Articles by Mike Rhodes

By: Liz Ludwick and Damon Elmore— Muncie, IN—Six weeks. That’s how much time we have to reach our $1.5 million goal in the 2019 fundraising campaign for Delaware County’s United Way. We’re aren’t quite there. We need your help. Because of the work of your United Way, there are nearly 1,000 children in Delaware County receiving books as part of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that provides children ages newborn to 5 years old with a free, high-quality book every month. And, those books have been paired with educational and entertaining videos. We’re serving more children with more books…

By: Suzanne Clem— Muncie, IN – Beginning January 6, 2020, patients at Open Door Family Planning will receive care in a new location. Services currently provided at 905 S. Walnut Street clinic will relocate to Open Door’s 333 S. Madison St. location in downtown Muncie. Providers, services available, hours, and insurance networks will be unaffected. The public is welcome to an open house in the new space on January 9th from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Open Door’s Madison Street health center houses multiple medical, dental, behavior health, and social services. With the co-location of family planning care, patients will have access…

By: Heather Williams— Muncie, IN—The Muncie Action Plan spent 2019 working to address the issues identified by the community during the MAP3 planning process. MAP’s five task forces have focused their efforts on Linking Learning, Health, and Prosperity (TF1), Fostering Collaboration (TF2), Strengthening Muncie’s Pride and Image (TF3), Creating Attractive and Desirable Places (TF4), and Managing Community Resources (TF5). As we close out this year, we would like to share our successes as we approach our Annual Community Meeting on January 28th at Muncie Central High School. This is the first of five reports from our task force leaders. Task…

By: Peggy Lewis— Muncie, IN—What is a Human Library? Like all libraries, this one is filled with books. The difference in this library is that all of the books are humans with lived experiences and compelling stories. At a Human Library event, books and readers come together at a specific time and place to engage in dialogue. Books are people we see in our everyday lives but may never otherwise have the opportunity to meet. At library events, readers borrow people who volunteer as open books to discuss their topics. The goal of each event is to confront stereotypes and…