Vibrant Communities of La Porte County Initiative to Host Initial Conversation Series

La Porte County, IN (September 25, 2019) – The Vibrant Communities of La Porte County initiative will
hold a series of community conversations starting in late October to begin gathering community input
and ideas on the future of La Porte County’s communities. This meaningful process is being coordinated
by the Unity Foundation of La Porte County and the La Porte County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
With the help of local partnerships, La Porte County and its communities will embark on a robust
community-engagement effort to develop an action agenda for the communities of La Porte County.
The Vibrant initiative is seeking widespread community input throughout the upcoming months,
beginning with five community conversations in various locations throughout the county. Everyone is
invited to participate.

“This process is about all of our communities joining together to determine what we want for our
future, whether it’s encouraging change or maintaining what we have, and that’s a process that is
important for all of us,” said Justin Kiel, LaCrosse Town Council President and Co-Owner of The
Regional News and Westville Indicator.

The goal of the Vibrant initiative is to develop an action agenda that will guide the future of all the
communities of La Porte County based on its residents’ vision and shared goals. Citizen involvement
in the action agenda is critical to developing a vision for the county’s future and a plan to make that
vision a reality.

“It’s been almost thirty years since the communities of La Porte County have come together to talk
about our preferred future,” said Maggi Spartz, President of the Unity Foundation of La Porte
County. “This is the perfect opportunity for all of our communities to look at what’s been
accomplished since the last process and begin laying the foundation for the next thirty years.”

The Vibrant initiative public engagement will kick off with five, large-format, community
conversation sessions held throughout the county. During these sessions, a brief presentation will
introduce the process, with most of the time dedicated to small group discussions and activities to
generate input on the future of each community in La Porte County. Registration for these events is
available, but not required, at: www.VibrantLPCounty.com. These five community conversations will
be identical and will be on/at the following dates and locations:

South County
Monday, October 21, 2019
The Center of LaCrosse
100 S. Washington Street, La Crosse, IN 46391

City of La Porte
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
La Porte Civic Auditorium
1001 Ridge Street, La Porte, IN 46350

West County
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Dworkin Center at PNW Westville
1401 US-421, Westville, IN 46350

Michigan City
Monday, October 28, 2019
Blue Chip Casino Hotel
777 Blue Chip Drive, Michigan City, IN 46360

East/Northeast County
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
New Prairie High School
5333 N. Cougar Road, New Carlisle, IN 46552

*All meetings will be held from 6:00 – 8:00PM CST

The community conversations will lay the foundation for the action agenda by collecting input from
residents, business owners and other stakeholders. Their intuition – coupled with extensive
technical research and analysis – will reveal the communities most pressing challenges and
opportunities. The Vibrant Communities initiative will regroup the communities at a Summit on the
Future to review and refine the action items identified through public engagement. The results of
the Summit will define the strategies supported by the community that will form the action agenda.

“We want to see everyone in our communities get involved in this process,” said Jack Arnett,
Executive Director of the La Porte County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “This plan will include
opportunities for everyone to participate and it’s critical that they do to define the future of our
proud communities.”

To learn more about the Vibrant Communities of La Porte County initiative and register for the
upcoming community conversations, please visit www.VibrantLPCounty.com.