For 5 years, Wayne County Vision has provided leadership in the exciting work of turning Richmond and Wayne County into the place we all dream of. Director Tiffany Shaw will update us on WCV's many projects, and facilitate your own dreaming about Richmond and Wayne County.

Please join us for Peace Forum at noon on Thursdays, in the Earlham School of Religion Dining Room, 228 College Avenue, Richmond, IN. A free, simple meal is provided. There is no need to RSVP. Come when you can, leave when you must.

Contact Anna Lisa Gross for more information: grossan at earlham.edu, 765-914-2973.

Just a reminder that it's the end of the month and time for another Critical Mass ride around Richmond!

We'll meet at the Richmond Municipal Building, 50 North 5th Street, at 5 p.m. and leave around 5:15 for a southern loop that will bring us back uptown for refreshments courtesy of Jim and Vicki Hair of Richmond Art Works, 829 E. Main Street.

The proposed route is down South 5th Street to South L Street. From there we'll head east on L Street to South 23rd Street. Heading north on 23rd we'll head west on South B Street instead of going up to Main Street. South B will take us to 16th where we'll head up to Main and continue west until we get to Richmond Art Works. There may be modifications to this route at the discretion of the leader.

Join us!

Everyone is invited to welcome the members of a cross-country March for Peace that will be arriving in Richmond Saturday evening, 8/18/2007. This is a group that left California in May and hopes to make it to Washington, DC by September 11th. The following events are planned to welcome them:

6:00 PM -- Greet the marchers at the main entrance to Earlham College, 815 National Road West.

6:15 PM -- Walk with the marchers on the last mile and a half of the day, east into downtown Richmond and north to Renaissance House.

7:00 PM -- Community potluck meal at Renaissance House, 302 N 11th St.

People that could be there for the welcoming at 6 are especially needed.  continue reading »

The Neighborhood Help Center wants you to attend a Landlord / Tenant Rights Meeting on Tuesday, July 17th at 6:30 PM at the Center, 41 Richmond Ave. For more information, call 765-935-2335.

From the Pal-Item: The city of Richmond is hosting a town meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Discovery School, 900 S. L St. The meeting is part of city officials' attempt to meet residents, discuss problems and answer their concerns. Mayor Sally Hutton will attend with police chief Kris Wolski, street commissioner Bill Smith, metropolitan development director Tony Foster and sanitation representative Tim Lingar. Representatives from the Neighborhood Services Clearinghouse also will attend.

For more information, call (765) 983-7208.

The Wayne County Learning Corporation needs you! Please attend a special meeting regarding learning issues in our community. The WCLC is an organization made up of citizens from around the county with one mission: to keep lifelong learning and education at the top of everyone's agenda.

At the meeting you will hear where the county currently stands, what is being done to improve and expand learning opportunities and most importantly, how we can move forward together.

The meeting is at Fountain City Wesleyan Church at 5600 US-27 North in Richmond on May 22, 2007 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM.

For every hour you spend doing something for someone in your community, you earn one Time Dollar. Then you have a Time Dollar to spend on having someone do something for you. It's that simple. Yet it also has profound effects. Time Banks change neighborhoods and whole communities. Time Banking is a social change movement in 22 countries and six continents. A group of Wayne County citizens is working to make a Time Bank in our community a reality. Join us at 5:30 PM on Wednesday, May 16th at the Uptown Innovation Center for an information session for those interested in learning more about Time Banking in Wayne County. The event is free and open to the public.

Today, signs were removed along Main Street which read "NO BIKES DOGS SKATES SKATEBOARDING". This improvement to our downtown akes it more welcoming place, and removes the misleading notion that bicycles were not allowed to ride along Main Street, which they always were.

This event is the result of a petition I started a couple of months ago. Close to 50 people signed the online version, and several more expressed support through a printed edition.

Renee Oldham and the Main Street organization became official supporters of the petition as well. On November 1st, Renee and I met with the Mayor to discuss the issue. The Mayor needed little convincing and told us the signs would be down in about a month. She kept her word.  continue reading »

From today's Palladium-Item: A tool for defining community - area children creating art piece that reminds them of home.

Students in the kindergarten and first grade classes at the Friends school and fourth grade students at Galileo were each given disposable camera and assigned to take pictures of what they thought community was. After developing the photos, the classes worked together to create a collage. Working from that collage, [Allison] Paul edited and designed what would be a ceramic tile mosaic...At 4 p.m. Sunday at Townsend Community Center, the mosaic will be displayed to the rest of the community. The students will reveal the final product and have an opportunity to speak about their work during the project.

Congratulations to Earlham senior Allison Paul and the people and organizations involved in making this happen.

A groundbreaking partnership between Earlham College and Indianapolis-based Workforce, Inc., will soon help provide central Indiana with solutions to a number of modern social ills, from hazardous waste contamination of regional landfills to dead beat dads and even the crime rate. As its part of the agreement, Earlham will donate thousands of pieces of College-owned or acquired computer equipment for "de-manufacturing" by RecycleForce, LLC. RecycleForce — dedicated to preventing discarded computer equipment containing toxic chemicals from entering the normal waste stream — employs many ex-offenders associated with Workforce, Inc., a nonprofit group committed to strengthening Indiana families by providing back-to-work programs for formerly incarcerated parents. Both ventures are the creation of former Earlham student and current Indianapolis entrepreneur Gregg Keesling.  continue reading »