Connecting Muncie Neighborhood partners and resources
Cradle to Career Muncie is a citywide effort dedicated to uplifting our community’s learners. To learn more about their new Strategic Plan: The Opportunity Blueprint: 2030, click here.
Nervous about visiting campus? Take a look at the Office of Community Engagement’s handy Getting to Campus resource for parking/public transit information!
Click the links for more information. Some events may be off-campus or have registration requirements.
91st Annual Student Art Exhibition – 10 a.m.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2026 AT 6:00 PM
Annual Report to the Community Muncie Action Plan (MAP) invites YOU to MAP’s Annual Report to the Community. Join us on Wednesday, January 28th at 6:00 in the Multi-purpose Room at the Ivy Tech Fisher Building for a look back at the last year of MAP activities and learn about the exciting things to come in 2026.
MAP Board President and Task Force Leaders will present updates and highlights on the 2025 MAP activities.
You may park in Ivy Tech’s Green Lots and enter the door facing Charles Street.
This year’s Annual Report to the Community is made possible by generous support from Destination: Muncie and the Horizon Convention Center.
Article by Alexis Dishman | CenterPoint Scholars 2024-2025 cohort
When I was selected to be part of the inaugural CenterPoint Scholars 2024-2025 cohort, I knew the experience would be one of learning, growth, and collaboration. What I didn’t anticipate was how deeply meaningful the journey would become or that it would lead to the creation of a project rooted so strongly in empathy, dignity, and community connection.
As part of the program, we were tasked with forming small groups to identify and address a pressing need within our community. While there were many important issues to consider, our group quickly found common ground around one that felt both urgent and deeply personal: food insecurity.
Our conversations revealed that food insecurity looks different for everyone. For some, it meant growing up in a household where food was often scarce. Others shared experiences of needing just one or two ingredients to complete a meal. Some group members had never personally faced food insecurity but were eager to learn and understand its broader impact. Through open and honest dialogue, we began to recognize not only the lack of food itself, but also the stigma that too often accompanies asking for help.
From these discussions, The Helping House was born.
The Helping House is designed to address food insecurity in a way that is welcoming, accessible, and free of judgment. It offers a standalone structure where individuals can access non-perishable food items and hygiene products through a simple, respectful process that honors personal dignity and autonomy.
Each Helping House structure is painted with unique, vibrant scenes meant to spark curiosity, warmth, and engagement. These designs help shift the experience from one of need to one of connection, making the act of taking or exchanging food and hygiene items feel uplifting, human, and community-centered rather than transactional or stigmatizing.
Every detail of The Helping House was created with intention – including our logo. The calming blue color represents peace and stability, while the dove symbolizes hope, love, and new beginnings. What began as a group assignment quickly became a shared passion. Our planning meetings evolved into safe spaces for laughter, conversation, and genuine connection. The Helping House became more than a project, it became a reflection of the community we hoped to build.
The inspiration behind The Helping House comes from the concept of a Little Free Library – small neighborhood book exchanges where people are encouraged to take what they need and leave what they can. We embraced this honor-system model and reimagined it with non-perishable food and essential items, creating a space that is available, accessible, and rooted in trust.
Today, we are proud to have one Helping House structure in place at the Muncie Public Library / Maring-Hunt Library, with plans underway to establish a second location. Each new structure represents another opportunity to reduce barriers, meet needs, and strengthen community bonds.
Looking ahead, we are fully committed to keeping our Helping House structures stocked, maintained, and accessible for the long term. Our hope is to continue raising awareness about these resources while expanding their presence throughout the community. By installing additional structures and increasing visibility, we aim to ensure that more individuals know support is available quietly, consistently, and without judgment. The Helping House stands as a reminder that addressing food insecurity isn’t just about providing food, it’s about offering compassion, restoring dignity, and creating spaces where people feel supported and seen.
Our Helping House is now open at Muncie Public Library – Maring-Hunt Branch (2005 S. High St., Muncie, IN 47302). Community members are encouraged to donate items or take what they need. Learn more and follow our journey by visiting our Facebook Page – www.facebook.com/TheHelpingHouseMuncie
CenterPoint Scholars is a program of the Muncie Action Plan, funded through generous support from the CenterPoint Energy Foundation and the City of Muncie.
Studies consistently show that personal, one-on-one meeting requests lead to higher attendance rates than group or email invitations. A study cited by the Harvard Business Review found that face-to-face requests are 34 times more successful than emails. Here’s a template for that conversation you can use to make your ask.
Hello, my name is [Your Name], and I live at [Your Address]. I’m on the neighborhood association board, and I’d like to personally invite you to our next meeting.
It’s on [Date of Meeting] at [Time of Meeting] at [Location of Meeting]. We’ll be talking about things that affect all of us, like [mention 2-3 specific topics, e.g., planning this year’s block party, updates on the new park, and how to improve neighborhood safety]. It’s a great opportunity to get to know more of your neighbors and share your ideas.
We’d love to have you join us. Is there a good way for me to get you an agenda or more information?
The Ball State Daily News wrote a wonderful article about our very own Southside Neighborhood Association President, Courtney Marsh. You can check out the full article online HERE.