Washington has been selected as a Generation 5 Community for the Hometown Collaboration Imitative.
The program is delivered by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs and is described as a unique partnership with Ball State’s Indiana Communities Institute and Purdue’s Center for Regional Development.
Cindy Barber, is the Daviess County Purdue Extension Community Development Associate Educator, and she says Washington will now choose one of three areas to work on. They include; 1-developing a new generation of local leaders; 2- promoting the launch, survival & growth of small business & entrepreneurs or 3-investing in place through public space development, local foods, or other quality of life initiatives. She says she’s excited about the way the community will be engaged in deciding what is needed. A local coordinating team has been formed and a coach from Ball State, Purdue or OCRA will work with that team.
The first phase is called the Foundation Phase and the tame will look at facts about the community and engage the public on what they think. The team will undergo several hours of training to complete the phase. The team will decide what to work on and then move on to promote and execute changes in the community through another phase of the imitative called Project Pathway.