Wayne County's Growth: A Conversation with Melissa Vance
Aug 21, 2023
Kevin Shook
Discover the transformative journey of Melissa Vance, President & CEO of Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce, from her roots in Centerville to her return home after time spent in Washington D.C and Texas. Melissa's infectious passion for Wayne County, reflected in her 17-year commitment to its development, is truly inspiring. She takes us through the transformative legislative changes that have spurred housing development in the state, her memories of the vibrant downtown Richmond, and her perspective on the growth of the community. Her experiences, insights, and dedication to progress introduce us to the rich tapestry of life in Wayne County.
Get an exclusive glimpse into the inner workings of the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce as Melissa highlights the remarkable achievements of her team. She paints a vivid picture of the essential role that volunteers play, and the immense impact they make, even with limited resources. Hear about the projects and events spearheaded by the Chamber, and the rewarding experience of being part of such a dedicated team. Additionally, Melissa shares a poignant account of a community experience during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, offering valuable advice for those eager to participate more actively in their community. Engage in this enlightening conversation and get a fresh perspective on community involvement and development.
Discover the transformative journey of Melissa Vance, President & CEO of Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce, from her roots in Centerville to her return home after time spent in Washington D.C and Texas. Melissa's infectious passion for Wayne County, reflected in her 17-year commitment to its development, is truly inspiring. She takes us through the transformative legislative changes that have spurred housing development in the state, her memories of the vibrant downtown Richmond, and her perspective on the growth of the community. Her experiences, insights, and dedication to progress introduce us to the rich tapestry of life in Wayne County.
Get an exclusive glimpse into the inner workings of the Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce as Melissa highlights the remarkable achievements of her team. She paints a vivid picture of the essential role that volunteers play, and the immense impact they make, even with limited resources. Hear about the projects and events spearheaded by the Chamber, and the rewarding experience of being part of such a dedicated team. Additionally, Melissa shares a poignant account of a community experience during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, offering valuable advice for those eager to participate more actively in their community. Engage in this enlightening conversation and get a fresh perspective on community involvement and development.
Welcome to another episode of our community podcast. Thank you for tuning in. Today's special day we've got a special guest, miss Melissa Vance, wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce President, ceo. Welcome and thank you for coming.
Speaker 2:
My pleasure. It's good to be here. I always love hanging out with you.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, we do good. So just really thankful for the opportunities you give me and stuff and glad you could join me today so you give me some good opportunities.
Speaker 2:
Well, it's been nice to have you serving on our Chamber Board and on our committees a committee or two and really getting more involved in the community. It's been fun to see you grow and be able to work with you more.
Speaker 1:
Thank you, thank you. I want to tell you a little bit about you and your background, where you from, how'd you get to our community?
Speaker 2:
Well, I grew up in Cinterville, so not too far from Richmond. I was a bulldog growing up and then after high school, I left, like many people do after high school, and I went and lived in Washington DC for a while. I lived in Texas for a while and I was counting it up before I came here today about how long I've been back. I've now been back for 17 years, which doesn't seem real, but it's been 17 years, and coming home was one of the greatest decisions I've made.
Speaker 1:
Was it any other motivating factors that brought you back Work career?
Speaker 2:
Well, it was family.
Speaker 2:
Our families were here in the region and our girls were growing up not knowing their grandparents and their cousins and those kinds of things, and so we just decided we were going to sell our house, sell everything we own, start looking for jobs and move back. And it was a huge leap of faith but it was a good decision. So when I came back, I was in healthcare for about nine years. I had pay at regional for a while and then Reed Foundation for a while and then landed at the chamber, which has just been where my passion has been how we serve the community better.
Speaker 1:
It shows your energy, the dreams through your staff and your team and just seeing the work that you all do and it's very motivating With local business, education, economy and mind. Where would you like to see our community within the next five years?
