The Neighborhood Leadership Council is an initiative of the Muncie Action Plan that brings together neighborhood association leaders from across the city of Muncie to share best practices, take advantage of educational opportunities, and connect with local resources and area nonprofits. The group meets on the third Tuesday of each month on the third floor of the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center (400 W. Minnetrista Pkwy) at 6:00 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Join us for our September Neighborhood Leadership Council meeting. We’ll be joined by special guest Adam Leach, City of Muncie Engineer and Street Superintendent. We’re excited to learn more about the newest street tree program and how we can partner with the city to improve our neighborhood infrastructure.
Dnner will be provided!
2026-2027 NLC Meeting Schedule: (Updated 6/18/26)
Tuesday, April 22, 5-7 PM Local Government 101
Tuesday, October 20, 5-7 PM City Department Heads or UBHA Mock Meeting
Tuesday, May 15, 5-7 PM Food Insecurity
Tuesday, November 17, 5-7 PM Celebrate! Project Pitch Night
Tuesday, June 16, 5-7 PM Community Safety
Tuesday, December 16, 5-7 PM Project Work Day
Tuesday, July 21, 5-6 PM Project Work Day
Tuesday, January 19, 5-7 PM Local Media Literacy – Michelle Kinsey
Tuesday, August 18, 5-7 PM School Libraries as Community Stakeholders
Tuesday, February 16, 5-7 PM Mental and Physical Health
Tuesday, September 15, 6-7 PM Adam Leech, City of Muncie Engineer and Street Superintendent
IDEA Conference – March 6, 9 AM – 3 PM – CenterPoint Scholars Presentation
Come hungry! We always provide dinner at the start of the training.
In 1927 Edwin Faye Kitselman was one of four brothers who were industrialist leaders in Muncie Indiana. The inventive Kitselman brothers originally made roller skates in a factory east of Muncie in Ridgeville, Indiana, and eventually the company became a manufacturer of steel and wire fences. Mr. Kitselman, who was also a golfer, hunter, politician, and fisherman, bought several wooded acres at what was then the west end of University Avenue. He and his wife, Edna F. Leach Kitselman, had four children: Richard, Alice, Nancy and Jean. They built the stately brick home pictured here. Unfortunately, a short time later, in 1928, Mr. Kitselman died, leaving the land and the home to his wife and children. Almost three decades later, in 1956, the surviving Kitselman children, Richard, Nancy and Jean (all now deceased) deeded the Tudor Gothic home and 2.65 acres to the Ball State University Foundation. The home became known as the Kitselman Center and was utilized by Ball State University in succeeding years as a venue for conferences and special events.
On October 12, 1956, the Gatewood neighborhood plat was proposed by J. Roberts Dailey (local realtor and civic leader) and other partners, and on November 8, 1956 the Gatewood subdivision was approved with 92 lots all designed as single-family residences with the exception of three lots on the south side of Riverside where duplex rentals were permitted. Over the next thirty years homes of varying styles were built and occupied.
In 1987, Lot 4 of the Gatewood subdivision was split into a north half and south half and sold to the homeowners of lots 3 and 5, thus ending the 60 years of Kitselman ownership of this segment of wooded land west of the city of Muncie. Gatewood has 92 homes and is a thriving neighborhood.
In 2000, Virginia B. Ball, local philanthropist and active supporter of education, the environment, the arts, and the humanities, established the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry at Ball State University. With the approval of the Ball State University Foundation, the Kitselman Center was chosen as the home of that center which still exists today.
Gatewood is bounded on the North by Riverside Avenue, the south by Gilbert Street, the west by Greenbriar Road and Bittersweet Lane and on the east by Forest Avenue, comprising 92 homes and approximately 80 acres. Today Gatewood is a neighborhood made up of accountants, artists, bankers, business men and women, children, counselors, doctors, engineers, fathers and mothers, grandparents, inventors, judges, lawyers, musicians, nurses, pharmacists, plumbers, professors, realtors, school administrators, teachers and very good neighbors.
