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Step 1
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The Letter of Intent
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Delphi’s First Attempt
“..It was a scattered approach…”
Delphi made two attempts in applying for Stellar. Delphi’s first attempt occurred in 2010 when the city submitted a letter of intent from Mayor Strasser to the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. After weeks of review by the state’s program selection committee, Delphi was not chosen as a 2011 Stellar Finalist. The representatives from the three state agencies identified two key factors their decision to decline the city’s application. One of the key factors identified by the state agencies was Delphi’s lack of focus. The state agencies noted Delphi’s projects were too scattered and lack a targeted focus area. A second factor identified by the state selection team was Delphi’s failure to clearly relay its vision to the state agencies in its letter of intent. “…And it was a scattered approach you know. Drill a well on this side of town and put a street light on this end of town and pave this road and that is not what Stellar’s about.…So as we began to realize that we were misunderstanding Stellar we went through the application we decided we’d go ahead the following year and make a concerted effort. We had to as a city make a commitment...” |
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Delphi’s Second Attempt
“.....The first letter was a good application, but was very grassroots….. “.....The second time was a real piece of work..…” The following year, Delphi officials knew that there would likely be another round of the Indiana Stellar Communities Program. To better the city’s chances and improve its position, the Delphi Stellar planning team decided to take measures to ensure that they were ready with a more complete application and letter of intent the second time around.
In January 2012, Mayor Strasser submitted the city’s letter of intent as its second attempt at applying for Stellar. This time the letter was more “finessed” than Delphi’s previous letter. “The letter was so much more eloquent the second time. The first letter was a good application, but was very grassroots….. The second time was a real piece of work that had a lot of technical specs in it. You can tell that it had the fingerprints of engineers all over it. And that one got us to be a finalist.” After a few weeks of review by the state selection team, the mayor received a phone call in late February from former Lt. Governor Becky Skillman’s office announcing Delphi as a finalist. As finalists Delphi was awarded $10,000 planning grant to assist in preparing an in-depth Strategic Community Investment Plan proposal, and to help in planning the site visit with the state selection team. Each finalist had approximately five to six weeks to develop this plan. |
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Step 2
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The Strategic Community Investment Plan
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“.....It was fast and furious!”
Delphi Stellar target area was comprised of its downtown area and surrounding residential neighborhoods. To address issues and opportunities rural decline, Delphi stakeholders established several community development initiatives as part of its Stellar Strategic Community Investment Plan. According to stakeholders and team members, the process was very fast, requiring a lot of time and effort from each team member. “It was almost full time for months…putting together our projects, timelines, budgets, and project descriptions…Establishing this overarching message that Delphi should be chosen...That we had a real opportunity to make our downtown pedestrian friendly….To revitalize it and to make an investment in our city center.....” Delphi’s plan included revitalizing the downtown business district, creating paths from the Hoosier Heartland Corridor through downtown to increase tourism to the Wabash and Erie Canal Park and restoring the Delphi Opera House. Officials hoped to redevelop the historic near-downtown neighborhoods and create owner-occupied housing.
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Step 3
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The Site Visit
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Once Delphi completed its Strategic Community Investment Plan, the state selection team came out for a site visit in March of that same year. The visit was held at the Wabash Erie Canal Conference and Interpretive Center. The site visit was planned and put together by Delphi’s Stellar Planning team and entailed many community volunteers.
“....With the state, I think one of things…our strength is the site visit.. I’ve got to say, not only do I think we did a good job with the application, [but]to show them how all of this connects and how it is doable….And if they are going to invest that kind of money that they have a good return from it. But I think that the strength of our site visit took that over the top." “I think what they saw from the volunteer people....They got to see what it was like to feel the energy that we have going on here. To feel the need that we have to be able to put this money to work and how critical a time it is to be able to have that investment because of Hoosier Heartland., and what that does to build capacity in the region here.” Delphi Site Visit Itinerary: Introductions of city partners and stakeholders. The Delphi Stellar Planning Team was introduced multiple community stakeholders and volunteers at its site visit to illustrate their ability to foster local, private, and regional partnerships as well as local support for the ISCP initiative. Visual presentations of the need and potential projects. The Delphi Stellar Planning Team also developed a video showcasing their need, projects, and partnerships. In addition, there were storyboards around the room describing each project. |
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Tours of projects sites and areas of impact. The Delphi Stellar Planning Team took the state representatives on canal boat and trolley tours of the project sites a walk-through of the opera house. The tour passed by the Hoosier Heartland Highway construction and Indiana Packers 9 a major employer in the area). Both tours included designated speakers who highlighted various aspects about the projects.
Question and Answer Session. The visit ended with a question and answer session among the Delphi Stellar Planning Team and the state selection committee representatives. Overall, the site visit lasted approximately three hours. |
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Step 4
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The Announcement
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“..The whole community was excited with us.”
On Wednesday May 9, 2012, out of 40 applicants and 7 finalists, Delphi along with Princeton was named one of two “Stellar Communities” by former Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman. The Delphi Stellar Planning Team was thrilled to win the Stellar designation and immediately began working on the planning and implementation of its projects. “As a team, we were very excited when were announced as a Stellar winner. But the true testimony to social media was that the whole community was excited with us. We didn’t have to explain Stellar they knew what is already meant. “…For a community of under 3,000 people we had 400 plus at the Canal Center when the Lt. Governor came to officially announce that Delphi was a Stellar Community. It was people from all over the county and really all over the region. I would have to say the majority was from Carroll County. They came to celebrate the good news. We had built that momentum during the application process.” |
