CHARLESTOWN, Ind. (WDRB) — One of the fastest-growing communities in southern Indiana is trying to figure out the best way to tell its story.
With growth in Charlestown, Indiana, comes new challenges — but Mayor Treva Hodges said it also creates an opportunity for residents to play a bigger role in shaping the community’s future.
A newly-formed group of residents held its first meeting this week focused on how to market and promote the city.
Hodges said the idea started with something simple: many people don’t fully understand how local government works.
"I learned what I thought I would learn — that a lot of people don't understand how government works and what our responsibilities are, where we get our revenue and how we’re allowed to spend that revenue," Hodges said. "The nuts and bolts."
For many residents, formal civics lessons happened years ago. Jenny Brown, who is moving to Charlestown, said the program is helping fill in some of those gaps.
"And it's people my age. I won't tell you how old I am, but people my age, a lot of us, we don't know how the government is run," Brown said.
Before becoming mayor, Hodges worked as a teacher and said that background helped inspire the idea. Her plan was to teach residents how city government works and then challenge them to develop a real project for the community.
"And then empower them to pick a project, finance that project and see it through," she said.
The effort also comes at a time when social media allows residents to quickly share opinions about local government — sometimes without all the facts.
"I see regularly on social media comments by people who aren’t being overtly rude, they just legitimately don’t understand how something works," Hodges said.
After nearly two months of meetings, the group of civic-minded residents is now presenting its first major idea to the community: creating a nonprofit organization called Develop Charlestown.
George Lowe, the youngest member of the group at just 11 years old, believes the project could inspire even more community efforts in the future.
"I think we can do it," Lowe said. "I think it’s achievable. Maybe more projects like this for different generations to come."
The group ranges in age from 11 to 67 and includes members from both political parties and neighborhoods across the city.
Their plan is to adopt the Indiana Main Street program, run through the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The statewide initiative helps local communities support small businesses, strengthen downtown areas and organize events that attract visitors.
Hodges said the effort is also about building trust between residents and city government.
"We say all the time that we want people to trust their government," she said. "And I look at it like, if we want people to trust us, we have to trust them. For me, this is an exercise in trust."
The group plans to operate as a standalone nonprofit that will raise its own funding to support projects aimed at improving and promoting Charlestown.
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