If you’ve spent time in our community of Upland over the past year, you may have noticed a truly unusual level of activity for a town of less than 4,000 people. Between roadwork along Main Street, frequent project groundbreakings, and new business openings, Upland is seeing a revitalization unprecedented for a community of its size. More projects will come to life over the next few years – a downtown mixed-use development with apartments and retail spaces, a destination restaurant, new trails, a community park, a boutique collegiate inn across from campus and over one-hundred units of new housing. We hope these improvements will give new life to our community, making Upland a more pleasant place to live, work, and study for residents, students, and visitors alike. This is all thanks to a $30 million grant from the Lilly Endowment’s College and Community Collaboration program (a grantmaking initiative designed to assist college towns in economic development efforts), as well as investment from other public and private sources, including the Indiana Department of Transportation’s nearly $20 million investment in improving Main Street and associated infrastructure in Upland. Further, these projects must be completed on a tight timeline – per the terms of the grant, all projects must be completed within five years – which falls to December 2028.
The Main Street Mile Initiative relates to many biblical themes of loving our neighbors well, but one particular admonition sticks out. In Jeremiah 29, we are instructed to “…seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7, NIV). We see the prosperity of Upland as being intertwined with that of the University, and our work in doing so being honoring to God. Moreover, we see this Kingdom work as being carried out at all levels of Taylor University, from students, to faculty, to staff, and supporters. From attendance at local churches to volunteering to local ministries or working at local businesses, Taylor students already give remarkable ministry to Upland through their dedicated service, but we wish for the number of engaged students to multiply in the years ahead. Through the Main Street Mile Initiative, we hope to launch a variety of new opportunities for students to get involved in the life of our community. Though much of our current work is behind-the-scenes, the public elements of the Main Street Mile will soon begin, and we hope that you will join us. We endeavor that the Main Street Mile Initiative will become a national model of small-town revitalization driven by faith-based institutions, and hope that we will lead others to invest in their communities in the name of the Gospel.
As we embark on this journey together, we would like to gather input and identify opportunities for students to become engaged and volunteer in the Upland community. While students already give their time to a variety of established local ministries and causes, the Main Street Mile Initiative will create additional unique opportunities, including potential for organizing community events, assisting in beautification efforts, coordinating clean-up days or working directly for 1846 Enterprises (the supporting organization of Taylor that is implementing the Initiative). We seek to use the many talents of the Taylor community to bless Upland in many different shapes and forms. If you have an idea for a volunteering program you would like to see come to life through the Main Street Mile Initiative, please let us know at hello@uplandmainstreet.org. We would love to hear from you!
