Flipping opportunity

Jay County is getting the chance to flip the script.

A group of local leaders met Thursday with representatives from Indiana Bond Bank for the first step in participating in the organization’s 2020 Flipping Finance Challenge.

The event is in its second year as a way for the bond bank to reach beyond its traditional role of assisting local units of government in the process of issuing debt.

“We really look to be that leverage point for all these different units of government,” said Indiana Bond Bank executive director Mark Wuellner. “And as we’ve learned … so many needs in communities exist beyond funding buckets. …

“And we were looking for an event … to deliver solutions outside of the transactional … It’s important for us as state leaders to be thinking transformatively and not just transactionally.”

That process for Jay County began Thursday as a group of local leaders brainstormed with bond bank program development director Brian Carman and Wuellner about community assets, challenges and opportunities. They came up with a list of 103 before combining and narrowing to 13 topics.

The list included a variety of issues, ranging from housing (at-market, senior, attracting developers), health (opioid addiction, smoking, obesity, alcoholism), technology (broadband access and speed), leadership capacity (growing, expanding getting younger community members involved), geography, community pride and others.

“What I really appreciated most about our meeting today was the enthusiasm,” said Carman. “The leadership that we met with today, the knowledge of what’s going on in Jay County, what needs to happen in Jay County, is impressive.”

“It was really neat, because they recognize that their scope is really small,” said Jay County Development Corporation executive director Travis Richards, who was part of Thursday’s session. “And so they found this way to go out of their bounds a little bit to help people. …

“It was really interesting to see all the things that came out.”

The opportunity to be involved in Flipping Finance came up during conversations with Wuellner as part of the process of preparing its Stellar Communities application. (Indiana Bond Bank is one of the state agencies that is part of the Stellar program.) Jay County will be one of a handful of communities involved, joining Bloomington, Starke County and possibly a group from southern Indiana.

With help from bond bank leadership, the list developed Thursday will be honed even further to about seven to be part of the Flipping Finance Challenge event. It will be held Feb. 28 and 29 in Indianapolis and involves local government, business and community leaders presenting challenges and opportunities to “students, professionals, design thinkers, subject matter experts, etc.” to work on creative, innovative solutions.

“Initially the draw to this for me was we have so many things we want to accomplish,” said Ami Huffman, Jay County’s director of community development. “And while we have direction and answers for some, we don’t for everything. … This was a way to address some of those things that don’t come with a grant and don’t come with other opportunities to solve them. This is bigger than that.

“I think the process is neat how they bring such a diverse group of both experts and students … together to help solve our problems. That’s going to be really fun to listen to and be part of.”