ReCenter Indiana Gears Up with New Leader, Sharpened Focus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 22, 2025

Indianapolis, IN—ReCenter Indiana Inc. is expanding its statewide impact by appointing its first executive director, refining its focus, and harnessing a new grant award to improve the state’s notoriously poor voter turnout.

In a major step for the young nonpartisan, nonprofit group, ReCenter Indiana has appointed its first executive director, Jocelyn Vare. A strong supporter of balanced government and citizen engagement, Vare made history in 2019 when her election as an at-large city council member made the Fishers City Council bipartisan for the first time ever. The longtime business owner was also a candidate for the Indiana Senate and served as the Democratic Party chairperson for Hamilton County, the state’s most politically competitive county.

“Jocelyn has an impressive track record of working across the aisle for the public good. And she brings a depth of experience that is typically found only among those who have rolled up their sleeves in party politics,” said the founder of ReCenter Indiana Inc., Don Knebel. He is president of its board of directors, which consists of Republicans, Democrats and independents.

“I am honored to join ReCenter Indiana, and I encourage my fellow Hoosiers to help drive our state’s future,” Vare said. “When we vote, we remind elected officials to work together and recenter on the priorities of the people.”

To that end, ReCenter Indiana is preparing a groundbreaking survey to be conducted this fall. Unlike most election research, which samples voters and likely voters, this survey is focused on the 18-34 age bracket of Central Indiana residents who were registered but did not vote in the 2024 general election. “The future of our state and our republic depends on civic participation by generation after generation,” Vare explained.

The polling will be done by two respected national research firms, one Democratic and the other Republican. Results will help shape strategies to boost voter turnout for the 2026 elections and beyond.

Supporting that research is a $50,000 grant award from the Nicholas H. Noyes Jr. Memorial Foundation. “The generous Noyes Foundation grant will strengthen ReCenter Indiana’s ability to show young adults that they and their priorities matter,” Vare said.

When ReCenter Indiana was founded in 2022, its core mission was to reclaim the political center by supporting centrist candidates through a political action committee (PAC). Those efforts included a widely noticed statewide billboard campaign leading up to Indiana’s 2024 primary election.

But political polarization has intensified. So ReCenter Indiana is refining its mission of reminding public officials to listen to the people, not just the most extreme partisans.

“The chasm between our elected officials and the people keeps widening,” Knebel said. “We can help close that gap by encouraging everyday Hoosiers to use their power, and by reminding our elected servants that the best interests of the people should always be front and center.

“We have a determined executive director, a significant grant award and a sharpened strategy that will help Hoosiers’ voices be heard,” Knebel added.

ReCenter Indiana Inc. is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to reminding all elected officials to recenter on the priorities of the people. ReCenter Indiana informs and encourages Hoosiers to vote and have a voice in their community.