LaGrange County focusing on Stellar Pathways win
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The Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) recently selected Connect LaGrange County (CLC) as a finalist for the agency’s Stellar Pathways program.
Born out of a collaboration between LaGrange County Economic Development Corp. (LCEDC), LaGrange County, and the towns of LaGrange, Shipshewana and Topeka, CLC serves as a voice for the northeast Indiana community.
“I still get chills when I tell people about it, it’s just such a big deal to our rural community,” LCEDC President Sherri Johnston said. “This type of thing doesn’t happen, so we’re thrilled to be on that top floor and we are very excited to get to that final two. That’s our goal.”
Formerly the Stellar Communities Initiative, the new iteration will award nearly $13 million for projects prioritizing cross-regional collaboration and economic development among rural communities in Indiana.
The grant sum is pooled from the federal Community Development Block Grant Program, the Indiana Department of Transportation’s Rural Federal Aid Program, Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, Indiana Department of Health, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Indiana Destination Development Corp and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Finalists were selected based on their demonstrated collaboration, effective communication, project implementation, problem solving, community engagement efforts and adeptness at securing additional funding.
“The first part of the process was to make sure that all of the communities that applied were in good standing with all of those various agencies if they had any open grants or programs with them, and then that the application that they submitted was complete,” Andrea Kern, director of strategic initiatives at OCRA, said. “Successful applicants showed some past success and good collaboration. And then, if they are designated, we had some confidence that over the next four years, we would be able to deploy our funds with their plans.”
The seven-person review committee, consisting of representatives of the contributing agencies, also took into account how applicants had incorporated community feedback into their previous projects.
“Finalists had done some really good community engagement, and could tie that engagement to actual projects or programs that they’ve implemented,” Kern said. “We are trying to do more with less and less funds, so being able to think regionally and collaboratively will help them really leverage the public dollars that are available to them.”
Tangible results helped the finalists stand out to the review committee. These past successes became a tell-tale sign and a springboard for the rural communities to claim even more opportunities. They also prove that communities with a collaborative track record are good ground for investing taxpayer dollars.
“People say they’re collaborating but there’s a difference between just talking with each other and actually accomplishing things,” OCRA Executive Director Duke Bennett said. “We want to know that you’ve got community buy-in and the relationships between commissioners, mayors and not-for-profits are all healthy. People can talk a good game, but we want to make sure they can deliver on that.”
While applicants were not required to enumerate specific future projects, they had to show what their focus would be if selected as a designee.
“Our focuses are really on doing things that will increase quality of life and quality of place,” Emilee Fincher, manager of marketing and operations at the LCEDC, said. “What we communicated in our letter of intent was that everything here is going to be collaborative; we want it all to be transformative and we want the key stakeholders in the communities involved.”
Emilee Fincher talks about the focus LaGrange County is taking with its strategic investment plan and other plans moving forward.
The different contributing bodies have specific requirements for the deployment of their funds. Specifications may include creating trails, developing programs serving low-to-moderate income families, etc.
“They could even entail pickleball courts; there’s a need and we are lacking,” Johnston said. “So something as simple as putting some courts in different parks around the county could be one of the projects.”
Fincher added that CLC will also be considering housing and child care projects.
“Those things increase the quality of life here. They help to attract new population. They help to retain our current population. They help with the workforce,” she continued. “So projects that can do those things are what we’re after.”
Statewide, Kern said child care is also pressing, based on applications received. Park improvements and trails that connect the communities are other possibilities that surfaced.
“Expanding small business support, public health concerns are top of mind as well, whether that’s maternal health, long lifespan and then housing is evergreen,” Kern added.
The LaGrange County Community Foundation, LaGrange County Chamber of Commerce, LaGrange County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Main Street LaGrange, along with other residents were part of stakeholder meetings for the application and also signed the letter of intent, Fincher said.
“Sherri [Johnston] and I are driving the bus but it’s full of community members and leaders from other organizations who are doing incredible work and working towards the same goals that we are,” she added.
