For several years the schools on our airport campus have been working toward a vision of making student housing available. Now that vision is becoming much closer to reality. Columbus Municipal Airport has a modification pending for their PUD (Planned Used Development) which will allow for student housing as a permissible use of their land zoned for education. After Plan Commission approval was achieved earlier in the month, the Columbus City Council approved the first hearing of the PUD modification on May 21. The final City Council hearing is set for June 4 at 6:00pm.  

 The PUD modification specifically requests for several 4 acre plots (15.5 acres in total) to be approved for the construction student housing. The location is south of Poshard Dr. and just to the east and west of Chappa Dr. The initial project will require 3 to 4 acres and is planned for 100 to 125 beds, with the potential to grow to a maximum of 400 beds. The units will include 4-bedroom suites with private baths and shared kitchen and living space.

While the zoning approvals were in process, an RFP was drafted and a vendor selection committee put in place to select a developer. The selection committee includes: Brian Payne - Airport Director, Carl Malysz - Columbus Director of Community Development, Kathy Oren - Community Education Coalition, and two members of the Board of Aviation Commission. Several developers have expressed interest, and bids are due on May 31. The goal is to complete construction of the student housing by fall of 2014.

The demand for housing is expected to be strong. Recent student surveys completed on campus have indicated a strong demand for housing. With 60% of students living outside of Bartholomew County, there are quite a few commuters who can take advantage of affordable student housing.

The benefits of student housing are many. Student housing will allow our schools to attract more students to our Columbus campus. Access to affordable student housing provides a richer campus life experience for students, with more opportunities for campus and community engagement.   More students on campus means more economic activity in Columbus, and a larger pool of interns for our local employers. Developing airport land for student housing will provide a sustainable revenue source for the airport. The airport has been a wonderful partner to all of the educational institutions, and this project will be a win-win for all involved.

Heritage Fund, the Community Foundation fo Bartholomew County, Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC), Su Casa Columbus and Community Education Coalition (CEC) organized a "Health and Sport in your City" Event to share information about local organizations and programs that are available to the Latino community. Organizations that serve the Latino community were invited to participate in the event held on Sunday, May 5th, 2013.

This event began with an informational fair including different community organizations such as Bike Co-op, Healthy Communities, Indiana Latino Institute, Indiana University Health Department, Parks and Recreation Department, Spanish Cultural Center and Su Casa Columbus. Every organization provided collateral information about their programs with interactive activities for parents and kids.

122 community participants attended the event. A meal was provided and door prizes were awarded to several participants following the event.

There are approximately 360 students in grades 8 through 12 in the county's 2 school corporations being served by iGrad, 45 of which are projected to graduate this year.There are 81 students on a waiting list to be served beginning next school year, and 170 projected incoming 8th graders with barriers already identified by counselors as needing services of the program. So, even if there are no newly-identified students with barriers during the course of the 2013-14 school year, it is anticipated that approximately 200 additional students will be needing iGrad's services next year.Therefore, the program's leadership is developing a sustainability plan, including a determination of the number of additional (to supplement 9 already there) in-school coaches needed in each of the county's 3 middle and 4 high schools, the financial resources needed to support them, and triage staffing plans in the event sufficient financial resources are not obtained. The Community Education Coalition and Ivy Tech Community College-Columbus/Franklin (through its Foundation) are each working on funding strategies to support this sustainability plan. Grants for this and other program purposes received to-date include $20,000 from Duke Energy, $15,000 from the Haddad Foundation, $12,500 from Toyota Industrial Equipment, and $5,000 from First Financial Bank.