Gallery: Trolley tour highlights Vincent Village initiatives
A few members of Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana joined Vincent Village‘s neighborhood trolley tour on Thursday night. This tour highlighted Vincent Village projects and initiatives and gave an overview of additional investments in the Oxford Community and Renaissance Pointe neighborhoods in Fort Wayne. According to its mission, Vincent Village Inc. serves homeless families with children. It is the only transitional shelter in Allen County serving two-parent families and single-male headed families. Tour participants enter the Vincent House Transitional Center, which provides shelter and supportive services for homeless families with children. Denise Andorfer, the executive director of Vincent Village, gives an overview of neighborhood projects and initiatives in and around Vincent Village. Vinnie’s Empowerment Store where clients can acquire clothing and other goods to help them during their transitions. Children’s art dries on the rack after an early evening painting activity for kids at the transitional shelter. Tour participants also visited the former fire station number 9. This community asset outside of Vincent Village was renovated into the Johnnie Mae Farm. Inside of the renovated former fire station at the Johnnie Mae Farm. City residents can participate in healthy cooking class in Our HEALing Kitchen, which is sponsored by the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation and Parkview Health. The Johnnie Mae Farm is a partnership between the City of Fort Wayne’s Office of Housing & Neighborhood Services and the Purdue Extension – Allen County Office. For more information on Vincent Village, visit their website at vincentvillage.org. For more information on the Johnnie Mae Farm, visit...
Exploring local and ethically-sourced food with Heartland Communities
Local food and green collar industries have seen renewed interest in recent years. Living Fort Wayne recently caught up with Heartland Communities’ Jain Young and Rowan Greene to discuss the mission of Heartland Communities and their vision for the future. LFW – How does Heartland Communities plan to help facilitate the emergence of “green collar industries”? Heartland Communities – We hear about a “triple bottom line” these days – people – planet – profit or the 3 p’s of sustainability. At Heartland Communities, we have held those values as our mission since before the phrase was coined and we called it economic, environmental and cultural sustainability. As a community economic development organization, we are focused on creating opportunities to put those values into action in business, jobs, and entrepreneurship. To take it a step further, Heartland is organized to help create cooperative and worker-owned enterprises. Heartland’s current focus is bringing green infrastructure to the food industry with Plowshares Local Food System Project, which began in 2014 with a USDA grant through the Local Food Promotion Program for research and planning. Plowshares works with intention and organizing to re-establish local food system infrastructure, which changed over the last 50+ years from local to global. Now, four years into the project, we are launching a local food distribution business called Plowshares Food Hub. It will create efficiencies for local farms and business while making locally grown and processed food more accessible. The Sustainable Indiana 2016 initiative gave Heartland a “Green Light Award” for Plowshares. As we create a local food system, food production is a green collar industry when farmers use regenerative methods that require less water and fuel, build our soil, and protect pollinators. As food moves from farms through the value chain to the consumer, food jobs become “green” when the transportation miles are reduced, so locally produced food is more green than the same food that rides in a truck from California or Brazil. In Indiana, the average meal travels 1,500 miles while we import 90 percent of our food from out of state. So you might think of a green collar industry as a solar panel manufacturing plant but sometimes it is doing the things we have always done but finding a way to be good to the planet and value your people with good jobs, while being successful financially. Another Green Light Award was given to an organization Heartland incubated as fiscal agent and through organizational development over a period of seven years. The nonprofit Save Maumee Grassroots Organization has become a green collar industry in watershed management and jobs have been created with nearly $200,000...
Bring It Push It Own It: inspiring, uplifting and guiding Fort Wayne’s young women
It’s difficult to be a young woman in modern society. Today’s generation is inundated with mixed messages from the media, along with a lack of community engagement, peer conflict, family problems and other issues that can leave girls feeling alienated and inadequate. Bring It Push It Own It, a local female-run nonprofit organization for girls from ages 9-18, seeks to overcome these negative influences by empowering young women through physical activity, mentorship and teamwork. Bring It Push It Own It began in 2013 when founder Tisha Stotlar noticed a lack of self-esteem, positive values, inner strength, coping skills and leadership traits being instilled in young women within their home, school and extracurricular lives. Stotlar started the organization with the important goal of helping girls learn to “push themselves outside of their comfort zones to grow to their fullest potential.” Today, Bring It Push It Own It is run by a full board and advisory committee of predominantly women, offering group fitness and enrichment programming for girls in the Fort Wayne area. “We create an environment that is different than sports yet active—an environment to become a leader as a mentor to other girls, an opportunity to learn how to have friendships outside of your normal circles. Taking you out of your comfort zones is the best way to heighten ourselves and become our best selves, and we provide that in our program and our obstacle run,” Stotlar said. View this post on Instagram This is our girl tribe, open minded, kind, positive, real, healthy minds and bodies, fun, focused on self love, kindness, inner strength, leadership, healthy relationships, empowered to keep going, crush goals, keep believing!! A post shared by Bring It-Push It-Own It (@bringit_pushit_ownit) on Aug 10, 2018 at 12:51pm PDT Bring It Push It Own It offers 10 to 12 week seasonal rotations consisting of weekly meet-ups and additional monthly meet-ups for its young members. Typically meeting at Spiece Fitness, sessions rotate a variety of a group exercise classes including yoga, barre, step aerobics, martial arts and more. Additionally, meetings include an educational discussion on pertinent topics such as identifying toxic relationships and embracing your natural beauty. Girls will also participate in an obstacle course that takes their teamwork, courage and leadership skills to new heights. The variety and challenge offered by Bring It Push It Own It allows its participants to constantly try new things and achieve their goals along the way. As the leader of Bring It Push It Own It, Stotlar is especially interested in addressing the confidence issues that arise around ages 11-14 as young women enter adolescence and transition from elementary to...
