The question was phrased as a plaintive cry. “Well Amos, what do you think we can do to attract (Black) millennial and empty nesters?”
This question was posed by Sherry Seiwert, president of Downtown Indy, during an interview last week on our WTLC-AM1310 “Afternoons with Amos” program.
Seiwert and a staffer had come on to talk about downtown’s latest accomplishment; bragging about an additional $1.4 billion in projects in the pipeline to be completed between now and 2017.
That’s in addition to a stunning $12.4 billion in downtown development since 1990.
During that interview, for the first time, I publicly questioned Seiwert and Downtown Indy about an issue I reported in January when I broke the news about the obscene income disparity between white-non Hispanic households and Black households living in downtown’s expanding residential areas.
Despite Indy’s growing number of African-American “millennials” (buzz phrase for young adults) and empty nesters, Downtown Indy has virtually ignored our Black community.
So while Blacks move into township and suburban homes and apartments, they’ve eschewed downtown living.
In my opinion, Seiwert all but conceded my point: Downtown Indy has been clueless about attracting Blacks downtown.
Unlike the Fall Creek Place development, just north of downtown, which openly courted and marketed to Blacks through Black radio and newspapers when the development was launched in the early 21st Century, downtown real estate developers pointedly ignore marketing to African-Americans; especially freezing out their medium of choice—Black media.
It’s beyond embarrassing that some of the lowest household incomes for African-Americans in Indianapolis are for those living within Downtown Indy’s white affluence.
A history lesson: when Downtown Indy’s predecessor, The Commission for Downtown, and then Indianapolis Downtown, were created over three decades ago, under the leadership of Carolyn Blitz, and then Tamara Zahn, those two oversaw an effort to try and make downtown living an integrated affair.
What kind of signal of “un-diversity” does it send in a city that’s 28.8 percent African-American; 29.6 percent African-American downtown that there’s no African-Americans on Downtown Indy’s staff. Of 14 staffers shown on their website, none are African-American. See for yourself: downtownindy.org/about/our-staff/.
Is there a need for middle-income residents? Yes, but sadly, it doesn’t exist. (Unless you count those multi-bedroom apartments downtown that serve as quasi-dorms for IUPUI.)
No American city prospers by only courting the rich. It’s middle class, middle-income families that grow healthy American cities and communities today. Even in New York City. Even in Indy.
Excluding African-Americans with middle (and upper) incomes from the invitation to downtown living only exacerbates the reality many in Indianapolis believe—that Downtown Indy is evolving into a playground for the rich, where the poor and middle class need not appear!
What I’m Hearing in the Streets
In 2005, embarrassed by the abysmal graduation rates and high dropout rates for overall and for African-Americans in Indianapolis and Marion County Schools, two major institutions took action. In May 2005, the Indianapolis Star ran a weeklong series on the problem of dropouts and low graduation rates in IPS and township schools.
The Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, led by then President Roland Dorson, dragooned the county’s 11 school superintendents to collaborate in a joint effort to raise the then-abysmal graduation rates. Dorson and the group set as their target achieving a goal that 80 percent of Marion County high school students would graduate on time.
Well, I suppose the Indianapolis Star has developed severe amnesia and doesn’t write about graduation rates and dropouts anymore.
But, somebody needs to thank Dorson, because his effort to reduce dropouts and increase graduation rates, called Common Goal, really worked!
According to the 2014 Graduation Rates, released last week by the State, 88.4 percent of the Class of 2014 in the 23 high schools of the city/county’s 11 school districts graduated on time— a rate far exceeding Dorson’s Common Goal benchmark.
Even if you include charter high schools and the city’s three takeover high schools, which together produced an overall on time graduation rate of 51.1 percent; then the combined city/county graduation rate falls to 82 percent, still above the Dorson benchmark.
I don’t understand why the Chamber’s then clueless leadership cashiered Dorson several years ago and threw out the Common Goal initiative. But our city and our kids owe him a debt of thanks for forcing our schools to improve.
In IPS, graduation rates increased to 71.5 percent overall, an all-time high. With just 56 students graduating on waivers; far below the couple of hundred in past years.
Strange development at IPS: The three IPS high schools with the highest Class of 2014 graduation rates, Crispus Attucks, 98.7 percent; Broad Ripple, 91.5 percent and Shortridge, 96.6 percent; are losing their principals by IPS executive fiat.
Is the IPS reward to schools for sharply improving their graduation rates having the principal cashiered?
Parkins departs: Charles Parkins, has left as Superintendent of the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center after nearly two years to become director of Division Youth Corrections of the Office of Children, Youth and Families of Colorado’s State Department of Human Services.
Parkins came to Indy in May 2013 after just nine months of running the Juvenile Detention Center for Palm Beach County, Fla. Before that, Parkins’ experience in youth corrections was concentrated in more rural and suburban Florida counties.
Parkins’ unusual management style, which included an emphasis on using animal assisted therapy with young offenders, was controversial and caused staff upheaval when he first arrived.
Parkins helped push though a plan to create a charter school to provide an education for juvenile offenders and for those expelled from regular public schools. Now, it’s questionable whether Parkins’ charter school proposal goes through without him.
There’s been a huge turnover of superintendents at the Juvenile Detention Center in the past several years.
The facility needs a competent superintendent with experience in dealing with delinquent urban youth. Specifically, the facility needs someone willing to make a long term commitment to Marion County, not looking to punch their ticket for greener pastures.
See ‘ya next week!
You can email Amos Brown at abrown@radio-one.com.
