The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Indiana Cooperative Extension Service Community Development Youth Project and the steps used to implement this new project. The Community Development Youth Project was adopted as a state project in the Indiana Cooperative Extension Service in January, 1973, when the guidelines for implementation of the project were published. This study evaluated the results of implementation one year later. Questions raised in the study included (1) What implementation steps had been taken by the agent? (2) What was the relationship of each agent's total Cooperative Extension Service tenure and the community position tenure to the successful implementation of the project? (3) What relationship was there between the number of hours reported expended on the Community Development Youth Project and the successful implementation of the project into a county program? (4) What was the relationship between an agent's following the guidelines and his achievement of the project goals? (5) Did the theory developed by the North Central Regional Agricultural Extension Service concerning "innovator, early adopter, adopter, and non-adopter" hold true for implementing new programs within the Cooperative Extension Service? (6) Were the goals of the project achieved?Procedures for the study involved the use of three sources of data. The first source was a questionnaire sent to each of the Cooperative Extension Service agents in charge of the Community Development Youth Project. The second source was the Indiana Automated Extension Reporting System Activity Report. The third source was comprised of ten in-depth group interviews with participants in the Community Development Youth Project. The chi square test for significant difference was also utilized in the research to determine whether or not there was a significant difference at the .05 level. The population of the questionnaire included all of the ninety-three youth agents in charge of the Community Development Youth Project in their counties. The population of the Indiana Automatic Extension Reporting System Activity Report included all 302 extension agents in Indiana. The ten group interview population included seventy-two youths who participated in the Community Development Youth Project and who were selected from a total population of 2186 youth who had participated.Research indicated that the implementation steps of the Community Development Youth Project guidelines were followed by the Cooperative Extension Service Youth Agent. The research also demonstrated that there was a positive relationship between an agent's following the guidelines and the successful achievement of the project goals. The hypothesis that both the total extension service tenure and the county tenure of a youth agent were positively correlated with successful implementation of the new Community Development Youth Project was also supported. The study, however, did not support the hypothesis that there is a correlation between time reported expended in community development and successful implementation of the project in a given county. The research revealed that two or three per cent of the population were "innovators" and that five to seven per cent of the population were "early adopters." The research also indicated that the Community Development Youth Project had achieved the stated goals of the project.

This study provides a strategy from which Economy, Indiana may find structure for future improvement and growth, en route to establishing this Town as a model community for small, rural Indiana towns adjoining rails-to-trails networks. After conducting a visual inventory of the Town, significant physical design components were selected for analysis, including land use, circulation, streetscape, vegetation, buildings/structures, park area, open space/vacant land, and a surveyed historic district. The evidence suggests that even though most of Economy's original visual historic patterns and components still exist, they are in a continual decline. Using the Cardinal Greenway rails-to-trails project as a catalyst, the recommendations will assist the improvement of Economy's visual character, and take advantage of rails-to trails tourism as one means of revitalization. / Department of Landscape Architecture

The process by which ideas, designs, and plans are formulated has an influence on whether or not they will be implemented. Consensus-based planning is a tool which is being incorporated more and more in planning efforts in order to create broad-based goals and objectives. However, many times it is used in the comprehensive planning process where it is more difficult to gauge the amount of implementation being done. There is a large amount of information on how consensus-based planning creates stronger decisions, goals, etc. based in the public interest but there is little information on how these decisions or goals impacted their communities. The study looks at obstacles to implementation and what would have helped to eliminate them. It also questions whether, if consensus-building techniques had been used during the planning process, it would have helped to eliminate these obstacles to implementation. In order to answer these questions, three charrettes conducted by Community Based Projects of Ball State University in the years between 1990 and 1992 are evaluated. / Department of Urban Planning

This creative project explores how landscape design can enhance the coexistence of humans and nature. Too often, placemaking and landscape ecology are viewed separately; however, this project combines the principles of each to inform the design of a masterplan for the Wabash Riverfront. It is anticipated that recommendations made in this study will encourage Peru, Indiana to embrace the riverfront as an integral component of a healthy, livable community, both environmentally and socially. / Department of Landscape Architecture

