Guest Column: CDFI Friendly Bloomington Funds Overlooked Projects
Banking rules and regulations often prevent underserved communities from getting financing for needed programs. Without investments, projects to assist in affordable housing, develop small businesses, create community facilities, and support the arts go unrealized. Writer Rachel Glago explains how an innovative financial model, a nonprofit called CDFI Friendly Bloomington, expands opportunities for low-wealth communities.
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The Borland Barn: Preserved Relic of a Bygone Time
In an ever-growing and -changing city, much of its heritage gets lost, along with the stories that go with it. While barns might have been common throughout what is now the Bloomington city limits, only a few such structures remain. Writer Paul Bean found one such barn and the onetime prominent Bloomington family who built it.
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Intentional Communities Must ‘Bend with the Times’
Southern Indiana has a long tradition of utopian communities, also known as communes. A few of the ones formed in the 1960s and ’70s — places like May Creek Farm and Needmore — have had to “bend with the times” to survive, says writer John Mikulenka in this detailed and expansive feature. But as the founding members age, he asks, who will take their place?
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