Collective Impact
Englewood CDC truly believes in the power of partnerships and fostering a shared vision for our community. We are committed partners and leaders in a variety of place-based, comprehensive community development initiatives.
Below is a sampling of our involvement in various collective impact initiatives focused on improving the lives and well-being of our neighbors. These initiatives are the core of and help guide ECDC’s work on a regular basis and encourage efficacy in our work – that we are able to work towards things our neighbors and partners have said they want to see happen.
These initiatives also encourage us to work with other partners to accomplish these goals as we cannot get them done alone.
The East Washington Street Partnership is a collaborative effort to foster sustainable economic development and revitalization along with one of Indianapolis’s most important urban corridors. Partnership efforts are guided by the East Washington Street Vision Plan. The Vision Plan seeks to partner economic revitalization with neighborhood revitalization in a manner that brings residents and jobs back, improves property values and tax base, improves ecological quality, and promotes the transformation of a struggling, degraded corridor into a vibrant, mixed-use urban address.
Through short and long-term development sites, the goals of the plan are to bring back jobs for the community and to support a long-term policy vision of re-introducing rail transit along the corridor.
Dates:
2013 - present
ECDC Involvement:
Lead Organization
Partners:
Near East Area Renewal, Southeast Neighborhood Development
Great Places 2020 is a collective impact effort to transform strategic Indianapolis neighborhoods into walkable town centers of culture, commerce, and community in conjunction with Indianapolis’s bicentennial in 2020. Five Indianapolis neighborhoods have been identified as these target areas. Investments in Livability, Opportunity, Vitality, and Education build on existing neighborhood momentum with a vision for vibrant, mixed-use neighborhoods welcoming residents and visitors alike.
Englewood Village was one of the first neighborhoods chosen with a focus intersection of East Washington Street and Oxford Street. Major accomplishments from Englewood Village include the development of Thomas Gregg Neighborhood School, DayStar Childcare becoming a Level 4 Paths to Quality School, the development of Oxford Place and Parker Place Senior Apartments, the redevelopment of the PR Mallory Campus, and new businesses like Uplift Produce, Trajectory, 201 Studios, Arabella, and more.
Dates:
2015 - present
ECDC Involvement:
Lead Organization - Englewood Village
Partners:
City of Indianapolis, Indy Chamber, INHP, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, LISC Indianapolis, United Way of Central Indiana
Lift Indy is a comprehensive community development program that promotes equitable neighborhood revitalization through affordable housing, economic development, and placemaking. Each year, the City of Indianapolis selects at least one strategic, focused area and makes a multi-year commitment of HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding to achieve the goals of the neighborhood’s plan. In 2020, East 10th Street was named a LIFT Indy neighborhood and in 2022 the Far Eastside was named one as well.
Dates:
2020 - 2022
Partners:
Chuck’s Coney Island, City of Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development (DMD), John Boner Neighborhood Centers, Near East Area Renewal
In December 2018, John Boner Neighborhood Centers received a $4.3 million grant from Lilly Endowment’s Strengthening Indianapolis Through Arts and Cultural Innovation Program to further the neighborhood’s vision to once again make 10th Street a thriving Main Street in the heart of the Near Eastside. The goal is to create a vibrant, thriving, equitable neighborhood district in which creativity, arts, heritage, and culture enrich the quality of life for existing Eastside residents and visitors.
To do this, In early 2018, John Boner Neighborhood Centers, Near East Area Renewal, and Englewood CDC formed Inspire 10th Street LLC to collaborate on the strategic acquisition of available vacant property. The intent was to: Create a density of positive activity and immediate transformation of the 10th Street commercial corridor on the Near Eastside; Reduce predatory businesses moving into the area, and Attract and increase the confidence of other like-minded new businesses and investors along the 10th Street corridor.
Dates:
2018 - Present
ECDC Involvement:
Partner
Partners:
John Boner Neighborhood Centers, Lilly Endowment, Near East Area Renewal
The IndyEast Promise Zone, designated for the Near Eastside in 2015, is a federal designation that provides the opportunity to use a greater number of resources, both from the federal government and the local community, to achieve set goals. ECDC is the lead implementation partner for economic development activity within the Promise Zone, working alongside neighborhood partners at the John H. Boner Community Center, Near East Area Renewal, and Westminster Neighborhood Services.
