File photo of the old elementary school in Silver Lake.

News Release

INDIANAPOLIS – The town of Silver Lake has been awarded $350,000 to tear down Silver Lake Elementary School.

The town will use the money to tear down the building and re-purpose the lot into a green space and a community park. 

Silver Lake is one of 25 communities awarded parts of $12.8 million in federal money aimed at improving water infrastructure and addressing blighted properties. 

The announcement was released Thursday by Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.

The town has been looking at demolishing the property for several years.

The Blight Clearance Program encourages communities with blighted properties to focus on long-term community development and revitalization through improving “quality of place,” generating jobs and spurring economic revitalization. Eligible projects include the removal of deteriorated or abandoned downtown buildings or vacant/unusable industrial sites. 

“These grants are important for our rural communities to continue their economic and community development,” Crouch said. “Not only does this funding help address blight and water infrastructure issues, but also is an important investment to improving the quality of life and quality of place for Hoosiers.”

The State of Indiana distributes Community Development Block Grant funds to rural communities, which assist units of local government with various community projects such as infrastructure improvement, downtown revitalization, public facilities and economic development. 

Funding for OCRA’s CDBG programs originates from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program and is administered for the State of Indiana by OCRA. For more information, visit in.gov/ocra/cdbg.