Department of Transportation, the Indiana State Department of Health and the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority.
“This first year under the regional design was highly competitive. However, each region benefits from this process regardless of the designation through the completion of the regional development plan,” said Jodi Golden, Executive Director of OCRA. “These plans are the representation of partnerships and collaborations strengthened through core values, shared vision and proactive planning.”
Along with the regional aspect being new to the Stellar program, the finalists met with Ball State University’s Indiana Communities Institute to review data that aligned their projects and furthered their plans. Golden said that Purdue University’s Center for Regional Development will assist the two designees with long-term sustainability efforts and implementing their projects.
The Stellar program designation is awarded annually and provides resources for transformative quality of place community improvements by using previous planning efforts, leveraging existing assets, fostering regional investments and stimulating continued growth. Visit in.gov/ocra/stellar for more information, including details about the 2019 Stellar Communities Program, which will be released on Jan. 7, 2019.
