Curious about what the Ball State Office of Community Engagement was up to last year? HINT: they were busy! They’ve shared their 2018-2019 Annual Report on ISSU. Check it out!
Our 2018-2019 activities have largely focused in four areas:
Deepening Ball State’s involvement in city, county, and regional initiatives;
Strengthening the culture of community engagement across the university;
Connecting to networks of community-engaged institutions across the nation; and
Celebrating campus and community successes.
A PDF version is available for download at on Box.
For the last four years 130 citizens have gathered each March for the Neighborhood IDEA Conference.
The Muncie Action Plan, Shafer Leadership Academy and The Office of Community Engagement at Ball State University are partnering once again to support the development of neighborhood leaders.
Do you have an idea you would like to share at the conference or a topic you want to see discussed?
The fifth annual Neighborhood IDEA Conference is scheduled for March 7, 2020 at Ivy Tech’s recently renovated downtown Fisher Building. Over 100 of Muncie’s most active local leaders will gather to listen, learn and meet like-minded individuals to share ideas and best practices.
We are taking submissions through December 6, 2019
Muncie Neighborhood’s 2nd Annual Pool Party at Tuhey Pool was a blast! Families and neighbors from all over the community came together for a free night of fun celebrating Muncie’s neighborhoods with popsicles, hot dogs, BINGO, yard games, swimming, and friends!
On Friday, May 25th at the 43rd annual NUSA conference in Birmingham, Alabama, the Whitely Community Food Pantry was named the 2018 Grand Prize winner of the Neighborhood of the Year (NOTY) Award. The food pantry was also awarded first place in the Social Revitalization category of the NOTY. Whitely was recognized for creating a sustainable food pantry, strong partnerships, an educational resource on nutrition, and future-focused projects to combat hunger in the community.
Seeing that over 38% of Whitely Neighborhood residents are living below the poverty level, the food pantry has made it their mission to “resolve the serious problem of food insecurity in our area.” With the 2017 closing of Marsh Grocery, the neighborhood has become a “food dessert” that is lacking quality nourishment for residents and their families.
Whitely has formed partnerships with Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana to obtain food at a low cost and with Purdue Extension for nutritional information about cooking healthy foods. The food pantry served on average 100 households or 200 individuals each month (nearly 8% of the entire Whitely population) in 2017 alone.
The Whitely Community Food Pantry is held from 4-6 pm the third Thursday of the month at Harvest Christian Fellowship, 1010 E. Centennial. It is open to anyone in the Whitely area or Whitely Community Council members. The food pantry is actively seeking volunteers and financial support. To become a volunteer please contact Jay Zimmerman at pantryprojectwhitely@gmail.com or Mary Dollison at 288-1892. You can also support the pantry through their GoFundMe campaign.
Awards were presented by NUSA president Tige Watts and accepted by Kenyonta Hudson, Whitely Community Council Executive Director; Cornelius and Mary Dollison; Rebecca Parker, Technology Coordinator for Muncie Public Library; and Frank Scott, Whitely Community Council President.
Article by Erin Moore
Devotion. Commitment. Enthusiasm. Collaboration. Inspiration. Inclusivity. These six words only begin to describe Mary Dollison’s legacy in the Whitely neighborhood and Muncie at-large. Her significant contributions to our community were nationally recognized at the 42nd annual Neighborhoods, U.S.A. (NUSA) conference in Omaha, Nebraska, this May.
Mary was a recipient of NUSA’s “Who’s Who in America’s Neighborhoods” award, which recognizes individuals across the country who promote neighborhood development, participation, and collaboration. Mary’s nominator, Heather Williams of Ball State University’s Building Better Neighborhoods initiative and the Muncie Action Plan, noted her key roles in building the Whitely Community Council which boasts 90-100 attendees at its monthly meetings; creating the Motivate our Minds educational enrichment program; securing support from the city, county, area foundations, Ball State, and the local private sector to reopen Whitely’s Roy C. Buley Community Center and restore the historic Shafer Chapel; and partnering with Ball State faculty to create the award-winning “Schools within the Context of Community” teacher preparation program.
The Whitely Community Council’s Year of Color and monthly newsletter also received first-place prizes at this year’s NUSA conference.
