Grantee Spotlight: White River Canoe Race, Downstream Connections
Over the past several years, Ball Brothers Foundation has dedicated funding to promoting and telling the story of local waterways through the foundation’s Project Blueways initiative.
Following are a few highlights of this work:
White River Report Card Launch & Canoe Race
In June, Ball Brothers Foundation celebrated the release of the new White River Report Card. Like a traditional school report card, the assessment tool “grades” various factors related to the health of the river and its watershed. Grants from BBF totaling $30,000 over the past three years helped to support the White River Report Card’s development as well as outreach that will share results and spur action.
In conjunction with the Report Card’s release, BBF’s Susan Brumley and Jenna Wachtmann teamed up to participate in the White River Alliance’s canoe race from Yorktown to Daleville.
View the full White River Report Card here: whiteriverreportcard.org
Trip to Newfields & Participation in White River Forum
In late June, Ball Brothers Foundation spent the morning along the White River at Newfields in Indianapolis touring the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres. We visited as part of an Indiana Philanthropy Alliance event focused on how the White River is becoming a recreational destination and a powerful force for economic development. We invited friends from Red-tail Land Conservancy, Delaware County Soil & Water Conservation District, Delaware County Economic Development, Muncie-Delaware County Visitors Bureau, The Nature Conservancy Indiana, East Central Indiana Regional Partnership, the Community Foundation of Randolph County, and the Muncie Bureau of Water Quality who joined us for the day.
Release of Headwaters Video
As part of a new BBF-funded series exploring “Thriving East Central Indiana,” Ball State University recently released a new video that highlights our region’s role as the headwaters for several major rivers that flow through Indiana. This short film provides a great introduction each of East Central Indiana’s rivers and describes how they connect our region—and the world—together.
Mini-Documentaries Follow BSU Rafting Trip, Agricultural Land
Additionally, later this summer, two new mini-documentaries about local waterways and land will be released by The Nature Conservancy in Indiana. The videos are directed by Hoosier filmmaker Ben Massie and supported with funding from Ball Brothers Foundation. The new mini-documentaries tell the story of a group of Ball State University students who explored the White River in Delaware County via raft as well as the story of agricultural land and local farmers.