BLOOMINGTON — The Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement is now accepting applications for the Sustaining Hoosier Communities (SHC) partnership, which will run through 2026-27.
SHC partners with one rural community, IU faculty, staff, and students, to advance community-identified projects over one intensive year. The initiative’s mission is to improve and enrich the region’s health, prosperity, and vitality.
Through an SHC partnership, communities can explore solutions to community challenges, advance stalled projects, and generate material for future funding opportunities. Projects culminate in tangible deliverables, including policy and program proposals, placemaking renderings, public relations plans, funding strategies, and economic development analyses.
Applications are open now through October 1, 2025. While partner communities have traditionally included entire counties, applications are welcome from rural towns, cities, or other communities that are defined in more creative ways. SHC is designed to support communities within an approximately 90-minute drive of Bloomington.
The SHC initiative focuses on community-driven projects in areas such as arts and culture, economic development, health and wellness, local tourism, technology infrastructure, cultural diversity, social services, education, and the environment.
Since its launch in 2017, SHC has partnered with six rural Indiana communities, including Washington, Orange, Lawrence, Greene, Dubois, and Daviess counties. Those partnerships have advanced 141 community-identified projects with support from more than 2,400 IU students.
“Sustaining Hoosier Communities infuses the energy and innovation of IU faculty and students into locally led projects,” said Center for Rural Engagement executive director Denny Spinner. “It serves as a launching pad for ongoing university-community partnerships and builds connections with students as they develop their professional roots here in the Hoosier state.”
SHC is an internationally recognized program by the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities Network.
Interested community applicants are invited to attend a virtual information session on Zoom on Monday, December 16, from noon to 1 p.m. The session will cover the SHC program’s benefits, eligibility criteria, timeline, and how to apply. Attendees can register at events.iu.edu/rural.
Communities can learn more about the SHC initiative and apply shc.indiana.edu.