The Year of Color, an ambitious series of public and private beautification projects consisting of painting, planting, repair, and public art installation, was awarded the first-place spot in the “Neighborhood of the Year” Physical Revitalization category. The campaign was successful in drawing positive attention to the neighborhood as well as strengthening relationships and pride among Whitely residents. Project leaders Rebecca Parker and Frank Scott presented the Year of Color to a panel of judges at the NUSA conference.
Whitely’s newsletter took home first place in the monthly newsletter category after being evaluated by a jury panel for content, layout, and overall appearance.
Click to view the winning newsletter
Whitely Community Council members, Muncie Action Plan’s Aimee Fant, and Building Better Neighborhoods’ Heather Williams were able to attend the conference in person through the generous support of the Ball Brothers Foundation.
“We share [these awards] with every volunteer involved and with our community partners, among them Muncie Parks Department, Muncie Delaware Clean and Beautiful, Ball State Office of Community Engagement, and the Muncie Action Plan,” said Rebecca. “Muncie is doing great things!
The community is invited to celebrate the Whitely Community Council’s success!
WCC Awards Reception Monday, June 19
6:00 – 8:00 pm
Cornerstone Center for the Arts (520 E Main St, Muncie)
Author: Heather Williams, Program Manager Building Better Neighborhoods, Ball State University
Photo: Riverside-Normal City residents Jen Erickson and her daughter Anika wearing their neighborhood t-shirts while setting up for the June 2nd RNC summer picnic.
Muncie, IN is unique among many similar sized communities in the Midwest in that the city is largely broken into neighborhood associations that cover nearly the entire geographic span of the city. If you live within city limits, it’s likely that you live in a neighborhood and there’s a pretty good chance that that neighborhood has an association that meets regularly and is working to constantly improve the area in which you live. Muncie is also unique in that it has several local foundations who understand the importance of grassroots organizations working towards neighborhood revitalization and community building. Ball Brothers Foundation recently awarded a Rapid Grant to Muncie Action Plan to support these local efforts at the neighborhood level.
A similar grant made to MAP in 2016 allowed the Old West End to purchase receptacles for pet waste for the two pocket parks that the neighborhood association installed and continue to manage in partnership with the City of Muncie Parks Department. Also utilizing these past project funds, the Riverside-Normal City Neighborhood Association was provided funding to purchase marketing materials, including t-shirts for residents and window clings that will be displayed in businesses located within the neighborhood. This type of branding helps increase awareness of the neighborhood association that will ultimately help connect students, residents, and businesses, creating a sense of community among neighbors.
East Central Neighborhood Association utilized funds to host their annual Pumpkin Carving event for children in the neighborhood. According to Lynn Thornburg, board member, the funding allowed the association to meet the expectations of the kids who attended, connect with new residents, and collaborate with MadJax, which hosted the event in 2017. Equally important, student volunteers from the College of Architecture and Planning and Phi Delta Gamma were involved in the event, allowing, “neighbors to get to know some of the students on a different level,” and giving, “the students a different perspective of Muncie and the Downtown area.”
In 2018, Muncie will see projects pop-up in neighborhoods across the city and these projects will be resident driven and designed to meet the needs of the neighborhoods in which they are focused. Neighborhoods applying to MAP for these funds will need to meet basic requirements of an organized association and have resident buy-in in the project. But creativity is key, as associations can plan for projects that meet their individual needs. Neighborhoods interested in accessing these project funds should visit the Resources page. Applications will be accepted through July 9th with a funding announcement at the Neighborhood Leadership Council Pool Party at Tuhey Pool on July 17th.
Curious about what the Ball State Office of Community Engagement was up to last year? HINT: they were busy! They’ve shared their 2018-2019 Annual Report on ISSU. Check it out!
For the last four years 130 citizens have gathered each March for the Neighborhood IDEA Conference.
Mary was a recipient of NUSA’s “Who’s Who in America’s Neighborhoods” award, which recognizes individuals across the country who promote neighborhood development, participation, and collaboration. Mary’s nominator, Heather Williams of Ball State University’s Building Better Neighborhoods initiative and the Muncie Action Plan, noted her key roles in building the Whitely Community Council which boasts 90-100 attendees at its monthly meetings; creating the Motivate our Minds educational enrichment program; securing support from the city, county, area foundations, Ball State, and the local private sector to reopen Whitely’s Roy C. Buley Community Center and restore the historic Shafer Chapel; and partnering with Ball State faculty to create the award-winning “Schools within the Context of Community” teacher preparation program.
