Wabash River Enhancement Corporation Formation History
Enhancement of the Wabash River Corridor was identified in the 1999-2001 Lafayette-West Lafayette/Tippecanoe County Vision 2020 visioning process as the top multi-jurisdictional community development project in the county. Community leadership developed a strategy to utilize a nonprofit agency as the point agency for planning and implementing enhancement of the Wabash River Corridor. The cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, and Purdue University, with formational leadership provided by North Central Health Services, agreed to form the Wabash River Enhancement Corporation (WREC) in early 2004.
WREC was formally created in August 2004 and it became operational in 2005 when it received its 501c3 nonprofit designation from the IRS and hired its first Executive Director. WREC is governed by a nine member board of directors, and its first five years of operation were funded through a $500,000 North Central Health Services grant. Since July, 2011, WREC operations have been funded through a dedicated allocation from the Tippecanoe County Innkeepers Tax revenue. WREC seeks funding for planning, land acquisition, environmental work, and development projects through public and private sector funding sources.