Bethel Pub­lishes Com­mu­nity Im­pact Re­port

MISHAWAKA, IN – As a Chris­t­ian uni­ver­sity, Bethel has im­pacted the lo­cal com­mu­nity and the lives of its stu­dents for more than 70 years. But just how far does that im­pact reach?  

Matt Lentsch, Bethel Uni­ver­si­ty’s Vice Pres­i­dent for In­sti­tu­tional Ad­vance­ment has the an­swer. The Com­mu­nity Im­pact Re­port is newly im­ple­mented by the uni­ver­sity this year; al­though the uni­ver­sity has been mak­ing both a lo­cal and a global im­pact for years, the re­port serves to tell oth­ers about Bethel’s im­pact. 

“[It] ef­fec­tively tell[s] the story of the im­pact we make on our com­mu­nity, stu­dent lives, alumni lives and ul­ti­mately on the world,” Lentsch said.  

Bethel has a huge im­pact on In­di­ana’s econ­omy, with nearly 70% of its stu­dents and alumni in the In­di­ana work­force. Ac­cord­ing to In­de­pen­dent Col­leges of In­di­ana (ICI), Bethel di­rectly pur­chases 36.8 mil­lion in goods and ser­vices from In­di­ana busi­nesses yearly, re­sult­ing in over 700 jobs and roughly $72 mil­lion of the In­di­ana econ­omy.  

Bethel also re­cently im­ple­mented the Field Schol­ars Pro­gram, which of­fers a low to no-debt op­tion for stu­dents who wish to work 20-hours a week dur­ing the school se­mes­ter and 40-hours a week in the sum­mer. This pro­gram has im­pacted stu­dents who wish to at­tend col­lege but may not oth­er­wise be able to af­ford the cost. Bethel’s an­nual Ser­vice Day im­pacts nearly 50 or­ga­ni­za­tions in the lo­cal com­mu­nity. Due to Bethel’s im­pact, Bethel stu­dents are in high de­mand in the In­di­ana work­force.  

“[Bethel] stu­dents are be­ing called to the mis­sion field, and for many, the mis­sion field is in our neigh­bor­hoods,” Lentsch said.  

Bethel’s ex­cel­lent com­mu­nity rep­u­ta­tion has opened doors such as us­ing the new aquat­ics cen­ter in Elkhart for the swim team. As for the fu­ture plans of the uni­ver­sity, Lentsch says that the cam­pus needs to con­tinue to come to­gether for ser­vice. 

“We need to be healthy and whole as an in­sti­tu­tion to con­tin­u­ally meet our mis­sion…. Christ at the Helm,” Lentsch said. 

You can read the re­port for your­self at https://​mag­a­zine.bethelu­ni­ver­sity.edu/​books/​2020-com­mu­nity-im­pact/