DePauw Stories

The city of Greencastle and DePauw University are using a $250,000 planning grant awarded from the Lilly Endowment College and Community Collaboration Initiative to develop a plan to address infrastructure needs within the city of Greencastle related to housing, recreation, education, and aesthetics.  This planning grant will be used to develop a master plan for the corridor between DePauw and downtown Greencastle and possibly other areas of town. In the spring of 2024, the Lilly Endowment will be accepting applications for up to $25 million to support projects that result from these planning grants. 

Today, Dr. Andrea Young, Vice President for Finance and Administration, and Dr. Dionne Jackson, Vice President for Institutional Equity, representing the grant leadership team, provided updates to the Greencastle City Council regarding planning grant progress. The leadership team consists of nine members, including Young, Jackson, Mayor Bill Dory, City Attorney Laurie Hardwick, Greencastle Community School Corporation Superintendent Jeff Gibboney, Putnam County Community Foundation Executive Director Neysa Meyer, Associate Vice President for Facilities Management at DePauw Warren Whitesell, and DePauw Coordinator of Community-Based Learning Anna Sherrill.  

Following a competitive bidding process, a team of experts led by AP Development of Brownsburg, Indiana, and including MKSK, Delv Design, and the Veridus Group, was selected to develop the master plan.  Additionally, the leadership team has created a strategy to engage with community stakeholders and to actively solicit community input throughout the planning grant process.  As a first step, the leadership team has partnered with the Putnam County Community Foundation to utilize the 2023 Community Needs Assessment results to inform the planning grant work.

The planning phase of the grant will run through early winter when the submission of the final grant occurs. Those interested in learning more about the grant and providing feedback regarding the project can plan to attend our initial community forum to occur in late August. Details regarding the forum will be shared in the near future.