AUBURN — Auburn is one of four communities in Indiana selected to participate in the Hometown Collaboration Initiative for 2016. Efforts to explore community needs and pinpoint areas for improvement are underway.
HCI is in its second year as a community development initiative focused on economy, leadership and placemaking. The project is sponsored by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs in partnership with Purdue University and Ball State University.
“It really is about the process that you go through and decision-making you go through,” said Sarah Payne of Auburn, a local Hometown Collaboration Initiative core team member.
“What it does is it engage the community in a way that isn’t normally happening when you’re applying for a grant, because you’re really finding out from the community what they want, where they see the future, where they see some of the struggles happening, and then you can start to address those things,” said Payne.
The Auburn committee is in the foundation phase of the process, which includes reviewing community data. Recently the group released a survey for people who reside, work or play in Auburn to gauge how they view the community based on quality of life and leadership and economic development.
“We would like to get as many people as possible to fill out the survey, because we want to hear your opinions,” Payne said.
People are encouraged to take the survey by visiting indianahci.org with a page dedicated to Auburn.
“Like most of Indiana, what we’ve been finding so far is this idea of brain drain,” she said. “One of things that’s most shocking to me is, as a community, we’re planning for a decrease in population. Even the schools are planning for a decrease in enrollment, which is because of brain drain.”
Committee members will continue to work through the process to understand strengths and weaknesses through data gathered from the survey to then share with the community.
On Thursday, April 28, from 5:30-9 p.m. at McKenney-Harrison Elementary School, members of the community are invited and encouraged to attend a community forum hosted by the Hometown Collaboration Initiative committee. The forum will review the survey findings and further explore the needs and opinions of the community. A community dinner at the forum will be provided by local businesses and sponsors. Organizers for the forum ask that people planning to attend RSVP as soon as possible so they are able to get an accurate head count.
Following the forum, members of the committee will assemble the data, create a business plan and decide on a capstone project funded by the state with a grant up to $50,000. The capstone project will reflect one of the three Hometown Collaboration Initiative pillars: economy, leadership or placemaking.
Payne added, “It’s really exciting. We’re learning so much, and I think a lot of good will come out of this.”