Picture: DePauw College
“Campus to Neighborhood: Tales of Impression in Increased Schooling” is a sequence I am writing to discover how schools and universities present up for the world past their gates, and what that reveals about who we’re and who we’re turning into. I’ll spotlight increased schooling’s civic goal by way of tales in regards to the applications, partnerships, and those that join campus to group.
DePauw College was founded in 1837 by way of the willpower of a frontier group, and it has been formed by Greencastle, Indiana, ever since. That 12 months, residents raised $25,000 — roughly equal to $1 million at this time — to persuade the Methodist Episcopal Church to ascertain its new faculty of their small city. That outstanding present of religion from a small frontier group decided to carry increased studying to Greencastle established a relationship that continues to form the college and the town to at the present time.
As famous in DePauw’s official history, the college was “endlessly to be carried out on essentially the most liberal ideas, accessible to all denominations, and designed for the good thing about our residents normally.” The idea that studying ought to strengthen people and communities continues to information DePauw’s partnership with Greencastle. It now takes kind by way of the Growing Green and Gold Together initiative, a collaborative effort to strengthen connections between campus and group. The initiative grew out of DePauw’s five-year strategic plan, Bold & Gold 2027, and is supported by a $32 million Lilly Endowment grant, in addition to investments from DePauw, the Metropolis of Greencastle, and personal companions.
By way of the Rising Inexperienced and Gold Collectively initiative, DePauw and Greencastle are as soon as once more combining imaginative and prescient, funding, and belief to mannequin how universities and hometowns can thrive collectively. In doing so, they reaffirm a reality that has outlined their relationship from the start: the college’s future, like its previous, is sure to the vitality of the group that first fought to carry it to life. “Our futures are deeply intertwined,” says President Lori S. White.
Constructing a Framework for Shared Development
The query of focus their efforts for the best shared affect loomed massive for college and metropolis officers as they regarded in the direction of the long run. Leaders on either side recognized ongoing wants in housing, workforce retention, and entry to vibrant public areas.
Utilizing a Lilly Endowment Community Collaboration and Connection (CCC) planning grant, the college and metropolis convened residents, civic leaders, and enterprise homeowners to determine priorities the place funding may most enhance the standard of life and place. That collaborative course of led to the creation of the 5 focus areas that now kind the spine of the Rising Inexperienced and Gold Collectively initiative: Seminary Sq., the Cinema Venture, the Inexperienced & Gold Enterprise Accelerator, Downtown Public House Enhancement, and the Putnam County YMCA and Aquatic Heart. Every focus space addresses a definite but interconnected dimension of group well-being:
- Seminary Sq. tackles housing shortages whereas serving to recruit and retain native expertise.
- Downtown revitalization and small-business assist reinforce Greencastle’s historic core as an financial and cultural hub.
- The YMCA enlargement and the Cinema undertaking put money into areas that assist well being, creativity, and belonging.
The size of this undertaking requires robust alignment, persistence, and coordination. To handle that complexity, an executive leadership team composed of senior DePauw directors (together with vice presidents), metropolis representatives such because the mayor and metropolis lawyer, and key undertaking leads offers strategic course for the undertaking. Moreover, college employees, metropolis officers, and group stakeholders work collectively on implementation groups to information progress and keep accountability for every focus space. Lastly, a devoted undertaking director and group liaison handles day-to-day coordination. The crew hosts common group engagement periods, such because the Year in Review, all year long to ask residents into the method, and native media helps hold the broader group knowledgeable and linked to the initiative’s work.
Early Momentum and Shared Challenges
In its first 12 months, the initiative has turned plans into seen progress throughout Greencastle. A request for growth proposals for Seminary Sq. drew robust curiosity from personal companions, and Buckingham Corporations, an Indianapolis-based agency, was chosen because the development partner. Close by, the Greencastle Cinema relocation undertaking has moved from design to motion: the ultimate plans are authorised, the property at 6 East Washington has been acquired, and building is underway. Collectively, these tasks sign a renewed funding in Greencastle’s constructed setting.
By way of the Small Enterprise Incubator Fund, entrepreneurs have gained entry to coaching, mentorship, and pitch applications, leading to two accelerator cohorts. The primary spherical of small-business grants will probably be awarded by the top of 2025. In the meantime, the YMCA undertaking continues to strengthen the group’s social material. Part 1 was accomplished in March, and design plans for a brand new aquatic middle have been finalized.
Nonetheless, progress on a undertaking of this scale is never linear and by no means simple. Officers notice that a number of essentially the most time-intensive work befell behind the scenes: drafting and reviewing agreements and paperwork that required approval from each college and metropolis leaders. Coordinating these efforts required persistence and persistence, particularly as every governing physique navigated its personal processes and timelines.
“From the surface, it might have appeared that little seen progress occurred over the previous 12 months,” says Andrea Younger, DePauw’s vice chairman for finance and administration. “However in actuality, important work was occurring behind the scenes — negotiating agreements, figuring out companions, and finalizing important particulars earlier than bodily or programmatic work may start.”
“That robust alignment between DePauw and the Metropolis has confirmed important,” Younger provides. “A undertaking of this complexity may simply have been delayed or derailed with out such a dedicated partnership.”
Measuring Progress and Constructing Legacy
In written responses for this story, officers famous that they’re measuring early success each in relationships and in outcomes.
Over the following decade, leaders will look to financial, academic, and civic indicators to measure success. Economically, they’ll measure success primarily based on sustained downtown funding, new enterprise development, and the extent to which stronger native employment pathways connecting graduates and residents endure. Educationally, they’ll assess whether or not college students get pleasure from extra alternatives to be taught and serve in Greencastle. Civically, they will look at the power of native networks and the diploma to which campus and group collaborate as true companions.
“Finally,” says Younger, “Rising Inexperienced and Gold Collectively will probably be profitable if, ten years from now, each DePauw and Greencastle are stronger as a result of they’ve grown collectively.”
That imaginative and prescient additionally captures what leaders hope will grow to be the initiative’s lasting legacy.
“An indication that when establishments make investments deeply within the place and other people round them, they not solely strengthen their very own futures but in addition assist form a extra inclusive and thriving group for generations to come back,” says Dionne Jackson, vice chairman for institutional fairness.
If DePauw’s story started with a city that believed in a school earlier than it existed, Rising Inexperienced and Gold Collectively is the following chapter in that very same story – one which reaffirms {that a} flourishing college and a flourishing group are, and at all times have been, one and the identical.
A Mannequin for What’s Attainable
Rising Inexperienced and Gold Collectively demonstrates what can occur when a college treats its hometown as a co-author of its story, relatively than simply the setting for it.
Whereas public confidence in increased schooling has begun to recuperate, Gallup information reveals a lingering divide: most People agree that faculties contribute to innovation and higher jobs, far fewer consider they foster compassion, understanding, or belief. Rebuilding belief would require seen acts of reciprocity and acknowledgment that institutional renewal and group well-being are deeply intertwined.
DePauw’s partnership with Greencastle gives one compelling instance of how to do that work properly. It reveals that universities grow to be a part of a shared ecosystem of data, belief, and risk when they’re embedded in a spot relatively than perched above it. Inside that ecosystem lies the therapeutic and relationship-building important to restoring public religion in increased schooling.
As different schools contemplate strengthen their very own native ties, DePauw’s instance invitations reflection relatively than replication. It raises a query value asking in all places: What does it imply to develop collectively the place we’re planted?
