State program could pump another $1 million into Daviess County

Mike Grant, Washington Times-Herald, Ind.
·4 min read

Jun. 27—The state's Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program (HELP) has three new southern Indiana counties and towns as participants. Daviess County, Vincennes and Dubois County have now begun as participants in the program.

"The HELP program was formerly called the STELLAR Communities program under OCRA," said Daviess County HELP team member Cindy Barber, who is with Purdue Extension. "With COVID, they made some adjustments and they want to work with communities to stretch their ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding further with support from the state."

"There are three communities participating and each of those communities will qualify for up to $1 million in terms of investments by the state back into the communities on a 1-1 basis," added HELP team member Bryant Niehoff, who is executive director for the Daviess County Economic Development Corporation.

To get that money though, the county will have to come up with a plan that will address community needs in the areas of economic development, promoting community wellness, enhancing quality of place and strengthening local economies.

"It's these times that will define a community, both during the pandemic and the post pandemic world with the talent challenges, the inflation challenges, the work force development challenges, all of the above. And certainly, the public health challenges, maybe the way all of those things have played into one another over the past several years," said Niehoff. "What we will try to do is come up with a strategic development plan that will result in tangible brick and mortar projects."

"It's very exciting and it covers a lot of areas that we have already put work into. I think it will be good to take some of the time that has been invested in the four areas so I think coming up with projects won't be difficult at all," added Barber. "Narrowing it down may turn out to be the challenge, but in a great way. There's economic activity, and where we are at with broadband, we've got a lot of great things happening around community wellness and advancing quality of place covers a lot of different areas in the community. We have a lot of good things happening there. It's key areas we have been prioritizing for a while, so that extra funding is going to do great things for the community."

One thing that the HELP project requires is a coordinator to help keep the projects moving.

"We are in talks with the county and city about a new position. We will have to hire a community coordinator to drive this process," said Niehoff. "OCRA Director Denny Spinner, the former mayor of Huntingburg, had a successful Stellar Community and they found the process works best when there is one dedicated person to drive it. That's a requirement."

While each county will be operating independently from the other two that are part of this new group, they will also be cooperating.

"Another thing that will be good is that Daviess County will be in the same cohort as Knox and Dubois counties," said Barber. "I think regionalism is a good thing and learning from our neighbors will be a positive attribute of the program is well."

"Each county will operate separately, but we are also going through this as peers," added Niehoff. "So, we will be able to bounce ideas off of each other. It's kind of like building a network."

Throughout the program, the chosen communities will collaborate with the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement, the Purdue University Center for Regional Development, the Ball State Indiana Communities Institute and Ivy Tech Community College. These higher education organizations will help provide training and technical assistance during the program.

In addition to the higher education organizations these communities will partner with, they will also work with the Indiana Arts Council, the Indiana Department of Transportation, the Indiana Department of Health, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, Columbus-based CivicLab and NEXT Studios.

"This new program presents a unique opportunity for communities," Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch said. "Those chosen to participate in HELP will learn how to best spend their recovery funds in order to create a lasting positive impact and legacy in their area."

Only nine communities throughout the state were chosen to participate in the program.