Hendersonians Stacey Gilbert and Adreanna Sutton are fans of the Inner City Improvement Plan because both say they see so much need in the community.
As a bus monitor for the Henderson County Schools Transportation Department, Gilbert said he sees plenty of blight and dilapidation as he rides on buses through town.
“That’s one of the things that concerns me,” Gilbert said.
At the Inner City Improvement Plan Community meeting Tuesday night at Jefferson Elementary School, Gilbert heard a plan from one of the plan’s committees in which the Habitat for Humanity would donate $100,000 annually for five years—so long as it has a partner doing the same—dedicated to buy dilapidated houses and tear them down so that new, affordable houses can be built.
Sutton said in her work as a secretary at Thelma B. Johnson Early Learning Center she sees how some children’s home life affects their learning and said she worries about their mental health.
Also a mother to a 4-year-old son, Judah, Sutton knows that growing up now in the post-COVID age is much different than what it was when she was young. She was glad to hear plans for ways to help people with their mental wellbeing.
“I think that’s definitely needed,” she said.
The ICIP community meeting was the culmination of a year of planning for five committees that presented plans to the public Tuesday night. After the presentations, those in attendance voted for their favorite plans.
Additionally, residents will be able to vote 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday at the John F. Kennedy Center and from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday at Audubon Kids Zone.
Henderson Mayor Brad Staton said the votes will be tabulated and scores will most likely be presented at the first city commission meeting in January. He said the vote totals will help the commission to prioritize plans the commission decides to put in place.
Each year, $300,000 is earmarked in the city’s budget for plans that come from the ICIP. Staton said that the $300,000 is more of a placeholder and projects that come out of the ICIP most likely will cost more.
The five committees and their projects are as follows:
Economic Development Committee
- Rental assistance for those who start businesses at an East End property
- Forming the Inner City Economic Development Committee, which would be a subcommittee of Henderson Economic Development
- Acquiring Letcher Street Corridor properties for future business development
- Vision Talk—a group of East End residents that meets regularly to discuss new ways to improve the neighborhood
Mental Wellness Committee
- Providing QPR suicide prevention training
- Hiring a victim’s advocate at Henderson Police Department
- Creating a collaborative social media effort to disseminate mental health information
- Empowering Resources—a plan that connects people to mental health resources while also gathering data that will help to determine what further resources need to be implemented
Public Safety Committee
- Expanding school hour slow speed zones 7-8 a.m. and 2:30-3:30 p.m.
- Expanding the use of school resource officers to assignments during summer
- Building a domestic violence shelter (Committee member and Chloe Randolph Organization Executive Director Kristi Randolph says hundreds of local people are sent to Evansville or Owensboro to escape domestic violence.)
- Obtaining a Mobile Crisis Unit to provide immediate help to people, including children, in urgent domestic violence situations
Youth Enrichment and Engagement Committee
- Creating opportunities, including camps, for Inner City kids to participate in underrepresented sports, such as flag football, ultimate frisbee and lacrosse
- Creating opportunities for job readiness training for young people, including certification classes
- Hosting a Henderson County Skilled Trades Fair so students can see opportunities to shoot for
Blight and Affordable Housing Committee
- Implementing a plan in which Habitat for Humanity dedicates $100,000 annually over the next five years to eliminate blight. A match from another entity is needed for the plan to be enacted.
Staton said the issues for next year’s committees will be decided in the next few weeks. Those committees will begin meeting in February, he said. To sign up to be a part of next year’s committees of the ICIP, Staton said a resident should contact City Public Relations Director Holli Blanford.
