Launched in 2010, the Indiana Stellar Communities Program (ISCP) is a multi-year, over $58 million (investments to date) initiative operated by the Indiana Lieutenant Governor’s office and funded by three state agencies: the Indiana Housing and Community Economic Development Authority, the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs and the Indiana Department of Transportation. The Lieutenant Governor’s Office recognized a need for “more innovative, comprehensive development efforts in rural communities in Indiana to meet the unique local needs and make a bigger impact.” So it brought the three state agencies together to design the Indiana Stellar Communities Program.
The ISCP develops strategic community investment plans, promotes partnerships, and implements comprehensive solutions to address local challenges in Indiana’s smaller communities involving community economic development, housing, transportation, and overall quality of life. Within each ISCP designated community, a steering team of local and regional partners come together to plan and implement a variety of revitalization projects that are part of that city’s vision for its future sustainability. ISCP’s approach to comprehensive community development is unique by its attempt to improve rural communities in a way that is 1) rooted in emphasizing partnerships and collaboration among multiple public agencies and community partners and 2) focused on combining state resources to make wide-ranging quality-of-life impacts as opposed to separate, piecemeal, incremental improvements.
The ISCP develops strategic community investment plans, promotes partnerships, and implements comprehensive solutions to address local challenges in Indiana’s smaller communities involving community economic development, housing, transportation, and overall quality of life. Within each ISCP designated community, a steering team of local and regional partners come together to plan and implement a variety of revitalization projects that are part of that city’s vision for its future sustainability. ISCP’s approach to comprehensive community development is unique by its attempt to improve rural communities in a way that is 1) rooted in emphasizing partnerships and collaboration among multiple public agencies and community partners and 2) focused on combining state resources to make wide-ranging quality-of-life impacts as opposed to separate, piecemeal, incremental improvements.
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Stellar News and Developments
NEWS Lt. Governor Holcomb Announces 2016 Stellar Communities Designees
Indianapolis – Lt. Governor Eric Holcomb announces Rushville and Corydon as the 2016 Designees of the Stellar Communities Designation Program (SCDP). NEWS Indiana Stellar Committee visits Rushville
The City of Rushville hosted the Indiana Stellar Communities Selection Committee for a site visit Tuesday. The Committee was comprised of 18 state officials representing 11 partner agencies. The agency members invested three hours in Rushville, listening to a formal presentation by the City’s Stellar Team at the 201 Building and took a tour of our community. NEWS City Officials Await Decision on Stellar Application
Now the suspense begins. After months of planning and preparation, Shelbyville city officials have made their first-hand pitch to representatives from the state's Stellar Communities program. A group from the Stellar program toured downtown Shelbyville Tuesday to see and hear on-site about the city's plans to redevelop the downtown, improve the quality of life and spur economic growth and prosperity in the community. NEWS Rushville's Road to Stellar: A Note of Gratitude
Rushville’s Road to Stellar has been an exciting, educational journey. We hope you have had an opportunity to learn about the city’s pursuit of a Stellar Communities Designation through the Stellar article series the past several weeks here in the Rushville Republican. Our thanks to the newspaper staff for partnering with us on this special series. NEWS Stellar: Community Performance Indicators Tell the Story
As the saying goes, what gets measured gets done. This phrase means regular measurement and reporting keeps one focused because the information is used to make decisions to improve results. While the phrase is most often used in business settings, it rings true for Rushville’s pursuit of becoming a Stellar Communities Designee. NEWS Road to Stellar: Re-Discover
Re-imagining a Stellar Rushville led to re-investing in the community in a variety of ways by a significant number of individuals and groups. Those two major steps led to the third prong of Rushville’s pursuit of a Stellar Communities Designation: Re-Discover Rushville and all it has to offer. NEWS City looks beyond Stellar
Stellar projects are going to change the look of Crawfordsville within the next few years. But what will it look like in 2036? Planning and Community Development Director Brandy Allen is already working on that. NEWS 2014 Wabash Stellar Communities projects are still on hold
A number of Stellar Communities projects for the Wabash community are expected to shape up this summer, but other projects originally outlined in the City’s Stellar application remain on hold. NEWS High bids put brakes on Bedford Stellar Communities project
It’s back to the drawing board for the downtown streetscape plan that has been held up because bids were over budget. But city leaders are optimistic that an upcoming meeting with Indiana Department of Transportation planners will put the project back in the 2017 funding cycle. Marla Jones, the city’s business and community development director, said a meeting with INDOT is set for June 16 to discuss funding for the project. NEWS Stellar Celebration: Thinking big, having fun
Last Saturday’s Stellar Celebration at Riverside Park found Rushville residents of all ages enjoying oversized, iconic games such as Jenga, Yahtzee and Checkers. Others played with a five-foot wide Big Bertha ball while other attendees at the city’s first concert of the 2016 Live by the Levee series pedaled around on a Bicycle Built for Two. Some industrious city employees built a second Jenga game. |
Thought Leadership
LINK Rural Rental Assistance Needs USDA’s Support to Survive
The cost of USDA’s Section 521 Rental Assistance program is growing every year. After a funding crisis hit the program in September, Congress increased its funding for fiscal year 2014, giving USDA time to reduce program costs, cut program spending, or work a little magic. LINK Is the Housing Crisis Over in Rural America? In 2008, the U.S. economy fell off a cliff. Depending on your perspective, it either slipped or was pushed from that precipice by the housing market. In 2009 and 2010, when the crisis was arguably at its worst, the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) began receiving frequent inquiries from the press and others asking, “How is the housing crisis affecting rural America?” We simply had no answer. Mortgage and foreclosure data were virtually nonexistent for most rural areas. LINK Hollowing out the middle: The rural brain drain and what it means for America Why should we care about the future of small towns in the Heartland? If many of them disappear and become latter-day ghost towns, what real difference will it make to most of our lives? Though the small town claims an iconic place in the American psyche, we are considerably less alarmed by the emptying out of prairie and plains towns than by the endangered status of the polar bear, an altogether more universally vulnerable symbol and one that our kids can easily comprehend and mourn the loss of. Publications
LINK Rural Decline and Revival: State and Local Partnerships in Creating “Stellar Communities” in Rural Indiana Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs
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Stellar Media
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