In January 2015, Pulaski County was selected by the State of Indiana as a participant in its inaugural Hometown Collaboration Initiative (HCI). The Initiative is sponsored by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA), in partnership with Ball State’s Building Better Communities program, the Ball State College of Architecture and Planning – Urban Design, the Purdue Center for Regional Development, and Purdue University Extension.
HCI is a program that empowers communities of 25,000 people or fewer to identify and to weave existing economic and community assets to develop and to energize community-wide leadership and engagement, to focus on economic development strategies, and to enhance their attractiveness as places for residence and tourism. Community buy-in and action are foundational pieces to prioritizing where your community needs to focus its resources to build a sustainable future focused on addressing issues and opportunities.
It is the hope of Pulaski County to focus this initiative on place-making, by examining ways to build on our community’s natural and built resources. Our hometown team will take stock of its physical assets and explore the integration of the arts, culture and historic preservation into efforts to revitalize our county.
This will be a many-months-long endeavor, guided by a community coach, that could result in a capstone project, one that could receive significant investment from the State.