Our Challenges

 

 

 

 

        What do you do with a community that faces drugs; other crimes: from prostitution to burglary; vagrants who live in the many vacant, abandoned and boarded houses; and absentee property owners who don’t care about the neighborhood? You say: We aren’t going to live this way anymore. Then you take action. You form a task force to address these problems and to find ways to make the neighborhood a place that is safe, friendly, economically stable and prospering.

 

        The NESCO Community is in a unique position. Most urban communities would like to make their neighborhoods safe, friendly, economically stable and prospering. However, they face challenges like getting neighbors organized to work together on a plan to bring about change. Most lack the funds to make changes and then face the challenge of making them long lasting.

 

        In 2005, NESCO formed the Near Eastside Taskforce to identify the community’s problems and develop a plan that would address and resolve the problems. To get started, between 40 and 50 people would meet each month to identify the specific problems and try to come up with solutions.

 

       In 2007, NESCO became one of the Greater Indy Neighborhoods Initiative (GINI) neighborhoods. With funds from LISC, a community builder (Joe Bowling) was hired to coordinate GINI activities. On June 14, 2007, 400 people from the near eastside gathered at the largest neighborhood meeting ever held in Indianapolis to begin planning what we want as the vision for the near eastside. For the next seven months, over 100 people met to develop the Near Eastside Quality of Life Plan. On February 23, 2008, almost 300 people came to the unveiling of the plan.

So, we have a five to ten year plan, and 100 to 300 people ready and willing to work on it, to improve our community. But that isn’t enough to change problems that have existed for years.

 

        We not only have a plan and people to work on it, we have several partners. The City of Indianapolis has committed five million dollars to upgrade sewers in three neighborhoods which usually flood every time there is a heavy rain. Another five million dollars is committed to paving some streets and putting in some new curbs and sidewalks. Both of these projects have already begun in a Housing Tax Incremental Funding (HoTIF) initiative area where money from increased taxes – as property values on reclaimed properties increase - will be put back into neighborhoods for redevelopment until 2012.

 

        LISC continues to provide funding for the community builder position and support for our plan. Riley Area Development Corporation (RADC) and Indy east Development Corporation (I*AD) are providing advice and support on redeveloping our housing stock. And, other agencies, like 10th Street Civic Association provide advice and support in economic development.

 

        Another partner is the Community Development Law Center (CDLC). The CDLC is a non-profit law firm that provides pro bono legal assistance for neighborhoods and other non-profits. On behalf of NESCO, CDLC is notifying property owners of vacant and abandoned houses that they must bring their properties up to zoning code and health department standards. If they fail to comply, they will be brought to court.

 

        However, possibly the biggest boost comes from the LXVI Super Bowl Legacy Committee. The committee will build a NFL quality practice field for the NFC Super Bowl team which will become a part of the whole eastside community. But more importantly, it brings corporate influence and funds to the NESCO community for the express purpose of helping implement the Quality of Life Plan.

 

        Yes, the NESCO community has the same challenges every other big city neighborhood faces; drugs, a variety of crimes, vacant and boarded houses and landlords and property owners who don’t care. However, our challenge is to use the wealth of assets we have at our disposal. An abundance of resources that has never existed at one time, in one neighborhood, in the City of Indianapolis. By using all our resources, we can overcome almost any obstacle that keeps the NESCO Community from being what we want it to be: A model community.