Prosperity Indiana has recently begun working with the City of Rushville and Ginn Farms on two different, and exciting, technical assistance projects. The work on both projects is financially supported by the National Association of Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB) using US Department of Housing and Urban Development Rural Technical Assistance grants.
The City of Rushville participated in a creative placemaking workshop in June 2017 hosted by the Indiana Arts Commission and other partners including Prosperity Indiana and member Harrison Center for the Arts. Municipalities that participated in the workshop were eligible to apply for an arts consultancy through the Indiana Arts Commission, and Rushville applied for assistance in developing an Arts Council and an Arts Master Plan to facilitate arts as a community economic development strategy. The community, already a Stellar Community, is ready for such a project and would benefit from technical assistance, but it was a more intense project than the arts consultancy was intended to address. That's where the NALCAB HUD Rural TA program stepped in, funding Prosperity Indiana to work with the city on development of the Arts Council and the Arts Master Plan. The work includes key stakeholder interviews, focus groups, leadership development workshops, a community visioning session, and supporting working groups as they develop SMAART goals and action plans for achieving the vision. It also includes development of resource guides for the Arts Council as it begins work in the community. The project began in January and will continue through August.
Founded in 2015, GinnFarms is a small Agricultural Education Nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation seeking to expand its programs into other rural Indiana counties. The organization’s missions is to protect the honey bee by encouraging new farmers to engage in self-reliant and natural farming practices. With one staff person, 3 board members, 12 volunteers, a variety of supporting partnerships, and recent grant awards from the US Department of Agriculture and the United Way, GinnFarms is in a prime position to receive capacity building services for sustainable growth and effective program impact.
Prosperity Indiana will work with GinnFarms to assess their organizational capacity through the CapMap tool during the first quarter of 2018. The tool will provide GinnFarms with an organizational baseline, identify areas of improvements, and provide strategies for the organization to build its capacity.
Prosperity Indiana will also assist GinnFarms in a strategic planning process that incorporating feedback from interviews with staff board members, and other potential community stakeholders and results in follow-up guidance and support.
After the assessment and strategic planning work, Prosperity Indiana will support Ginn Farms with needed capacity building in the areas of resource development, program development, leadership development, partnership and coalition building, community and stakeholder development, grant management, outcome measurement, and real estate acquisition.
Are you serving a rural area in Indiana? Are there projects where you could use technical assistance to advance your work? You could be eligible for participation in the HUD Rural TA program through NALCAB and Prosperity Indiana. Contact Director of Planning Services Rose Scovel (rscovel@prosperityindiana.org) or Director of Sustainability Allyson Mitchell (amitchell@prosperityindiana.org) for more information.
