What makes a place worth living?
This is something that crossed my mind two years ago when I relocated to Hamilton County from North Carolina for a very attractive job offer. Could I leave a place I love for an amazing job if I disliked my new city? Leaving one place for another is always difficult and building new community takes a great deal of time; however, there are certain building blocks that make constructing a new life in a new community possible.
This month, the 2026 cohort examined quality of place in Hamilton County. From my first day with the Class of 2026, it was evident that Hamilton County is a special place to each of my classmates. This month’s speakers helped explain why this might be the case.
Brad Coffing is the Director of Housing Insights at the MIBOR Realtor Association where he provides research and data analysis of the Central Indiana real estate market. Brad explained how economic development is attracting new business and encouraging new economic growth. For a long time, states like Indiana relied on relatively cheap wages, low taxes, abatements, and other incentives to attract new business. While selling this perception of Indiana as a bargain state brought various degrees of success, more recent studies from the Brookings Institute suggest that attracting an educated creative class is more important to sustaining and growing communities.
What does this require? It requires change. As Brad suggested, change is inevitable, but progress is not. Communities must develop and lean into their unique characteristics if they want to attract new talent and new economic investments. Hamilton County has leaned into this idea. What attracts people? What do they want? According to the people who live here, the answer is access: access to trails, parks, good schools, green spaces, walkable neighborhoods, restaurants, and relatively affordable housing.
Next, we heard from Karen Radcliff, President and CEO of Hamilton County Tourism. Karen spoke to us about what she calls “the magic of Hamilton County’s place and space.” While attracting new residents and business investments is of vital importance to a community, tourism is also a major economic driver. Hamilton County Tourism is funded by an 8% bed tax at all local hotels. Of this 8%, 4% funds tourism promotion, 3% goes to the county’s cities for tourism investment, and 1% helps create new products. HC Tourism focuses on four major competencies: marketing, sports, destination development, and corporate sales. Focusing on these competencies has brought a steady flow of guests who shop, stay, eat, and visit destinations within the County.
Emotional and mental health are incredibly important, especially as Americans are experiencing a loneliness epidemic. Bob Swanay, Director of the Carmel Clay Public Library and Chris Stice, Director of Hamilton County Parks highlighted the many ways their organizations combat this growing problem. Last year (2025), Carmel Clay Public Library had over 583,000 unique visits and offered 257 program opportunities, including 50 visits to home-bound patrons. Local teens logged 10,954 service hours. Since suicide is the leading cause of teen death, these hours and programs offer a lifeline and a sense of belonging to many. Bob beamed as he touted CCPL’s 97% satisfaction score amongst patrons. Chris Stice has been with HC parks since 1995. In his many years of service, he has witnessed an incredible investment into the County’s public spaces. Hamilton County’s parks have over 1,800 acres that incorporate recreation space, trails, campgrounds, and nature conservation. Spending time in a park dramatically improves mental health so much so that Riverview Health will prescribe their patients park time with Park RX.
We finished our time together at Carmel’s North End, an Old Town Design Group development. This unique space offers luxury accommodations to a multi-generational community and has 40 subsidized apartments for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These residents learn to live independently while benefiting from the support of neighbors and a full-time occupational therapist. The North End has a community garden where residents can volunteer. Local restaurants then purchase the garden’s produce and offer employment opportunities to these residents.
This was the Class of 2026’s final class day together. This topic helped explain why long-time residents and newcomers alike choose to live and stay in Hamilton County. My time with HCLA has been a joy, and this month’s topic reminded me that Hamilton County is a good place to call home.