Eastern Star Church recently held the ribbon cutting ceremony for Sunstone at Arlington Woods, a 36,000-square-foot multi-use facility that features apartments and commercial businesses.
Sunstone at Arlington Woods is part of the ROCK Initiative started by Eastern Star Church and features 25 apartments at federal affordable housing rates.
Renewing Our Community for the Kingdom, the ROCK Initiative began about two and a half years ago after Eastern Star Church listened to problems put forth by the community. The 46218 area code, where Eastern Star Church’s main campus is located, lacks several important resources. The Rock Initiative seeks to enhance community through financial health, education and housing.
One of the major issues was the area had only one bank which led to predatory lending practices for the residents of the community, Eastern Star Church community developer Ashley Gurvitz, said. Although businesses wanted to help the community they had nowhere to set up. This is what led to building, Gurvitz said.
“No one group is going to handle all the needs of the 46218 community,” Senior Pastor Jeffrey A. Johnson Sr. said. “It has been a lot of planning, strategy, and cooperation with church, business, community and elected officials to make this happen.”
One of these businesses moving into Sunstone is Financial Health Credit Union, which was brought in to help with credit restoration and combat predatory lending services, Gurvitz added. Financial health can be just as important as your physical health because it affects every facet of life. Eastern Star Church officials understood how much money a person makes can have little to do with financial stability.
“Sometimes it’s not about how much that you make,” Johnson said. “It’s knowing how to manage the money that you make.” Johnson said.
Financial Health Credit Union offers many programs specifically made to restore financial health and educate people on how to gain financial stability and keep it, CEO Shawn Wolbert said.
“As we look at the community together we see the same problems,” Wolbert said. “We knew it was something that we wanted to get involved with.”
Wolbert said Financial Health Credit Union has already made a positive impact on the community.
“One senior citizen was so overjoyed with having somewhere to do transactions within walking distance because before she had to take three buses and doing that would take her all day,” Wolbert said.
In addition to Financial Health Credit Union, Sunstone will house the Indiana Institute for Behavior Analysis, which diagnoses and treats autism; ROCK Fresh Market, which will provide fresh produce and affordable groceries; Anointed Hands hair salon; GO Consulting, focusing on workforce and life advancement; Indiana Neighborhood Housing Partnership, which seeks to increase affordable and sustainable housing; Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic, a law office for low-income families; RecycleForce, a recycling service that employs formerly incarcerated people as a way to transition back to society, and Take Two, an organization that strives to help the formerly incarcerated with education and other job placement opportunities.
Gurvitz believes that Sunstone will have a tremendous impact on the community.
“We’re going to see, day by day, more things opening up and bringing more resources to the 46218 community,” Gurvitz said.
Contact staff writer Mariah Lee at 317-762-7853. Follow her on Twitter @ mariahlee1994.
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If interested in learning more about Sunstone at Arlington Woods, visit easternstarchurch.org.
