Community Enhancement Projects

Although CEP and The Community Foundation of Muncie & Delaware County, Inc., are separate organizations, their early histories are intertwined.



One Spring day in 1990, three friends (Doug Bakken, Earl Williams, and Marge Zeigler) sat down at lunch and mused about a PROJECT committtee. They compiled a list of 20 people who might help. The first ten they asked said YES!

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The timing must have been right. Earl Williams then took our idea to the Community Foundation. The Foundation decided to adopt us as a pro-active project and promised $25,000 per year for 4 years --  and the Environmental Enhancement Committee (EEC) was born. The first meeting was in June, 1990.



Originally called the Environment Enhancement Project (EEP), the beautification initiative was based within the Community Foundation during EEP’s “incubation” years. With Community Foundation’s encouragement, EEP evolved into CEP, a free—standing nonprofit entity with its own officers, directors, mission and fund-raising activities.



The very first project was landscaping Tuhey Park which, along with a fundraiser, received tremendous support. This was a cooperative effort by the Community Foundation, Ball Brothers Foundation, the Sherman and Marjorie Zeigler Foundation, the City of Muncie, and private donors. From there, the projects of CEP have flourished throughout the city.

     

CEP's largest project to date is the White River Greenway Trail. A subcommittee (the White River Corridor Committee) was formed to initiate the project in 1995. The subcommittee, with assistance by students and faculty from Ball State University School of Architecture and Planning, soon completed a White River Corridor Master Plan with four river overlooks. Realizing the similar duties and goals of the White River Corridor Committee (WRC) and Cardinal Greenway, CEP decided to join forces with that group. Individual WRC committee members now serve on the Cardinal Greenways board and on various design and maintenance committees. With Phases 3 and 4 of the White River Greenway now complete, Phase 5 to finish the trail is in the planning stages, with completion anticipated in 2014-15.