Indiana communities can get some help from the state, when it comes to figuring out how to spend their share of federal COVID-19 money, according to Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch.
“[The Office of Community and Rural Affairs] is setting itself up as kind of the center for any small, rural community that wants assistance in developing plans for the [American Rescue Plan] money that they have received,” Crouch says.
The lieutenant governor was in Culver Saturday to cut the ribbon on a workforce housing development made possible through the town’s Stellar Community designation. But other places looking for their own Stellar designation, such as Starke County’s communities, have had to wait. Funding was redirected last year to the state’s COVID-19 Response Program.
Crouch says the intention is for the Stellar Communities program to come back next year, but she stresses that the state continues to offer other types of support in the meantime. “So we still have the spirit of Stellar that we’re still utilizing,” she says, “but we’re adapting it to where we are right now, and hopefully, continue to be supportive and help our small, rural communities.”
She says the Office of Community and Rural Affairs has rolled out a program in partnership with the state’s universities to help communities figure out the best way to spend their American Rescue Plan money. Many local governments have already hired outside consultants for that purpose.
