Fort Wayne Trails staff was excited to join with Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch at the NewAllen Alliance “Stellar-bration” on December 19th!
It was great to celebrate a big win for our friends at the NewAllen Alliance! They won a Stellar Communities designation, announced by the State of Indiana on December 11. This means a $64 million capital improvement plan submitted by the New Allen Alliance on behalf of seven east Allen County communities will qualify for millions of dollars in state matching funds, including $4.5 million in Community Development block grants, $2 million in federal rural transportation funds, $35,000 in rural health funds and up to $800,000 in affordable housing tax credits.
We are thrilled to share that the NewAllen portfolio includes 10 miles of trails with almost 7 million dollars in investment. This includes the eight-mile Cedar Creek Parks Trail in cooperation with Leo-Cedarville, Grabill, Allen County Parks, and Allen County Highway. The trail will start at the north Metea Park parking lot and continue through Leo-Cedarville and Grabill up to Hurshtown Reservoir. Also included is a half-mile trail loop in the Monroeville Community Park. New Haven is also concentrating efforts on the 1.5 mile Meadowbrook Trail to the New Haven Community Center and the surrounding neighborhoods with connectivity into the city’s sidewalk grid.
“This is an exciting time, absolutely amazing,” said Kent Castleman, Alliance President and Fort Wayne Trails Executive Director. “It’s awesome. Twenty-seven years later (after the group’s creation), our founders would be proud.”
Castleman has been engaged with the New Allen Alliance since 2006 as a volunteer Board member and became President in 2013. We encourage our staff to be engaged in organizations such as this to bring a broader perspective as to how trails can impact the whole community.
Learn more at newallenalliance.net.