This study analyzes the first year of a planned five-year implementation of Millennium Place, a HOPE VI-funded project located in Muncie, IN, focusing on those implementing it. To determine what was important in the work of those implementing it, a series of interviews were conducted with key personnel from the various agencies that collaborated in implementation. Although the participants were asked a variety of questions about their work, the interviews focused on what they found to be the biggest challenges in their work. The interviews were transcribed and methodically analyzed, and a series of reoccurring themes emerged, with the issue of control being the most prominent. Recommendations based on the findings were then developed, both for implementation as well as for possibilities for further study regarding the HOPE VI program as a whole. / Department of Urban Planning

This thesis examines a comprehensive planning model to determine the level of citizen participation attained in the process and to test the degree of representation of the planning policies contained in the plan as they relate to the attitudes and opinions of citizens. An evaluation questionnaire, developed from the Arnstein definition of citizen participation, was used to determine the level of participation. A survey was used to collect citizen opinions and attitudes which were compared to planning policies contained in the plan. Differences represent a lack of citizen representation. / Department of Urban Planning

This study presents an indicator system created for the Town of Fishers, Indiana to examine and evaluate the quality of life within the community. After reviewing other communities' indicator projects, a series of 20 indicators were developed for the Town of Fishers. There is a brief discussion and a possible source of data for each indicator. The indicators can be utilized by the community leaders and residents to monitor the quality of life. To continue this study, Fishers can create a benchmarking system to set goals for the future of the community. / Department of Urban Planning

This creative project outlines the process used in developing an action oriented and citizen based neighborhood plan for the Bloomingdale Neighborhood, located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. As a member of the City of Fort Wayne Planning Department, I was the lead staff person in the development of this plan. The plan was designed to identify and resolve neighborhood issues with manageable goals and specific action steps. Though the planning department initiated the process and took a leadership role in the plan's development, the neighborhood association ultimately determined the plan's focus and direction. This allowed the association to take ownership of the process and ultimately the plan. The techniques and methods used in the process for developing the Bloomingdale Plan will be incorporated in future neighborhood planning efforts in Fort Wayne. / Department of Urban Planning

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This history investigates the beginnings of community foundations in general and the creation of the Indianapolis Foundation specifically and its eventual funding of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. My findings reveal that, contrary to previous histories that have been written, the creation of community foundations was not driven by benevolence but by changes in federal and state banking laws starting in 1913 that allowed banks to have trust departments that broke the monopoly that trust companies had long enjoyed. In response, trust company executives chartered community trusts to publicly position themselves as benevolent, community-minded businessmen. This distinguished them as trustworthy compared to the greedy bankers of the day, which helped trust companies gain trust customers. Community trusts were responsible for identifying and disbursing funds to deserving beneficiaries, thereby relieving trust companies of a costly and time consuming burden. Even more important, the trust companies retained control over the community trusts by appointing surrogate board members. In addition, none of the trust companies that chartered the Indianapolis Foundation donated their own money, yet appeared charitable. All of these factors made community foundations a very lucrative arrangement. Funding the areas of arts and culture was not designated in the Indianapolis Foundation’s original purpose statement, yet the Indiana State Symphony Society was funded at the height of the Great Depression while many Indianapolis citizens went hungry. The love of music played a very small part in efforts by the wealthy elite to garner support from the Indianapolis Foundation for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. The public justifications for funding the symphony began with giving psychological relief to the citizens of Indianapolis from the pressures of the Great Depression, to the need of employment for musicians, then the importance of musical education of children, expanding to the importance of the symphony to the city’s reputation, and finally, in the 1980s, the symphony as a community asset that helped rejuvenate downtown Indianapolis. However, the real reason for funding was that the wealthy elite wanted the symphony to use as a flattering cultural institution that would elevate their social status and attract fellow elites and businesses to Indianapolis.