Ball State University
EN-13: Community Stakeholder Engagement

As an example, the university is working toward directing local outreach and engagement to align with:
1. The Muncie Action Plan (MAP). MAP was developed through an open process representing all community demographics and includes long-term goals and measurable action steps which upload the values identified by our community
2. VISION 2016 Initiative - the community's 5-year economic development plan.

Many university faculty and staff are active throughout Indiana in local community, county and statewide governance structures and groups. Meetings of these bodies involve sharing perspectives about the university's outreach and engagement efforts. Feedback is routinely shared with department chairs, colleagues and Building Better Communities staff members.

The university maintains strong relationships with key "aggregator" organizations throughout Indiana. These organizations are typically statewide in scope and serve and advocacy mission for a particular sector or sub-sector of the economy. In many cases, the university is represented on the boards of these organizations, serves in an advisory capacity, or provides a service. Examples include TechPoint, the agreegator for the Information Technology sector; Conexus, the advocacy organization for the logistics industry; and the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, the aggregator for municipal governmental jurisdictions. The university is particularly interested in working with aggregators because of their influence within the entire sector. These organizations are influential throughout the state and their leaders are key communicators and thought leaders.

The Associate Vice President of Economic Development and Community Engagement has been active in several organizations, including the Board of Directors of the Muncie Downtown Development Partnership, the Economic Development Board of the Muncie/Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, East Central Indiana Regional Partnership, and the Muncie Redevelopment Commission. In addition, the AVPECDCE authored the "Building Better Neighborhoods" proposal that was funded by the Ball Brothers Foundation for $200,000. over three years.

Building Better Neighborhoods serves as a resource to the Muncie community and develops processes to streamline access to Ball State resources, particularly those needed to foster strong neighborhood associations, which represent the critical infrastructure for pursuing and addressing additional projects of the Muncie Action Plan and VISION 2016 Initiative.

Vision 2016 Commitment - In 2011 Ball State University pledged $250,000.00 in in-kind services toward the Muncie/Delaware County Vision 2016 Initiative. To date, we have completed a variety of projects and have officially booked $218,672.00 toward that goal.

Cintas Initiative - The university in partnership with the City of Muncie and others are working together on a major community development project which involves repurposing a large (85,000+ gross square feet) vacant industrial building which sits adjacent to the core downtown district. Early plans call for the creation of a "Maker's Space" for entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity and development. The university views this public-private partnership as a great opportunity to support its community engagement commitment and elevate participation in Muncie.

Carnegie Community Engagement Classification - In January 2015, Ball State University was awarded the Community Engaged Classification from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The designation caps a two-year process that involved representatives from all seven colleges and included self-study. The classification created in 2006, recognizes colleges and universities that demonstrate an institution-wide commitment to public service, civic involvement and community partnership.