Elkhart County, Indiana is best known as the RV production capital of North America. That became a dubious title in 2008 when the national economy began to tumble. The next year, newly elected President Obama chose Elkhart (with its nation-leading 15% unemployment rate) as the location to launch the stimulus program. Since then, the area has begun to recover along with the country, but community leaders learned a valuable lesson. The area’s economy must become more diverse.

Thankfully, they had help. In 2011 the Community Foundation was surprised with a $113 million bequest, which increased their annual giving responsibility tenfold. The Foundation committed a third of its giving to “Quality of Place” initiatives, projects which will make the communities of Elkhart County more competitive as destinations for talented individuals.  In a partnership with the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Foundation hired Planning NEXT to lead an Action Agenda process to identify projects, policies or programs to fund.