Whitely Community Food Pantry Wins National Award at the NUSA Conference

July 11, 2018July 11, 2018

Whitely Community Food Pantry Wins National Award at the NUSA Conference

On Friday, May 25^th at the 43^rd 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.

June 16, 2018July 11, 2018

Whitely Community Council Wins National Awards At Neighborhoods, U.S.A. Conference

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 42^nd 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.

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)

June 12, 2018June 12, 2018

VIDEO: 2018 IDEA Conference

Each year the IDEA conference has brought together over a hundred leaders representing Muncie’s neighborhoods to develop and strengthen community-building skills. Take a look at this year’s conference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihkKWvCmeqE&feature=youtu.be

June 7, 2018December 6, 2023

Neighborhood Learning Opportunities

Several great opportunities to improve your neighborhood are coming your way starting this summer! All sessions will occur at the Innovation Connector, 1208 W. White River Blvd. Tickets will be available on Eventbrite and offered through the Muncie Action Plan Facebook event page, so like and follow them for sign-up info! Food will be provided. See below for a list of what’s in store!

INTERACTING WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT

City Government: Citizen Access to Our City Government

Monday, August 6, 2018 (5:30 – 7:00 PM)
This session will cover the basic structure, offices, and activities of your city government.
Participants will understand the various responsibilities of the departments, with a special
emphasis on services.
Presented By: Bowen Center for Public Affairs, Ball State University

County Government: Citizen Access to Our County Government

Monday, September 3, 2018 (5:30 – 7:00 PM)
This session will cover the basic structure, offices, and activities of your county
government. Participants will understand the various responsibilities of the departments,
with a special emphasis on services.
Presented By: Bowen Center for Public Affairs, Ball State University

State Government: Citizen Access to Our State Government

Monday, October 1, 2018 (5:30 – 7:00 PM)
This session will cover the basic structure, offices, and activities of your state government.
Participants will understand the various responsibilities of the departments, with a special
emphasis on services.
Presented By: Bowen Center for Public Affairs, Ball State University

FUNDING

Crowdfunding Basics for Your Neighborhood

Monday, November 5, 2018 (5:30 – 7:00 PM)
Crowdfunding platforms such as Go Fund Me, Kickstarter, and Patroncity offer unique
opportunities to raise funds for your neighborhood. In this session we will review the
basics of these platforms along with fundamental strategies for implementation.
Presented By: Mitch Isaacs (Shafer Leadership Academy), Aimee Fant (Muncie Action Plan), Heather
Williams (Building Better Neighborhoods)

Dues Collection Strategies

Monday, January 7, 2019 (5:30 – 7:00 PM)
Several local neighborhood association use “dues” to fund their efforts. Join us for this
panel discussion where panelists will share their strategies for due collection.
Presented By: panel of local associations

Engaging Local Businesses

Monday, February 4, 2019 (5:30 – 7:00 PM)
The businesses in your neighborhood can be great assets. In this session we will discuss the
methods for making local businesses partners in your neighborhood. Business engagement
goes beyond fundraising and incorporates various strategies for including business in
decision making, planning, and implementation.
Presented by: panel of local associations

Presented in Partnership:

Funding Provided by:

January 13, 2018August 13, 2018

VIDEO: Muncie Action Plan Wrap Up

2017 was a great year for Muncie and the Muncie Action Plan (MAP). Check out some of the wonderful things we did together as a community!

https://youtu.be/RE8Vk6DeRVE

November 14, 2017

Neighbors Show They Care About McKinley

(Above: Volunteers improve 710 N. Mulberry St. by painting plywood and picking up trash)
Article by Heather Williams

Each neighborhood has its own unique history of development, from farmland, woods, or even marsh to streets filled with two-bedroom bungalows or elaborate Victorian mansions. North, south, east or west, Muncie’s neighborhoods are no different, each unique in character and filled with the hopes and dreams of its residents. Last weekend, a small group of residents gathered together to lift the hopes and dreams of McKinley neighborhood residents through beautification efforts that painted boarded windows and doors and cleaned trash and debris from two abandoned homes located on North Mulberry St.

*Volunteers Aimee Robertson-Fant, Kyle Johson, and Augusta Wray work to cover plywood securing the abandoned home at 710 N. Mulberry St.*

Responding to the recent cleanup efforts organized by City of Muncie departments, including the Muncie Police Department, Muncie Sanitary District, and Building Commissioner’s office, amongst others, Muncie Delaware Clean and Beautiful put a call out on Thursday morning for volunteers. Partnering with the Muncie Action Plan and Ball State’s Building Better Neighborhoods program, Muncie Delaware Clean and Beautiful set up their trailer on Mulberry Street on Sunday afternoon and directed volunteers in painting boards and cleaning up years of discarded debris.

Derek Tulowitzky, Muncie Delaware Clean and Beautiful Community Cleanups Chairperson, helped organize the event and secure volunteers to help. Tulowitzky noted that, “It’s by no means a solution for the issues that led to this home’s abandonment, but hopefully it shows folks that neighbors care about their neighborhood.”

Muncie Police Department officer Mike Mueller, who helped spearhead the city-wide cleanup of the neighborhood that inspired Sunday’s efforts, understands the importance of this neighborhood as it is directly across from the city’s only high school and on a major thoroughfare for visitors and residents traveling to and from Muncie’s downtown. Mueller believes all parties interested in neighborhood revitalization may be able to work together at similar cleanups in neighborhoods throughout the city, hopefully beginning again in 2018.

*Trash and debris was cleaned and windows boarded at 741 N. Mulberry St.*

Muncie Action Plan Neighborhoods Coordinator, Aimee Robertson-Fant, hopes that this is just the first of many efforts to support and encourage community building in the McKinley neighborhood. “McKinley is a vital neighborhood to organize and the momentum to do that is now. Not only are Walnut Commons, Elm Street Brewing Company (which is also transitioning into a family eatery) and other businesses investing in the future of McKinley, there is a community-wide, collaborative plan materializing which will help streamline and more efficiently address abandonment and vacated homes, of which is among the greatest and growing challenges McKinley has faced the past several years, as witnessed by the several abandoned houses on Walnut Street, facing Central. We owe it to the students and families and Muncie Community Schools to help continue efforts for this neighborhood to become healthy again.”

Ball State Immersive Learning students, under the direction of faculty member Lisa Dunaway, worked alongside residents in spring 2017 to develop a combined Minnetrista and McKinley Neighborhood Action Plan. This document may serve as a guide for resident-driven revitalization efforts.

Volunteers braving cold temperatures on Sunday morning to show their love for McKinley include Derek Tulowitzky, Aimee Robertson-Fant, Augusta Wray, Tracy Whelan, Jake Turpin, Kelyn Alexander, Kari Wissel, Aaron Brunsman, and Kyle Johnson (not pictured)

On Nov. 28^th at 6pm, come to a community meeting to discuss the future of the McKinley neighborhood. Building Better Neighborhoods and MAP will host the meeting at Muncie Central and encourage the participation of residents and businesses. Attendees will be invited to participate in the 100 Stories and 100 Dreams for Abandoned Properties project. The aim is to collect as many stories about and ideas for blighted properties as possible, as part of a city-wide effort to address blight by creating a new land bank. Urban Planning Professor John H. West will be on hand to talk with and collect stories.

According to Robertson-Fant, “One of best ways to support our one and only high school is take care of the neighborhood surrounding it. Fortunately, there are a lot of people and organizations who want to work together to help see that happen.”