External Relations and Public Affairs

As we know, 2020 was a unique year that interrupted plans and goals that we were working on. When we began working from home in mid-March, I would have never guessed that I would still be working remotely a year later. Since my position is external to the campus, the first few weeks were spent on grant writing, catching up and finding alternate ways to keep in touch with our regional partners. Once we discovered Zoom, many organizations and community partners resumed meetings and projects.

A highlight of 2020 was the partnership we have with United Way. Our campus campaign raised over $1000 more than we did in 2019. I served on the Leadership Team for a proposed merger between three United Way organizations. The campus was introduced to the United Ways of Delaware and Madison counties, and we were able to provide some resources to the project. I facilitated culture audits of all three organizations, and provided assistance with HR and PR functions.

Another highlight from 2020 was the successful grant proposal awarding the North Central Indiana Regional Planning Council $127K to work with 4 rural schools to create new career pathways. We helped write the grant and are a sub-awardee. We will be the post-secondary institution providing the curriculum for the project.

As evidence that continuing our regional outreach is working to bring resources of Indiana University Kokomo to assist communities thrive. We were approached by Grow Wabash County to provide the curriculum for their Leadership Wabash County program. We will begin this program in the fall of 2021.

Despite the pandemic, External Relations was able to continue with our outreach by utilizing technology. With increased capacity due to not driving to meetings (Zoom was used extensively) the Director took the lead on other projects as they appeared.

Overall, although the year looked different, the office had a successful year.