Dunkirk needs community backing

Our hearts can’t help but shatter for the Glass Capital of Indiana.
Dunkirk got its latest taste of rejection from the state Feb. 25 when its partner, Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, was not selected for tax credits from Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. The city and the firm out of Columbus, Ohio, have been working to develop a senior housing facility.
About a year and a half ago, Dunkirk got a bit of good news from the state. It was awarded $176,000 dollars to eliminate nine blighted homes in the community.
It was an exciting step, giving the city the ability to eliminate some of its eyesores. Dunkirk had been working to do so on its own, but the funding sped the process along.
Because the city already had control of the properties it was hoping to tear down, it made quick work of the process. Less than a year after the funding was announced the decrepit homes were gone.
Other communities, in which the targets of the funding still had to be acquired, have not been so efficient in using the money they were awarded.
One might think Dunkirk’s success and efficiency in making use of the blight elimination funding would have encouraged the state to continue to send help the community’s way.
Instead, the city has been rebuffed at every turn since.
Though it was a finalist, Dunkirk came up short for the third year in a row in its attempt to earn a Stellar Communities designation. And it, along with Buckeye, have been repeatedly turned away in their efforts to secure tax credits for the senior housing complex.
But to the city’s credit, each time it is rejected, it gets back up. Yes, those decisions have hurt, but they have not knocked it out of the fight.
Dunkirk is now regrouping once again.
Crown Crossing will again be a part of the city’s plan as it seeks the Stellar communities designation. A letter of intent to apply for that program is due to the state this week.
So it’s time to get to work.
Last summer the community rallied in support of Dunkirk. Local officials and citizens from throughout Jay County were in the city for the official visit from the Stellar committee.
It was impressive, but we can do more. And we can start now.
So get your keyboards, or pens if you prefer, ready.
Write to the heads of Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, Indiana Department of Transportation Indiana Department of Natural Resources and IHCDA, all of which are involved in the Stellar Communities program. Write to new Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb, who chairs those organizations. And write to Gov. Mike Pence.
Let them all know how and why Dunkirk deserves this designation. Tell them about the city, from Glass Days to its summer concert series to its community center. Tell them about its personalities, from the Blankenbakers to Leo Glogas to Rock Fuqua. Tell them about the active Campus Life scene, the group of teenagers who offered their input to last year’s Stellar application and the West Jay Middle School cheerleaders.
Make Dunkirk more than just a dot on a map 80 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
The state must hear, not just on the day of the Stellar visit but from now until the winners are announced in August, that the people of Dunkirk deserve a chance. And if the state is willing to give it, they will show what a community can do if it just has a little help.
Then maybe, hopefully, come August, we can all raise a glass to toast Dunkirk to a job well done, and a whole lot of exciting work ahead. — R.C.