Flipping is government at its best

The hidden gem of state government.

Ami Huffman of Jay County Community Development has used that phrase to describe Indiana Bond Bank. And that was before Jay County’s experience last weekend with the Flipping Finance Challenge.

The opportunity for the county, led by Jay County Development Corporation, to participate in Flipping Finance grew out of last year’s effort to earn the Stellar Communities designation. Indiana Bond Bank, which hosted the event, is one of the state agencies involved in Stellar.

The format of Flipping Finance is as follows:

•Indiana communities — in this case, Starke County, Bloomington and Jay County — were asked to present some of the “challenges” they face

•The bond bank and community representatives worked to invite innovators — everyone from college students to entrepreneurs to tech gurus

•The innovators spent an overnight session last weekend brainstorming and developing potential solutions to the challenges presented

Jay County had three teams of innovators that worked on its challenges, presenting ideas including how to expand access to healthy food options, implement new events and market itself to help attract more residents and businesses, among others. JCDC has already made contact with all three teams and plans to continue to work with them to implement some of the ideas that were generated.

But perhaps the most valuable takeaway from Flipping Finance was not so much the specific ideas, but rather the connections and type of thinking the process sparked. It left those who participated excited about the assets Jay County already has and full of enthusiasm about working to continue to make their community even better.

The staff of Indiana Bond Bank over the last few months was asked repeatedly by representatives from Jay County and elsewhere why its organization, which predominantly deals with issuing bonds to units of government, decided to host such an event. It seems out of place.

But executive director Mark Wuellner and program development director Brian Carman have an answer that hits home. In their traditional role, they often work with communities who are three, four or more steps away from being ready for bond bank funding.

In other words, they want to help. But they can’t.

Flipping Finance was their answer to that dilemma.

“I just didn’t feel like we weren’t really fulfilling our mission, our roles as public servant leaders in the state, to kind of wait back and say, ‘Hey, when you figure out that sticky challenge, when you figure out how to do that … then let us know and we’ll be happy to talk about financing it,’” said Wuellner. “(Flipping Finance is) an event full of optimism. We really believe if we bring a diverse group of people with diverse skill sets together and turn them loose and challenge them to think creatively … that we’d be surprised and come up with more amazing solutions than we could do sitting here in an office in Indianapolis.”

Carman added that it allows him and his colleagues to provide help to those who don’t necessarily fit into the bond bank “bucket.”

“We are constantly turning people away if they don’t fit into very strict guidelines and policies, which is really tough to do from a public servant mindset,” he said. “This is a bucket with no bounds, so to speak. There really are no limitations on who can provide a solution or what that solution can be.”

Wuellner, Carman and their colleagues at Indiana Bond Bank are to be commended for their efforts to reach beyond their traditional roles to offer communities across the state an opportunity like Flipping Finance.

It is a shining example of state government at its best. — R.C.