Millsaps honored with Elkhart Chamber community impact award

The Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce honored Cyneatha Millsaps last Wednesday night with the Community Impact Award at the board’s Celebrating Minority Business Excellence dinner. Millsaps, the executive director at Goshen College’s Center for Community Engagement and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, said she was “really grateful” for the award.

“It really does amaze me,” Millsaps said, “that Elkhart, my home, would say ‘we see you, and we appreciate you.’ That makes me feel really good.”

Millsaps has spent over two decades working within the community of South-Central Elkhart: mostly as a pastor, but she has also led area nonprofits. She also serves as the executive director of Mennonite Women USA, providing domestic and international leadership for women’s groups and individuals.

She first came to Goshen College in April 2021, working as the outreach director for the city of Elkhart. That work was extended in early 2022, when Millsaps transitioned to the role of executive director of the Center for Community Engagement.

The CCE connects students and faculty with community partners — and more broadly, connects the college with surrounding communities. For Millsaps, the school’s connection with Elkhart is at the heart of her work.

“For years,” Millsaps said, “Elkhart and Goshen were cities where it felt like, ‘you stay on your side, and we’ll stay on our side.’ As a sundown town, Goshen wasn’t a place that we felt was safe — but CCE has worked hard to make Elkhart feel welcome here, and to help Goshen College show up there.”

And building that connection was a major reason for her honor last Wednesday.

Over 250 guests attended the dinner, held at the Crystal Ballroom at the Lerner Theatre. Millsaps was one of seven honored individuals and businesses that were recognized for “hard work, dedication and accomplishments of minority businesses in the community.”

Millsaps said that while she was surprised and honored, she credited part of her award to her role as a leader and representative of a number of different communities.

“I don’t just represent South-Central Elkhart,” she said. “I don’t just represent the Black community. I also represent Goshen College.”