Andrew Cuomo, Secretary

Volume 1, Issue 1

Teresa facilitated a partnership between Ball State University and the Muncie Office of Community Development which provided comprehensive analyses of eight low-income neighborhoods.

Partnership Helping Muncie Improve Resident Participation in Community Development The City of Muncie, Indiana needed a way to increase its local capacity to address community needs. Ball State University had a ready supply of 22 energetic and talented undergraduate students from its College of Architecture and Planning. The question remained, "how do you connect the two?" HUD Community Builder Fellow Teresa Jeter-Newburn helped find the answer. Teresa facilitated a partnership between Ball State University and Muncie Office of Community Development which provided comprehensive analyses of eight low-income neighborhoods. The analyses will be used to prepare Muncie’s Consolidated Plan. "The information from the study will allow us to better target where we need to put housing and infrastructure money and where to do economic development," said Jerry Thornburg, Muncie Community Development Director. Armed with HUD’s Community 2020 software, third-year Ball State undergraduate students assessed every housing unit in each neighborhood and compiled information on demographics, land use patterns, transportation issues, and community needs. The initial work has resulted in the development of a CD-ROM and individual websites for each of the neighborhoods profiled. To take a look at the community profiles, visit http://www.bsu.edu/classes/schoen/plan302 Groups of three and four students each worked with neighborhood leaders and representatives, collected statistical census data, conducted a comprehensive housing condition survey and talked with residents about issues in their neighborhoods. "The study emphasized hands-on, real-life interaction with the residents who call the neighborhoods home," the students wrote in their introduction on the Web site. The Muncie Neighborhood Studies have been nominated for a HUD Best Practices Award.