A gentle breeze swayed the red, white and blue balloons bundledoutside the new Ball State University and Hamilton County WorkOneExpress building in Fishers. Sipping glasses of iced tea, severalWorkOne staff gathered with Ball State faculty Monday to watch theribbon cutting for the university's new Outreach Services Sitehoused inside the new building.
Holding large black scissors, Beverley Pitts, provost and vicepresident of academic affairs, and Lance Ratliff, executivedirector for the Workforce Investment Board, cut the red ribbon tothe smiles and applause of the spectators. Attendees included localrepresentatives from neighboring businesses, the InterlocalAssociation and the Department of Workforce Development.
"We are very, very excited about this," Pitts said. "We'rebenefiting the state and we're benefiting the town of Fishers.We're proud to be part of this community."
The Outreach Services Site was previously housed down the roadfrom the new building, located at 10204 Lantern Rd. in Fishers.Housed with its partner Hamilton County WorkOne, the OSS willcontinue to work with community partners to extend Ball State'sresources to the Greater Indianapolis area, where it caters toadults working toward advanced degrees, Stephanie Huffman, directorof the OSS, said.
The site's location makes it especially convenient for workingprofessionals and graduate students because it minimizes their needto travel to the Ball State campus, she said. In addition tooffering on-site courses, the OSS provides non-credit training anddevelopment.
Hamilton County WorkOne provides career development andplacement services such as job search training, Internet access andresume building.
Huffman said the partnership between Ball State and HamiltonCounty WorkOne began in July 2001 through a U.S. Department ofLabor and Housing and Urban Development grant totaling $1.1million. Through the grant, approximately 600 people were served,she said.
She said though the grant concluded in June 2003, Ball State andHamilton County WorkOne remained partners with a continued missionto help people in the Greater Indianapolis area.
Huffman said the university is continuing to support itsBuilding Better Communities initiative, designed to spur economicdevelopment and quality of life advancement in Indiana by applyingBall State's strengths in applied research and hands-on learning toprojects throughout the state, according to a press release.Building Better Communities receives financial support from theIndiana Legislature and Lilly Endowment's Business FellowsProgram.
"We really hope we can be the essence of the Building BetterCommunities initiative," Huffman said. "We're very excited to be apart of the (Fishers) community and to be a resource. We feel likewe have a lot to offer for the community."
Christi Wolf, executive director for the Fishers Chamber ofCommerce, said she is proud of the partnership between Ball Stateand Hamilton County WorkOne, calling them an informationinfrastructure.
"Fishers is certainly fortunate to be part of Ball State'scommitment to building better communities," Wolf said. "Thispartnership definitely gives the opportunity for workingprofessionals to pursue advanced degree opportunities. It's beenrewarding for me to work with Ball State."
Scott Faultless, Fishers's town council president, said he wasglad Fishers was chosen for the partnership, particularly becauseof its strong educational system and consistent growth. Throughoutthe past 15 years, Fishers has increased from approximately 7,500to 55,000 people, he said.
Jeff Williams, chairman of the Circle-7 Workforce InvestmentBoard, said he was especially pleased to see the partnershipcontinuing to thrive.
"It's great to see something started years ago continue togrow," Williams said. "We're interested in connecting resourceswith needs."
After the ribbon was cut at Monday's ceremony, attendees had theopportunity to walk through the new site to look at several of theoffices, including the Ball Room and the Hoosier Room, whichcontained 16 state-of-the-art Gateway computers for on-siteinstruction.
Ratliff said throughout the past year, more than 10,000customers have used the site for activities such as training,accessing Internet services and searching for better jobs. He saidhe is proud of the partnership's accomplishments and said customerusage will likely increase.
"The partnership is a model," Ratliff said. "It certainly servesas an example of what can be done when partners are willing to worktogether."
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