Speaker 2:
I started thinking through this and five years is not a very long time to see change, but I do think we can see some change in five years. I think we have a lot of things that are bubbling up under the surface that people might not realize are happening yet, but they're coming. One of those things that I'm really excited about is some of the legislative changes that have happened in the last couple of years that are helping to support the growth and development of housing in and around the state. So that's from single family housing to apartment living and everything in between. We're not going to grow our community until we have places for them to live. So that's a big piece.
Speaker 1:
I totally agree. Can you touch on any detail about these programs?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so I think it's been two years ago. The state house Brad Barrett was one of the champions for this, the house side and it was house bill 1511, I think it was and that allowed government entities to establish a tax increment fund district TIF district for short for residential, and in the past that has only been allowed for commercial areas where, for instance, downtown Richmond, where we sit right now, is a TIF district and it allows all of the tax revenue from real estate to go into a fund that helps further improve that area. So this would be a bond that could be leveraged through a TIF that would help put in infrastructure for water and sewer and electricity and streets and curbs, all of those things to make it more affordable and more attractive for builders to come in build houses that are affordable for people in our area without having to factor in the cost of all of that infrastructure.
Speaker 1:
Which is a huge demand right now for housing. So, glad to hear some progress in that department. Yeah, so you've been back 17 years now and you think about something fun or just a memorable experience from your youth, your upbringing. What's one thing that you would like to see come back to our community that's we're no longer doing, or an activity or a festival or anything like that. It's one thing that you miss.
Speaker 2:
I miss downtown Richmond being just the thriving place. I remember when I was growing up and this is going to date me, but here it goes Nolanburg, zelder, biermann, veaches, all of these stores were open and as months, of course, downtown and coming down, going school shopping and walking around, going to the bakery and getting getting a treat or whatever, and I miss that too, where it's just the destination that people want to go.
Speaker 2:
I think our Depot district has done a great job, still has room to grow and you still see things happening there, but our downtown Richmond has a lot of potential that's untapped, and so I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing that change in the next few years.
Speaker 1:
I couldn't agree with you more. I'm excited to see that come too. Yeah, yeah, I miss those days, yeah.
Speaker 2:
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:
So that's kind of talking about that in the last episode. You know, you remember, like the, you couldn't even walk. You could walk downtown, you couldn't drive downtown through the center town Right, like little mushroom type, awning type deals. Yes, yeah. So it's just definitely been different.
Speaker 2:
Very 1960s, 1970s, vibe going on at that point.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
But it was fun.
Speaker 1:
Could you share a memorable moment or experience from your involvement in the community?
Speaker 2:
Well, it's hard to think about that without thinking about COVID.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
And you know kind of the impact of that on our community when we heard that our country was going to be shut down for two weeks, what we thought was two weeks, yeah. We were standing in the Northeastern gym for the job fair that we were doing for the high school students.
Speaker 1:
Okay.
Speaker 2:
So we had I don't know, 300 high school students there at that moment and they're all getting notifications on their phones saying, hey, school's going to close, and you know, just remembering that moment and thinking, okay, here we go, what are we going to do? And then seeing how our community came together and supported each other through that, yeah.
Speaker 2:
Whether it was people donating and supplying meals for our healthcare workers or working together with our county government to make sure that hand sanitizer and masks were available for individuals and businesses that needed. It Gloves, you know all of those things, but really just the love and support that people had for each other, oh yeah. It was it was memorable. It's one of those things that I hope we don't lose, yeah.
Speaker 2:
And now we're going back to our day to day lives, as we used to have, but that's one thing that I hope sticks yeah, and that kind of gets into the gathering is kind of.
