LISC Indianapolis helps resident-led, community-based development organizations transform distressed communities and neighborhoods into healthy ones - good places to live, do business, work, and raise families. 
LISC Indianapolis: Q1 in Review
By most any financial or program standard, 2015 was an exceptionally productive year for LISC. Our total program activity for the year - measured by equity investments, loans and grants - reached $1.3 billion on a national scale, the largest volume in our 35-year history. We look forward to carrying that momentum forward in 2016. Here is a look at what is happening in Indianapolis:
Great Places 2020 to unveil neighborhood plans on April 20

Walkability. Public art. Vibrant commercial and community activity. These are some of the many calling cards of great places in great cities.

Great Places 2020 is a visionary community development project to transform strategic places in Marion County neighborhoods into dynamic centers of culture, commerce and community. After an initial selection process with input from 37 city stakeholders, three places were identified as Indianapolis' Great Places:

WEST MICHIGAN & KING

After months of research, neighborhood input and strategic planning, Great Places 2020 partners will unveil the plans on April 20 from 4 - 6 pm at James Whitcomb Riley School #43. 
Donor Highlight: Buckingham Foundation
Thank you to Buckingham Foundation for sponsoring the Vitality work of Great Places 2020 in 2015. This partnership resulted in a robust strategy for reinvigorating the housing market in the three Great Places that includes mixed income housing and homeowner repair at strategic locations. 

Donor Highlight: INHP Catalyst Grants
In 2015, through the generous support of Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP),
a $25,000 Catalyst Grant was awarded to the Martin Luther King Center in Mid-North to support the Family & Neighborhood Advocate project, a service delivery model for families and children. This project provides intensive head-of-household services including workforce development, connections to education resources, income supports and financial management and will target families of School #43. Thank you INHP for your generous support! 
Robert Woods Johnson Foundation supports LISC's healthy food initiative
LISC received funding from RWJF to connect the work of the Indy Food Council to the Great Places 2020 initiative, working to bring affordable, fresh and healthy foods to those places.
 

Farm 365 project adds 11 jobs
Farm 365, located in the Englewood Village neighborhood, seeks to be a small part of the solution of the food desert problem on the Near East side. It is focused on year round production and year round employment. Growing fresh, flavorful produce, grown by and for the local community, as well as re-purposing buildings, adding value to urban neighborhoods and directly creating 11 jobs. LISC Indianapolis provided a $20,000 facade improvement grant for Farm 365 and a $99,750 project initiation loan to support this project.
Click above video to watch a recap of the Southside Quality of Life Visioning Summit.
Southside Quality of Life Plan begins
In 2015, LISC embarked on a new Quality of Life Planning process on the Southside for the area from Garfield Park south to I-465 in conjunction with the University of Indianapolis.   The Southside Quality of Life Plan seeks to identify strategies for improving the Southside of Indianapolis through community engagement and a plan for sustained and conscious development. 

In late February, a Visioning Summit was held with more than 200 residents in attendance to define a shared vision for their neighborhood's future that included housing, safety, culture, parks, healthcare, childcare, education and economic development.

Pin Project brings more retail opportunities to Fletcher Place
Constructed in the 1940s as a 12-lane blowing alley, The Pin is an 11,000 sq. ft. art-deco building in the Fletcher Place neighborhood, located in the Southeast Side quality of life neighborhood. The Pin redevelopment was credit enhanced using money from State Farm Insurance. The target tenant market includes technology and energy companies, which is a growing sector in Indianapolis. Interested in more details? Email Aaron Laramore, LISC Senior Program Manager.

CWF: 5 year retrospective
$4.5 million invested. 2,047 people employed. Eight strategically-placed neighborhood centers. Over the past five years, LISC Indianapolis has guided the Center for Working Families into a successful model to provide people with the tools they need to increase their income, reduce expenses and build wealth for their families. Click here for a deeper look at the past five years.

In addition, MetLife Foundation recently awarded $2.5 million over two years to advance LISC's national network of more than 80  Financial Opportunity Centers. Locally, this money will be used to enhance the Bridges to Career Opportunities initiative, which provides the foundational skills clients need to qualify for and succeed in occupational training programs that help secure well paying, career-path jobs. 
In the News
The City of Indianapolis is encouraging Near East industrial development in the Mass Ave Brookside Corridor, helping to stimulate jobs and economic growth.  Click here to watch recent coverage on WRTV.  

Urbanophile's Aaron Renn Interviews LISC's Bill Taft
Bill Taft of LISC Indianapolis talks to Urbanophile's Aaron Renn about how the organization finances community redevelopment in cities around the country, and shares lesson's he's learned from two decades of working to rebuild urban neighborhoods. 
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