United Way of Allen County seeks Community Investment Volunteer
From the United Way of Allen County The mission of United Way of Allen County is to unite our community’s time, talent, and treasure to cultivate and advance community solutions that address the most critical issues around basic needs, education, financial stability, and healthy lives. United Way volunteers possess the knowledge, passion, and expertise required to create lasting change in our community. We invite you to be a part of the change, to share our vision of an Allen County where all individuals and families discover and achieve their potential. As such, we are currently seeking individuals from all walks of life to join us as Community Investment Volunteers. What is the United Way Community Investment Process? The Community Investment Process is the way in which United Way of Allen County determines the amount of funding it provides to non-profit agencies. Trained volunteers work on Community Investment teams, to make funding recommendations after carefully reviewing the applications and documents that potential agencies submit. United Way’s Board of Directors approves final investment decisions. Purpose of Community Investment Teams: Review applications from non-profit organizations and make funding recommendations to the Community Impact Committee. Monitor progress of funded services and programs. Benefits to the Volunteer: Build relationships with community and agency leaders. Strengthen analytical and decision-making skills in a team atmosphere. Enhance understanding of the complex needs and issues facing the broader community as well as potential responses to those needs. Help build a stronger community by ensuring resources are invested as efficiently and effectively as possible. Benefits to United Way: Ensure that a broad range of interests is represented and heard from throughout the Community Investment Process. Ensure transparency for the investment of donor contributions. Increase community awareness regarding the use of United Way funds. Further the mission of United Way of Allen County. A Successful Community Investment Volunteer is: An advocate for United Way of Allen County and its work in the community. Passionate about making a difference in Allen County. A financial contributor to United Way of Allen County. Knowledgeable of and eager to learn about community needs, issues, and resources. Professional in their behavior (i.e., timely, respectful, considerate). Able to work well with others in a group setting. Committed to maintaining appropriate confidentiality of Community Investment team discussions and materials. Committed to diversity and inclusivity. Able to use online grant software (training provided). Volunteer Responsibilities and Expectations: Application Review and Funding Determination: 1. Identify a Community Investment Team on which to participate: Childhood Success, Youth Success, Adult Success, or Safety Net Services. 2. Disclose any involvement with other agencies and any possible conflicts of interest to United Way....
Neighborhood Health Clinics, Inc. to Host Ice Cream Social as part of National Community Health Center Week 2018
Neighborhood Health Clinics, Inc. to Host Ice Cream Social as part of National Community Health Center Week 2018 Neighborhood Health Clinics, Inc. will hold an Ice Cream Social on Wednesday, August 15 to celebrate Patient Appreciation Day. The event is part of National Community Health Center Week, a national campaign during August 12th- 18th to raise awareness about the mission and accomplishments of America’s Health Centers and the dedicated staff who bring health care to the center of their communities. Patient Appreciation Day will kick off at 11 a.m. at its main clinic located at 1717 South Calhoun Street and will end at 1 p.m. to then move to its sister clinic located at 3350 East Paulding Road and run from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. There will be giveaways and face painting for the kids and a chance to meet with healthcare vendors such as Care Source, Anthem, MDwise, and many more. State Representative of House District 81, Martin Carbaugh, and Chief Executive Officer of Indiana Primary Health Care Association, Phil Morphew, will also be in attendance at the main location on Calhoun Street. To learn more about National Health Center Week and the listing of events please visit: www.healthcenterweek.org You can also follow our Facebook page for more information. “Providing access to quality health services where everyone is cared for with compassion and...
Northeast Indiana Launches Survey to Garner Regional Insight for Branding Initiative
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership recently announced a new project to develop a strategic brand for the 11-county region to target and attract new residents and talent and is seeking community input as part of the process. The ultimate goal is to create a unified vision and road map for long-term initiatives including an authentic brand, logo and tagline that resonates with skilled talent who want to call Northeast Indiana home. The Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership has collaborated with Development Counsellors International (DCI), a specialized place-marketing agency, and Northeast Indiana-based Britton Marketing & Design Group to develop this new brand and forward-looking marketing strategy. President and CEO of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership John Sampson explained in a release that Northeast Indiana’s vast opportunities and quality of life are often unfamiliar to or misperceived by both people outside the region and many current residents. In the global war for talent, he noted, the region must do more to attract business and talent. “A strong branding strategy will increase our region’s positive brand awareness. By leveraging our momentum, sense of regional identity and pride, the branding will encourage our own residents to act as ambassadors to promote Northeast Indiana. We believe that reaching talent and businesses outside of Indiana and showcasing the strength of our regional brand will increase the size and quality of the regional labor force. This will positively affect business attraction efforts and result in a skilled, more credentialed workforce and increased per capita personal income.” As part of the first research phase, Northeast Indiana will survey residents who work and live throughout the region to gauge perceptions, strengths and weaknesses of the region as a place to live and work. The survey will be conducted online, and all residents are encouraged to provide feedback that will be used to develop the ultimate brand strategy. If you are interested in participating, please click here to be directed to the survey, which will be conducted through Aug. 15. In the months following the initial research phase, DCI, Britton and the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership will work closely together to develop a branding and marketing strategy for the region. The strategy will be completed in early 2019. To take the perception survey,...
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