There Has to be More From the IU Med Center

Jon Webb (Courier &Press) recently wrote a thoughtful, and certainly, liberating article on the new IU Medical Center.

He has made it easier to talk candidly about what the Center should mean for our area in the years to come – not just what it means to us today.

For the IU Medical Center, now a central feature of downtown Evansville’s economy should be part of our vision for raising some of the poorest in our community from the ALICE 43%(  Asset Limited, Income Constrained – folks that don’t have the buying power in personal income for basic necessities).

Reducing poverty in our area means higher wages and higher wages involves training and education.

That means students attending classes at the Center should include the 43%.

And that means the Center has a to include Ivy Tech.

And including Ivy Tech means there has to be classroom space on campus and the students have to be a part of any collaborative training program with other attendees.

And …let’s not stopped there.

It means our K-8 school system has to develop a meaningful educational program introducing students to training at the Center, including internships and more associate degree tracts.

And it means there has to be a program where young people with lessened abilities and/or disabilities, who are capable to work in a medical/hospital environment, are trained for paid employment.

And I am sure there are more thoughts about including those in the 43%.

We should feel confident that the Center is working for us; that the 50 plus million we are paying (with interest)  becomes the incentive for a comprehensive workforce development program that offers opportunity and hope for our young people, including those in the 43%.

A Fellow Kiwanian recently offered this Thought for the Day:  “ Management of attention through vision is the creation of focus”.  We need that kind of attention today. We need to do more to face a serious problem in our area; we need leaders to focus on the 43%.

By prioritizing reducing poverty in ways that become generational and transformational  (not only providing affordable housing), our community will surely reap the benefits of the IU Medical Center.