Articles by Mike Rhodes

Muncie Food Hub Partnership Joins Forces With Farmished

Muncie, IN—With similar goals and missions, the Muncie Food Hub Partnership and Farmished have combined efforts to help local food systems succeed. Through elections held last week, Kate Elliott, Dr. Josh Gruver, Russell Kischuk, and Elaine Vidal were elected to the Farmished Board of Directors. The four bring a range of expertise and resources as they join existing board members Kelli Huth and Michael Wolfe. Gruver, a Ball State professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Management, said the Muncie Food…

Read More

Youth Opportunity Center Launches a $4.25 Million Capital Campaign

By: Polly Craig— Muncie, IN—The Youth Opportunity Center (YOC) and YOC Foundation announced a $4.25 million Capital Campaign at an event on Thursday, April 20, 2017. The YOC’s Transforming Together: The Next Chapter Campaign addresses the YOC’s need to renovate existing facilities and create innovative treatment programs to more effectively treat youth with complex psychological and behavioral challenges. Campaign chairman Kelly Stanley, YOC Board member and a well-known community leader, hosted the campaign celebration and reveal for approximately 100 early…


General Assembly Approves $39 Million for Ivy Tech Community College

 Additional $4 million in private funding will support improvements to the Muncie Campus in the East Central Region Muncie, Ind. – Ivy Tech Community College East Central Region’s Muncie Campus will undergo a transformation over the next few years, thanks to the $39 million earmarked for the project in the 2017-2019 biennial state budget approved today by the Indiana General Assembly. The total cost of the project, about $43 million, will include $4 million in private funding to be raised…


Attention Photographers: “Shoot For Good Muncie” Wants Your Images on Saturday

Muncie, IN – A group of Ball State photojournalism students are coming together on Saturday, April 22, (Earth Day), to spend a 24-hour period documenting and celebrating acts of volunteerism and “giving back” in the Muncie, Indiana area. Shoot for Good Muncie uses documentary photojournalism as a celebration of community, volunteerism and positive human connections. The NPPA (National Press Photographer’s Association) Student Chapter at Ball State has been organizing the project and wants to reach out to local photographers, Muncie…


John Carlson: Time to Shed Some Flab

By: John Carlson— Spring is here and summer is on the way, along with the promise of sunny days spent wearing Speedos and bikinis at poolside parties and beaches. Regrettably, it is also time for some of us to shed those pesky 60 to 70 pounds of rippling, gurgling blubber that somehow snuck up on us over the winter. Afterward, we can once again seductively waddle, er, walk the sand like the Girl, or even the Guy, from Ipanema, without…


Muncie Journal Adds NEW “Opinion” Section

By: Mike Rhodes— When MuncieJournal.com launched in July of 2015, our founding partners and leadership felt it was important to keep the publication’s content positive within the 3 key coverage areas of our core mission: Education, Economic Development and Quality of Place in Muncie and Delaware County. Thousands of articles later, that is still our mission and focus. That will not change. However, we are introducing a new OPINION section, so our over 117,000 users can express their own unique thought…


ecoREHAB to Give out Free LED Bulbs This Saturday at The Downtown Farm Stand

By: Mackenzie Schroeder— To celebrate Earth Day, Muncie non-profit ecoREHAB will pass out free LED light bulbs (two per family) from 5-8 p.m. during The Downtown Farm Stand’s 5th Annual Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 22, at the Farm Stand, 125 E. Main Street. The event will pair music and food with tips to realize savings through energy-efficient living.  Switching from incandescent to LED bulbs can save about $30 each year per bulb, said Craig Graybeal, ecoREHAB executive director….


Motivate our Minds Celebrates 30 Years of Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders Today

By: Kate Elliott— Anniversary dinner to honor Muncie non-profit’s past and look toward its promising horizon. She was a young mother with bills to pay, meals to make, and lesson plans to create. But in the summer of 1987, Mary Dollison cleared her calendar and her living room for 16 young neighbors to sit with her and friend, Raushanah Shabazz, to learn and discover. After six weeks, lessons wrapped but students’ interest did not. Their eagerness motivated the pair to…


Teachers Awarded Robert P. Bell Grants for Creative and Innovative Classroom Projects

Muncie, IN—Local teachers will receive $985 in Robert P. Bell Education Grants from The Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County, Inc. Across the county, 1,000s of students benefit from Bell Education Grants each year. Awards of up to $450 are available through the Bell Grants program. Funded projects are creative or innovative ideas or programs designed to stimulate learning in students. All Delaware County teachers are invited to apply during any of the four grant cycles. This past summer, The Community…


Muncie Action Plan Supports Local MCS Solution, Urges Public Unity

By: MAP Board of Directors— Muncie, IN—Last week, the Muncie Action Plan sent a letter of support for Muncie Community Schools to Senator Doug Eckerty.  The letter was addressed to Senator Luke Kenley and Representative Tim Brown and urged the removal of Muncie Community Schools from State Bill (S.B.) 567.  Today, MAP released the following statement and encouraged the public to contact legislators in a demonstration of unity in support of allowing Muncie educators to find a local solution to…