Bring your own lunch and join the Department of Environmental Resilience to a series of community presentations and meetings as a lead up to some of the Climate Action Planning.
The first meeting will be Tuesday, Feb. 25 from noon to 1 p.m.
The speaker for the first meeting will be Carrie Tauscher, State Community and Urban Forest Coordinator, Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Carrie works throughout Indiana with community urban forestry assistance and grant programs, advocating for the many benefits of the urban forest, and directs the Indiana Community Tree Stewards training program.
Carrie will speak about the social, economic and ecological roles that urban trees play in helping communities prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Trees are among the cheapest and most effective “infrastructure” for climate change mitigation, especially in urban settings.
The next meeting will be Tuesday, March 3. Matt Meersman, Director of the Saint Joseph River Basin Commission will talk about the value of our water resources in the context of a changing climate.
Applications are now available for the 30th
annual Help-a-House home repair program in Goshen. In partnership with the City
of Goshen, Lacasa’s Help-a-House program for households with limited income addresses
issues that affect the safety and accessibility of the occupants or may affect
the efficiency of the house.
Help-a-House completes major repairs such as furnace
replacements, window replacement, and accessibility additions. Projects like
this lead to greater safety, stability, accessibility, and efficiency but can
be tough to afford when income is limited. If not completed, they lead to
further deterioration of both the home and the inhabitants’ health.
Help-A-House is a partnership between Lacasa and the City of
Goshen, which provides funds for Help-a-House through a Community Development
Block Grant. The funds invested come from a revolving loan fund, so if the
homeowner sells their home, the dollars are returned, helping another Goshen
resident. The Help-A-House Community Work Day on the second Saturday of May (May
9, 2020) is the program highlight, in which hundreds of volunteers complete
work on as many as 20 properties in Goshen.
Over 560 homes and families in Goshen have
benefitted from this program since its inception in 1991. Homeowners should
apply as soon as possible, but no later than March 1. Applications are treated
on a first come first serve basis. To find out more or apply, visit lacasainc.net/programs/help-a-house/ or
contact us at 574-533-4450 or rocio.arevalo@lacasainc.net.
The software allowing the Goshen Utilities Business office to look up user accounts will be down Wednesday, Feb. 12, due some work being performed on the system.
The office will still be open to the public and staff will be able to give hand-written receipts, but without access to the software, they will not be able to look up accounts.
The work on the software also will affect the Clerk-Treasurer’s Office and City Court, restricting some use in those offices as well.