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The Pigeon River at Sunset (photo credit Keith James Photography)
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A groundview of the county’s historic courthouse and historic downtown (photo credit Keith James Photography)
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A buggy traveling down a county road (photo credit Keith James Photography)
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Local farmer, Ted Gunthorp, harvests soybeans (photo credit Keith James Photography)
LaGrange’s community foundation was awarded a Lilly Endowment grant a few years back, and over 200 people attended a meeting to discuss how to best apply the funds in what the county calls its Envision Process. Another comprehensive plan process drew input from over 300 people both online and in-person towards updating the county’s 10-year comprehensive plan.
Since 2011, when the first two Stellar grants were awarded, a total of 17 communities have been designated and $193 million from the state has been invested in them. Matching funds totaling $154 million have come from the communities and over $830 million in private investment has been secured.
“Private dollars come in when they see the communities investing in themselves. What we’re trying to do with this program is to incentivize them to lay out a long term plan and then begin to implement some pretty significant projects that lead to quality of life improvement, quality of place, economic development activity,” Bennett said. “That’s what this is all about, changing the momentum of a community by these initial investments will lead to years and years and years worth of future investments.”
A review of the strides previous designees have achieved leaves Bennett convinced that access to state level funding will continue to prop rural Indiana up to attain its fullest potential. The projects the grant funds also helps keep people here and attracts future Hoosiers.
“There’s a little bit of competition from community to community, everybody has their own ideas, but they don’t always have the money to make these things happen,” he said. “Without some state help, they’re just not going to be able to ever get the ball rolling.”
Each finalist will receive $50,000 for the development of a final strategic investment plan. They will also receive a customized, one-day workshop in August with the Indiana Communities Institute at Ball State University that will cover project alignment and community asset mapping. CLC is currently interviewing consultants for their plan.
“We’re planning a couple of agency days with the finalists to meet one on one to talk about project development, program development, because we still have to meet some federal requirements if they are designated, so that we can get projects moving pretty quickly,” Kern said. “At the end of the day, we want them to feel like the $50,000 grant helped them put together a good enough plan that they will execute with or without the designation.”
OCRA also selected three other finalists for the 2024 Stellar Pathways program. One Dearborn County, Wabash County, and Warren County Region were chosen out of 19 letters of interest received from across the state. However, OCRA said it is willing to support the other 15 applicants in other ways.
“We are going to do a feedback meeting with all of them in-person. I encourage them to keep working together and really try to implement one of the ideas,” Kern said. “Try to figure out how to get it done locally, even if it’s incremental, so that they’ll be able to get some experience working together and hashing out any of those internal challenges that might come up.”
Fincher and Johsnton are hopeful to get the designation and encourage the other two communities who do not, to continue to seek other grant opportunities.
“The funding entities that make up this larger grant have regular funds they grant out every year. If we do all of this work and we find these projects that are fundable, nothing stops us from applying for those grants on their own in the future,” Fincher said. “After we win, we can apply for even more to just keep adding on to the momentum that’s being created here in Lagrange County.”
Fincher moved back to northeast Indiana in 2022 after being away for 10 years. Living close to I-5, the costliness and fast pace of California, left her longing for home and some peace and quiet.
“I found myself needing to be somewhere that was slower. My soul was just drained and I wanted so badly to come home,” Fincher said. “My lease was about to end, I prayed about it and told myself I would move back home if I found a job. A mutual friend introduced Sherrie and I and the rest is history.”
Recalling the days of her youth when she felt nothing ever happened in her hometown of Angola, Fincher now has a change of mind.
“If you live in a rural community and you feel like there’s nothing to do there, then you should do something about that,” she said. “You should make sure there’s stuff to do there. I love living in rural America.”
Acknowledging the brain drain rural America faces, Fincher noted that any type of quality of life improvements will help the LaGrange communities bring young people back.
“We’re a very humble, rural community that doesn’t usually ask for a lot and we’ve gotten to a point where we need to ask,” Johnston said. “So whatever we can do with amenities will make a huge impact on generations to come, what this county actually looks like and how we get people aware that there’s people working to make it better, because we do want their families to be here in the future.”
The two winning regions will be announced in January 2025.
“Rural Indiana is such a huge field of opportunity. We’re trying to do some things even though it’s two communities at a time,” Bennett said. “However you want to look at this, we’re going to make those impacts through OCRA that are going to help them to be successful.”