Speaker 1:
That's one of the things for me personally. That's what I love about being in our community. I mean, you feel about the same way too, things like that, when we all come together.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:
I've had some great opportunities in a short amount of time to get involved in the community. Different projects, different committees, different boards. I've had some great opportunities. What advice would you give someone that is looking to get more involved in the community? What kind of efforts or actions did they take in that right, in that direction, to get started? Well, I think everyone has something to offer.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and first of all, just realizing that you bring something to the table is important. But then think about what you're passionate about and where you can plug in and reach out to your connections. But I will tell you that if someone's listening and they have they have a desire to get involved and just don't know where to go, call our office, call the chamber, or send us an email and say hey, I want to get involved. How can I do that? One of us will take the time, have a conversation, figure out where you best fit in and help you make that connection. Whether that's at the chamber and one of our committees, or Hype, which is our young professional organization, or just helping out with one of our local nonprofits, there's places for you to get involved.
Speaker 1:
So don't be shy, yeah, so have a little fun here, so I'm going to put you on the spot, all right, okay, so if you can give, our audience a little bit of advice. I'm going to put you on the spot. So if you can give our community a letter grade, what A through F, like this report card, what grade would you give us and why?
Speaker 2:
That is hard. Yeah, because I see all of the really cool great things that we have. But when I kind of step back and look at it at a high level, if I were coming into the community and didn't know what I know, I would say that we're sitting at about a B minus or a C plus, and that's just because I think that the things that we offer aren't always easily seen.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
And you know, I think we need more highly visible places for people to go and have recreation, have entertainment, things like that. We have some really cool places. You have to know where to go to find them, and we could be better at that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I agree. I agree, Communicating some of those things and being in some places and get more involvement yeah, and, like I said, housing and downtown development, and that's not Richmond specific.
Speaker 2:
I really feel like that's the case across the county and we've seen improvements. It's been exciting. Fountain City is working on getting their Main Street pulled together. Their Main Street organization that is pulled together and that will be number five that we have in the county Main Street organizations. And again, that's a way that a local resident can get involved and lend a hand and help. You know, help with festivals, help with quality of place and just show up and volunteer and show your pride in your community.
Speaker 1:
We have a place for you. We need you.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so are there any upcoming events, projects or causes within the community that you're particularly excited about or involved in that you would like to highlight?
Speaker 2:
Well, I mentioned to you before the show today the eclipse that's coming in April of 2024. This is a total solar eclipse and I had no idea how big of a deal this was until our friend Mary Walker at tourism started talking about it, and a community our size for the last total eclipse had $100,000, $100,000, $100,000, $100,000 people come to their community to witness the eclipse and that's just a few minutes, but we're working on. You know how do we have all kinds of activities and ways to show off our community where those things aren't hidden, and we can kind of highlight what East Central Indiana has and hopefully people will want to come back or stay.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I think I read that our area will have the best visibility. Noting I think it was Hagerstown, right, that sound familiar yeah. I read that correctly.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
That'll have the best view of the eclipse.
Speaker 2:
There's a there's a line that kind of starts in Texas and angles up right through East Central Indiana, right here in Wayne County, and it's going to be great, it's going to be fun.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's just so passionate and energetic about our community and I know that there is someone that you want to give a shout out to, possibly, or maybe your team. I mean, if you can give a shout out to anyone today, who would you shout out today?
Speaker 2:
Absolutely. My team 100 percent. You know we hear all the time how in the world does the chamber accomplish so much with four people?
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
And the truth is we don't accomplish that much with four people. We accomplish that much with four paid people on the staff and then about 150 people that volunteer throughout the year and help other things happen, whether that's events and ribbon cuttings and groundbreaking, or working on some of these legislative initiatives with with our elected officials or, you know, everything in between. It's done through a lot of people and we're fortunate, but we have a great team, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:
It's awesome to see the finished project or some of the events come together and they're always ahead, you know. So I'm glad to be a part of it, glad to witness it, and I just I'm just amazed at the amount of work that you get done with your resources. So that's it for me, and I'm so glad you made it and I'm thankful that you came in and got to hang out with you.
Speaker 2:
So thank, you for that. Thank you for your time, my pleasure, thank you.
