Two Indianapolis neighborhoods will soon be selected to receive four years of financial and planning support from Great Places 2020, a community development project that aims to update existing communities into neighborhood centers that are walkable, vibrant and culturally diverse.
The initiative — which is a collaboration among the City of Indianapolis, Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership, Indy Chamber, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, United Way of Central Indiana and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Indianapolis — is already in action in three Indianapolis “Great Places”: Englewood Village, Maple Crossing and River West.
Bill Taft, executive director of LISC, said the plan was always to have five to six Great Places, based on goals set in Plan 2020, the City of Indianapolis’ strategic development plan for its upcoming bicentennial.
“Just looking at the future of the city, there’s this idea that we need more of these neighborhood centers that are walkable, that bring life to the centers of urban neighborhoods,” Taft said. “Most of our neighborhoods had those historically, but they’ve deteriorated through the years and lost businesses. If we’re going to have really vibrant urban neighborhoods, we need to bring more of those back.”
Based on the city’s size, Taft said the goal is to have about 10 of these neighborhood centers, neighborhoods like Broad Ripple, Fountain Square and Irvington.
To become one of the next Great Places, a neighborhood must already have a Quality of Life Plan in place and should have nearby green spaces and waterways, so-called anchor institutions that are willing to support the development and more.
Taft said five communities qualify, including the Northeast Corridor, which runs from Avondale Meadows to Martindale-Brightwood. Interested communities have until Sept. 30 to submit a letter of interest to LISC.
In the three existing Great Places, Taft said several early signs of progress can already be seen, even though the planning phase just wrapped up in recent months.
Maple Crossing, the Great Place anchored at the intersection of 38th and Illinois streets, has been working toward progress in several areas.
Michael McKillip, executive director of Midtown Indianapolis Inc. and the community outreach leader for the Maple Crossing Great Place, said his area has been addressing issues of crime, education, housing, food access and more, and he’s seen a “renewed sense of engagement” among residents.
In the area, Indianapolis Public School 43 has had five principals in the past four years and struggles with enrollment and test scores. Through the Great Places 2020 project, those issues are being addressed.
“A consortium of neighborhood stakeholders — from local churches, to the neighborhood association, to Great Places and IPS — have been collaborating to chart a new future for the school to be sure it will serve the students and families of the neighborhood better moving forward,” McKillip said.
On the commercial side of things, McKillip said three new businesses have committed to the neighborhood: an art gallery/tattoo parlor, a new restaurant featuring African cuisine and a restaurant/brewery that will convert the vacant Double 8 grocery store. There is also talk about a potential new grocery store to help fill the void left when the Double 8 closed.
Taft and McKillip each agreed that gentrification is a concern any time such initiatives endeavor to revamp neighborhoods, but they both said precautions are being taken to preserve the current culture and character of the Great Places.
Taft said resident involvement is key.
“These plans and the choice to become these neighborhoods is coming from the community organizations. They ask to be Great Places, and they also lead the creation of these plans,” Taft said. “So whatever’s in the plan for each of these projects, all these projects come from the people who are there today — the residents, the business owners, the nonprofits in that neighborhood are choosing what to set as their vision. It’s not somebody from the outside coming in and telling them what they can have.”
Taft said each of the Great Places has experienced significant population loss, so the goal is to attract new people to the area without pushing the existing residents out.
“They want to have new people move in, but they want to do it in a way that benefits the people who are already living there. That’s the goal of all these plans. It’s not just about building new stuff; it’s about creating new opportunities for current residents,” he said.
Taft said one major benefit for current residents will come from United Way of Central Indiana’s Great Families 2020, which he calls a “companion initiative” of the Great Places plan. As part of the Great Families initiative, $21 million will be invested in the Great Places over the next three years focusing on early childhood education, financial support, health and workforce development for families living in the areas.
McKillip said gentrification concerns have been part of the conversation from day one of the Maple Crossing Great Place initiative. McKillip himself has recently participated in community discussions on the issue at a recent event at the Kheprw Institute. McKillip outlined several steps being taken to preserve the community’s current character.
“First and foremost, it’s a conversation we’re having out loud,” he said. “Some of the things we are doing to prevent the wholesale reinvention of the neighborhood is taking an inventory of the current character and culture of the neighborhood and supporting local business owners and residents who are here now.”
McKillip said the City-County Council is working to encourage the state legislature to “pass a protection to freeze property taxes for longtime homeowners in the focus area, so investments don’t displace folks.”
Additionally, he said all of the housing assistance dollars being sought are focused on retaining residents through efforts like homeowner repair improvement funds.
McKillip said investments have been made in existing businesses, including façade improvements, and care is being taken to preserve existing residences.
“We have made a pledge not to destroy viable housing units, meaning we’re not going to tear down houses to build commercial developments. We’ve made a pledge to at all costs avoid displacement, and we’re going to stick to that,” he said.
“All of those things will help to deter a wholesale reinventing of the neighborhood.”
To learn more about Great Places 2020 and the work being done, visit greatplaces2020.org.
