Muncie Development - Is It Different Than Other Cities?

 This came in Friday from The Muncie Journal: A Year of Progress For Muncie Action Plan’s Task Force 2: Advocating for Downtown Muncie. 

As the Muncie Action Plan (MAP) wraps up another productive year, we are excited to reflect on our efforts to enhance the quality of life in Muncie and Delaware County. As we gear up for our Annual Community Meeting on Wednesday, January 29th, at 6:00 p.m., we invite the public to join us in the Multi-purpose Room at Ivy Tech. Each of our four task forces will present their accomplishments and progress throughout 2024 during this gathering. This article marks the second in a series of updates from our dedicated task force leaders, showcasing the impact of MAP’s initiatives and collaboration within the community.

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This past year has been one of collaboration, discovery, and progress for Task Force 2 as we worked to champion the revitalization of Downtown Muncie. From the start, our committee was intentionally designed to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders, representing a wide variety of interests—city officials, tourism professionals, nonprofit leaders, foundation representatives, business owners, and Ball State University. This diversity ensures our efforts reflect the broad and interconnected needs of the downtown community.

To guide our work, we partnered with the Indiana Communities Institute at Ball State University. Their expertise helped us facilitate meaningful discussions, bringing clarity to our role within the larger framework of downtown revitalization. Over the course of several meetings, we analyzed existing plans, distilled the TogetherDM Plan and the City’s Strategic Investment Plan, and identified common threads that united them. This process revealed where Task Force 2 could have the greatest impact: as advocates for downtown, connectors of like-minded stakeholders, and communicators of best practices in revitalization.

While I have been too tired to get down to the First Thursdays, they are impressive. The counselor in my group therapy joked about the Muncie art scene without having seen it in operation. People do come down to see what is happening. People do come to see the concerts at Canan Commons. I know Anderson, Richmond, Noblesville, and Kokomo have similar and different downtowns. I do not know that they have similar action plans. Anderson has an action plan online. 

The Consolidated Plan for the City of Anderson, prepared by Community Development Department, is a prerequisite for the City’s annual funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for two Federal entitlement programs: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) 

We can all say that Ball State University makes a difference to and in Muncie. I do not think that was true when I was a student there more than 40 years ago. Not that its students did not have an economic impact, but the school felt separate. Now, BSU has its Indiana Communities Institute:

The work we do at the Indiana Communities Institute is inspired by a simple vision: better communities for more people. Our mission in pursuit of this end is to help communities build greater capacity to achieve prosperity and well-being for their people and places. Our efforts are centered around community, grounded in research, engaged in practice, and focused on policy.

However, this Institute is not focused solely on Muncie; its services are available to all Indiana cities. Another example of how higher education benefits Indiana.

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