By Patrick Webb
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Kosciusko County Community Coordinator Amy Roe was in a transition period before she took on that role.

Roe said she had considered running for mayor of Rochester, but helped another candidate instead. She’d been working for the Fulton County Auditor’s Office while she finished her master’s and didn’t wish to run for auditor.

“I just thought ‘OK, what is the next gig that I need to look at? What am I wanting to learn in life?’” Roe recalled. She added that becoming Kosciusko County’s community coordinator fell into the “theory of unexpected events.”

Roe said she was visiting Steve Foster in Warsaw and ran into another friend, then Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. CEO Alan Tio, who was looking for someone to run the Kosciusko County Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program.

According to the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs website, H.E.L.P. replaced the Stellar program in 2020. H.E.L.P. includes partners such as the Purdue Center for Regional Development, the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement and Ball State University Indiana Communities Institute.

Roe said she initially applied for H.E.L.P. at a state level and hadn’t been accepted. After two interviews, Roe accepted the community coordinator position for Kosciusko County and started in February 2022.

Roe explained that OCRA’s then Executive Director Denny Spinner felt that Stellar wasn’t “palatable for a post-(COVID-19) Pandemic world.”

“Many of the communities were struggling with capacity, didn’t have the ability financially, or from an infrastructure standpoint, to move many of the projects forwarded that needed to move forward to gain back that economic vitality in their communities,” said Roe.

H.E.L.P. was organized as a “brainchild,” Roe said, by Spinner and other leaders, to match American Rescue Plan Act funds to funds granted by the Stellar project. A large capacity building section was added, including volunteers and community volunteers to review and identify projects to move through the identification process to completion.

H.E.L.P. is designed to give communities “a leg up,” post-pandemic, Roe said. Part of the process with H.E.L.P. is for communities to identify projects that are important to them.

H.E.L.P., according to OCRA, employs community engagement through a 52-week process to develop strategic investment plans. The SIP includes a focus on, e-connectivity, community wellness, enhancing quality of place and strengthening local economies.

Roe said the projects received community feedback at events. Several projects related to downtown go “back to the small communities really feeling like they were losing a lot of that traffic downtown,” such as for foot traffic and restaurants post-pandemic, said Roe. Part of the work is also to build an identity for downtowns, she said.

According to the Kosciusko County Strategic Investment Plan, created as part of H.E.L.P., Mentone, Milford and Pierceton are participating in the H.E.L.P. Projects include improving infrastructure, such as sidewalks and internet access, revitalizing downtowns and enhancing quality of place.

Roe said that Mentone, Milford and Pierceton have projects being environmentally reviewed, with the hope to start construction in spring 2025. 

Roe is also involved in a countywide Food Insecurity Program, which she said was spurred on by H.E.L.P. and identified as a countywide project. She added that the program is being led by Health First Indiana, a statewide initiative.

Roe explained that Live Well Kosciusko President and CEO Lisa Harman connected her with the Purdue Extension Kosciusko County Wellness Coordinator Caroline Arnett. The three are members of the Food Insecurity Coalition.

Part of the work of the food insecurity coalition is how to get fresh food to external communities in Kosciusko County.

Roe explained that the factors for food insecurity in Kosciusko County are multifaceted.

“Many people post-pandemic are struggling with limited ability to pay for fresh food, because food costs have increased,” said Roe. “So the money they make potentially doesn’t go far enough.”

Roe also shared living in areas without grocery stores and limited transportation make food access harder for older residents.

There’s also potentially a fear of asking for help.

“Many people don’t want to admit they need help,” said Roe. She said that Hoosiers pride themselves on providing for themselves, “so when that’s taken away,” such as through losing a job or having a decrease in hours, makes it hard to ask for help.

Roe said ideas that the coalition were looking at “out of the box ways” to provide fresh food, such as community gardens or a food bus to deliver groceries to communities.

Another potential solution for addressing food insecurity is helping small, local farmers to sell items. Roe said there is a state class for farmers to learn about selling produce and be able to sell items to people with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

Roe said the proposed food bus and community gardens will require a lot of work and resources to make happen, and adding the farmers’ classes can help create another resource for fresh food access.

Roe also shared that the Food Insecurity Coalition will meet at 1 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at the Health Services Pavilion, 1515 Provident Drive, Warsaw. Roe said the public is welcome to attend to learn more about food insecurity and possible solutions.

Roe also manages the Facebook page for Kosciusko County’s H.E.L.P. Public input on the county’s countywide blueway/greenway plan, which Roe said focuses on trails and waterways, may be given at forwardkosciusko.com/input.

There will also be a student entrepreneur showcase Thursday, May 16, at the Dane A. Miller Science Complex at Grace College.

Roe said she want full time with H.E.L.P. full time last fall, to help with projects and additional communities in Kosciusko County.

“There is never a dull moment, that is for sure,” she said.

Related: Roe Presented The Extension All Star Award