Crowdfunding Campaign Would Transform Oldenburg's Maypole Heritage Park

A group of high school students at Oldenburg Academy are on a mission to transform the space.

Photo credit Randall Golden. 

(Oldenburg, Ind.) - A student team at Oldenburg Academy has put together a plan to beautify Maypole Heritage Park. 

On Wednesday, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) announced four projects that have been selected for the CreatINg Place and My Community, My Vision programs. 

Among them is the Beautifying the Burg project by Oldenburg Academy. The project aims to resurface basketball courts to make them multi-use courts for basketball and pickleball. It will also build a community fire pit with added seating and landscaping. The full scope of the project includes:

• Resurface the basketball courts to make them safer and usable
• Strip the courts for basketball and pickleball use
• Purchase pickleball nets
• Install a stone fire pit along with stamped concrete walkway
• Purchase high quality, permanent outdoor seating for the fire pit
• Provide landscaping and signage for the area
• Provide bench seating around the courts

My Community, My Vision is a youth-driven placemaking partnerships between IHCDA and Patronicity. With a vision of how to improve their cities and towns through social infrastructure projects, cohorts of youth council students participate in a semester-long program focused on asset-based community development, stakeholder engagement and placemaking.

The CreatINg Places program began in 2016, and projects have raised more than $12.2 million in crowdgranting funds and an additional $10.3 million in matching IHCDA funds. Eligible projects must have a minimum total development cost of $10,000, where the recipient will receive $5,000 in IHCDA matching funds should it successfully raise $5,000 through Patronicity. IHCDA will provide matching grant funds up to $50,000 per project.

“Communities across Indiana thrive on vibrant, dynamic ideas that bring citizens together around the pursuit of common goals," said Matt Rayburn, Chief Real Estate Development Officer at IHCDA. "We need young leaders to join these discussions, and through My Community, My Vision, future decision-makers can make their ideas a reality. We look forward to watching each of these projects unfold."

To learn more about the Maypole Heritage Park project and to donate, visit https://www.patronicity.com/project/beautifying_the_burg#!/.