CHAMPIONING COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP

The Wayne County Foundation, through its Forward Wayne County (FWC) Community Leadership initiative, had the unique opportunity to champion community leadership in 2022. The initiative spearheaded projects that enhance Wayne County’s talent attraction, talent retention, and quality of place. Here are a few highlights from 2022...

Quality Of Place

In conjunction with the annual Quality of Place Conference, we hosted the first Quality of Place Breakfast with nearly 25 community stakeholders that have an interest in neighborhood development, downtown revitalization, and historic preservation. The breakfast featured keynote speaker Jeff Siegler from Revitalize or Die. Jeff has assisted hundreds of communities with their revitalization, economic sustainability, and community development over the course of his career. This type of partnership will complement our new local impact investing program, catalyzing community development throughout the county.

Main Street Coalition

The Main Street Coalition completed the Main Street Structural Feasibility study with more than 60 buildings across four Main Streets assessed. Community leader meetings will begin in the Spring of 2023 to share results. The Coalition also created the Mystery on Main history trail with the RichmondWayne County Convention & Tourism Bureau and local historians. They engaged 20 business owners to be part of the trail. This is also generating business and activity for shops along our Main Streets. Last, the coalition invested in their local communities. For example, Main Street Centerville added an art installment in their park (above).

COMPLETED LILLY ENDOWMENT INC. GIFT VII IMPLEMENTATION GRANT

FWC expanded its role as a catalyst for community development with the Foundation’s Lilly Endowment Inc. Implementation grant that focused on neighborhood development and workforce development. Nearly $100,000 in grants were awarded to support a career awareness campaign, quality of place projects, and workforce development. In addition, we measured our community engagement over the grant cycle. We met with nearly 250 educators, businesses, community partners, judicial systems, nonprofits, governments (local, city, and county), economic development, employers, and special interest groups.

NONPROFIT NICE!

We expanded the NICE! training program by reaching into the nonprofit sector with a goal of engaging 10 local nonprofits. The training focused on asset-based community development, constituent engagement, and donor relations. Twelve nonprofit organizations participated.

“Thanks to the Foundation, Brighter Path was able to engage with other community nonprofits to build connections, create partnerships, and learn valuable nonprofit management skills,” said Emma Ullery with Brighter Path, Inc.