Efforts to win a Stellar Grant now lie with New Castle city leaders. The state grant could bring up to $20 million for community improvements.
Hope Initiative's presentation Monday urged City Council members to create an updated strategic plan for the city. The council accepted the research presented with the intent to complete the Stellar Grant application.
Member Beverly Hankenhoff said she was with the group that created the 1991 Henry County strategic plan. She urged the council to take a look at it before moving forward with creating a new plan since much of the vision the city had back then is still viable today.
"It's important to have a strategic plan, so everyone has a vision of what the community should look like," Hankenhoff said.
Executive Director Cathy Hamilton said the 1991 plan was created very similar to what Hope Initiative has done to win the Stellar grant - hosting public forums, collecting public input and prioritizing community needs.
The Stellar Communities Grant is given to small, rural communities by the Indiana lieutenant governor's office. New Castle could win funds to help pay for the costs of improving the community.
Hope Initiative hosted five Stellar grant public forums and collected 260 post-it notes of ideas on what could make New Castle even better. Hamilton said those ideas were then placed into 12 categories that the council can seek financing help from the Stellar grant.
Categories included complete downtown revitalization, demolition of unsafe structures, streetscape and artscape, connecting sidewalks and bike paths to trails and schools and building of a wellness center or state-of-the-art education center.
"These categories are specifically attuned to what the Stellar grant can provide," Hamilton said. "There were many other categories people wanted to improve, but the Stellar grant doesn't finance programs, only brick and mortar. We'll be searching for other grants to help us."
Hamilton said a deadline for the Stellar grant application has not been announced yet, but council members need to start as soon as they can to finish it on time.
"Once we know the deadline, there usually is only two weeks to get everything finished from what we've been told," Hamilton said. "We have provided the groundwork they need to win. It is up to them where to go next."
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