The IndyEast Promise Zone has brought in $120,460,558 in grants and awards with more awards pending.
ECDC Involvement:
Partner
Partners:
City of Indianapolis, Edna Martin Christian Center, John Boner Neighborhood Centers, Near East Area Renewal, Southeast Neighborhood Development
The IndyEast Achievement Zone (IEAZ) is the result of community-driven, long-range planning efforts focused on transforming the neighborhoods east of downtown Indianapolis. It is designed to provide access to educational opportunities, economic support and networks of social capital; break down silos, mobilize policy leaders, and engage residents in community development. The IEAZ is a bold initiative to break the cycle of generational poverty by wrapping children in a seamless pipeline of health, social, and educational supports from birth through college or career. All children and families can prosper by effectively coordinating the efforts of schools, families, social services, health centers, and community-building programs.
ECDC Involvement:
Partner
Partners:
City of Indianapolis, Indianapolis Public Schools
Created in 2007 and updated in 2020, The Near Eastside Quality of Life Plan identifies the neighborhood goals and priorities, informing all of the work Englewood CDC does in the neighborhood. Englewoood CDC was instrumental in the creation of this plan and is now directly responsible for portions of its implementation and is the lead organization for Economic and Workforce Development and Sustainability. The Quality of Life Plan empowers citizens to be involved in the development of their neighborhood, so residents, businesses, creatives, and nonprofits can thrive.
Dates:
2007 - Present
ECDC Involvement:
Lead Organization
Partners:
John Boner Neighborhood Centers, Near East Area Renewal, Near Eastside Innovation School Corporation, Westminster Neighborhood Services
Developed in partnership with the Near Eastside residents, the Eastside Economic Recovery & Mobility District (EERMD) utilizes an evidence-based model to build assets, grow entrepreneurship, leverage private investment, create talent pipelines, launch social enterprises, and make homeownership affordable. From improving access to good and promising jobs and comprehensive two-generation programming for families, the district aims to remove barriers for neighbors and foster economic mobility and prosperity in our neighborhood. Eighteen cross-sector partners, including Englewood CDC are working to create a new form of economic prosperity that is inclusive, sustainable, and grounded in community.
ECDC Involvement:
Partner
Cultivating Communities, is a product of two Lilly Endowment grants that builds off decades of work by Englewood CDC and provides an opportunity for us to have an impact on faith communities across our city and across North America.
Within Indianapolis, this 5-year initiative focuses on under-resourced and under-connected areas which have “catalyst congregations” who desire a greater impact on their surrounding neighborhood in partnership with other organizations around them for the betterment of their neighbors. Catalyst congregations and partner organizations will help to build out a plan for their neighborhood and learn how to leverage resources to accomplish that plan. This initiative will give priority to communities and congregations of color.
Across North America, we have partnered with Missio Alliance to launch a growing network of cohorts, each composed of congregations that are conversant with the way of Jesus in their respective places. In these cohorts, congregations learn to ask questions of themselves and to practice discernment, through the presence of the Holy Spirit; to identify their unique contexts and gifts; and to cultivate habits, skills, and capacities for their rich formation as a congregation, even in the midst of disagreements. Through cultivating these practices of commitment, patience, conversation, and forgiveness, congregations build trust and unity, in order to mature into the way and likeness of Jesus.
Dates:
2020 - Present
ECDC Involvement:
Lead Organization
Partners:
Black Chamber of Commerce, Broadway UMC, Brookside Church and CDC, Center for Congregations, Chamber of Commerce, Chapel Rock Christian Church, CTS, Eastern Star Church, Englewood Christian Church, Exodus Refugee, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership, Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center, IU Health, Kheprw Institute, KIB, Light of the World Christian Church, LISC Indianapolis, Living Word Baptist Church, Missio Alliance, Mission Indy, New Liberty Missionary Baptist Church, Shepherd Community Center, Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, West Morris Free Methodist Church
