Earlham College has been selected for a highly competitive $25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.’s College and Community Collaboration, a competitive initiative designed to encourage Indiana’s colleges and universities to work closely with community stakeholders to envision and jointly undertake significant community development efforts to create more vibrant places in which to live, learn, work and play.
The grant will fund the new “Revitalize Richmond” initiative — a five-year effort between Earlham and Wayne County community partners that will accelerate community development in Richmond with a specific concentration on downtown. Revitalize Richmond builds on community feedback and research to accelerate existing key community initiatives that are in the planning stages and introduces new efforts to strengthen the connections between Earlham’s campus and downtown Richmond.
Revitalize Richmond includes three areas of focus: Activate, Build, and Connect. The projects in these areas are mutually beneficial to Earlham and our neighbors in Wayne County and include the development of new urban housing in downtown Richmond, improved transit connecting Earlham’s campus to downtown, new outdoor recreation opportunities in the Whitewater Valley Gorge and other quality-of-place improvements to help Earlham and Richmond grow together.
“We know that the success of Earlham and Wayne County are inextricably linked — Earlham’s history is Richmond’s history,” Earlham President Anne Houtman said. “Listening to the voices of our community and the guidance of our partners, we have created a vision that takes our city’s current assets and builds upon them to increase the beauty, livability and economic stability of the downtown city center.
“Revitalize Richmond is a bridge, connecting the passion and expertise of our community partners with the additional resources they need to make a lasting impact,” she said. “It has the power to transform and elevate our hometown.”
“Revitalize Richmond is a bridge, connecting the passion and expertise of our community partners with the additional resources they need to make a lasting impact,” she said. “It has the power to transform and elevate our hometown.”
Anne Houtman,
President of Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion
Earlham will administer the $25 million grant. With the $83 million in cost-share funding that has been committed by Earlham’s partners in the effort, the community will realize an impact of more than $100 million in investments. Revitalize Richmond partners include the City of Richmond, Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County, Wayne County Foundation, Forward Wayne County, Main Street Richmond, Richmond Neighborhood Restoration, and Eric ’96 and Becky ’97 Dimick Eastman, the founders of a nascent makerspace.
Further details about each component of Revitalize Richmond will be shared at earlham.edu/revitalize-richmond and via social media in the coming months.
“The scope of the projects included in the Revitalize Richmond initiative would typically take decades to effectively secure funding for,” said Valerie Shaffer, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County. “Now we can move confidently and quickly forward on key efforts that have been planned to secure a strong future for our community.
“We also know that progress of this magnitude has the potential to attract additional interest and investment in our community for years to come,” she said. “The impact of this grant cannot be overstated.”
Lilly Endowment launched the College and Community Collaboration initiative in February, allocating up to $300 million in funding to be approved in multiple phases. Earlham is one of six colleges and universities to receive funding in a first phase of implementation grants. Lilly Endowment expects to make additional implementation grants in 2024.
“We are so grateful to the Lilly Endowment for creating this visionary grant opportunity, which has the potential to transform college towns across Indiana,” Houtman said. “There is palpable excitement within our community in Richmond and at Earlham as we consider the extraordinary impact that a grant of this magnitude can support.”
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About Earlham College
Since 1847, Earlham College has fostered a collaborative learning community that inspires and motivates students with transformative opportunities and experiences so they can become catalysts for good in a changing world. Located in Richmond, Indiana, Earlham is one of U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 national liberal arts colleges and offers one of the top 20 classroom experiences in the nation, according to the Princeton Review.
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