In the early 2000’s, student rental properties continued popping up in residential neighborhoods in Muncie. The Gatewood Neighborhood Association was formed in an effort to sustain and support the Kitselman families’ original intent to develop a single family residential neighborhood and to support good neighboring.
In 2018 Gatewood completed neighborhood sponsored leveling, cleaning, tuck-pointing and restoration of the 1927 Gate Pillars at University and Forest Avenues.
Neighborhood Association
President: John Pinckney Vice President – Dan House Secretary-Treasurer: Sue Whitaker
Other Board Members and Street Representatives:
Bittersweet: Susan Leffler
Gatewood: Dan House
700, 704, 707 N Greenbriar + 3509 Riverside: Jim Wingate
University: Don Whitaker
Brentwood (north of University): Larry Stange
Brentwood (south of University): Larry Strange
Forest (west side of street – University to Riverside: Pat Nelson
Forest (west side of street – University to Gilbert + 3300 W Gilbert
Greenbriar: Molly Graybeal
Wildwood: Ron Martin
Committees:
Social Media Committee—Casey Stanley
Welcome Committee—Molly Graybeal and Anna McGlinchy
Government Liaison—Larry Strange
Newsletter Editor—Sue Whitaker
Neighborhood School:
West View Elementary, MCS 3401 W. Gilbert Street
Landscaping and neighborhood sign completed with ARP funding280 Items were collected at the Gatewood Holiday Party in December 2025 for the Clothing Closet at West View Elementary School.Below: Neighborhood Children building an igloo following the January 2026 SnowstormNeighborhood Easter Egg Hunt
Ball State students enrolled in Parks and Open Spaces Design have recently completed a report based on their partnership with the neighborhood to design the Halteman Neighborhood Park. Check it out here (pdf).
Neighborhood Association Meetings
The Halteman Village Neighborhood Association, representing Halteman Village, Norwood, NorHall, and Vienna Woods, meets at the Remedy City Church on the last Tuesday of the month at 6pm. All are welcome.
The Southeast Neighborhood Association meets in conjunction with the Blaine Neighborhood quarterly, on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 pm. Meetings are currently being held over the phone. Please contact the neighborhood association via their Facebook group page for call-in information. All are welcome!
Neighborhood Action Plan
Neighborhood residents worked with immersive learning students from Ball State’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning to develop a neighborhood action plan. To see the efforts of this collaborative project, please follow this link Blaine/Southeast Neighborhood Action Plan 2014.
On April 14, 2015, the Ball State Daily News published an article about the Blaine/Southeast Neighborhood Action Plan. Follow this link to view the full article.
KaBoom Playground Grant
In November 2014, the Blaine/Southeast Neighborhood Association was granted a $15,000 KaBoom Playground grant to purchase equipment for a neighborhood playground. Residents have formed a playground committee and are currently working towards a build date in August 2015. To learn more about this exciting project, please click here.
The Blaine Neighborhood Association meets in conjunction with the Southeast Neighborhood quarterly on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 pm. Meetings are currently being held over the phone. Please contact the neighborhood association via their Facebook group page for call-in information. All are welcome!
Neighborhood Action Plan
Neighborhood residents worked with immersive learning students from Ball State’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning to develop a neighborhood action plan. To see the efforts of this collaborative project, please follow this link Blaine/Southeast Neighborhood Action Plan 2014.
On April 14, 2015, the Ball State Daily News published an article about the Blaine/Southeast Neighborhood Action Plan. Follow this link to view the full article.
KaBoom Playground Grant
In November 2014, the Blaine/Southeast Neighborhood Association was granted a $15,000 KaBoom Playground grant to purchase equipment for a neighborhood playground. Residents have formed a playground committee and are currently working towards a build date in August 2015. To learn more about this exciting project, please click here.
