Health & Heritage Region

The Health and Heritage region is comprised of the city of Greenfield, the town of Fortville and Hancock County. The region's proposal theme included projects focusing on "health, heritage and heart."

In the area of health, Hancock County says, while it rates well in overall health, it is near the bottom in the state for physical environment. The health pillar will improve access to substance abuse treatment services, while providing expanded trails and recreational amenities to encourage outdoor healthy activity. Stellar Communities projects include increasing trail miles, installing activity stations along trails, piloting substance abuse support programs, providing safe routes for pedestrians and bicyclists and creating recreation amenities for people of all ages and abilities.

The "heritage" projects including focusing on downtowns and adding housing opportunities, funding for the preservation and rehabilitation of historic properties and "leveraging history" for projects like Greenfield's Riley Literary Trail.

The "heart" plans to enhance collaboration between its people, by celebrating passion, teamwork and ideas supporting the title the “front porch of Eastern Indiana.” It includes efforts including strengthening partnerships among the region's nonprofit organizations and pooling resources.

Read their full Regional Development Plan here. Follow their progress by visiting healthandheritageregion.com