FY 2023 Community Project Funding
- $1,000,000 for the City of Indianapolis Department of Parks and Recreation for an afterschool physical education enrichment program. This funding will support an afterschool city-wide sports league and expand the city's ability to engage youth in sports and recreational programming. By offering traditional and non-traditional sports, persistent inequities can be addressed by expanding neighborhood access to scheduled sports leagues in local parks. The initiative will widen opportunities for children's physical and emotional development and will help at-risk children expand their skills and confidence in organized sports.
- $1,000,000 for the City of Indianapolis Department of Parks and Recreation for arts and environmental education access in afterschool and summer learning settings. This funding will launch an Arts and Environmental Education Outreach program to fill a large gap in educational instruction for children, particularly disadvantaged youth in neighborhoods suffering from systemic inequities. Arts instruction teaches children great lessons in creativity and provides constructive emotional expression. Environmental education is critical for promoting stewardship and sustainability. The program will pair physical education and social development for children from diverse backgrounds and abilities and encourage children to develop variety of skills that will help them grow into concerned and informed citizens.
- $5,000,000 for the City of Indianapolis Market Street Reconstruction. This funding will complete the reconstruction of the bricked Market Street from the State Capitol to Illinois Street. Improvements to the street will likely provide for raised pedestrian crossings, curb bump outs to make those crossings narrower and safer, and visitor drop-off locations for vehicles and bike parking.
- $100,000 for the Community Action of Greater Indianapolis for services, outreach, events, transportation expenses, and supplies to increase the number of senior volunteers in their communities. This funding would be used to bring seniors and children together and expand the current Foster Grandparent Program in Indianapolis. The current program works with disadvantaged youth across Indianapolis and this funding would allow the program to expand by adding an additional 20 seniors to the program and ultimately assist more children who have fallen behind academically and socially.
- $1,000,000 for the Graham Edward Martin Park Improvement Project. The funding would be used to improve and update the Graham Edward Martin Park and create a space for the community to gather for recreational activities. The funding will improve the hard courts, shelter, surface lots and sports fields.
- $1,385,487 for the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County for the Medical Meals and Jobs program. This program will provide medically tailored meals for Central Indiana residents with chronic health conditions. This program will also provide food service job training and the funding will be used to procure a new USDA inspected kitchen and production facility equipment for the Medical Meals and Jobs Program.
- $4,875,000 for the Indianapolis International Airport (IND) Master Plan. IND's Master Plan will engage a multitude of users and stakeholders to ascertain a cost-effective and efficient means of satisfying aeronautical and non-aeronautical demand in an environmentally sound and sustainable manner over the planning period consistent with local, regional, and national aviation goals while ensuring equity and inclusion for all communities within Indianapolis and Central Indiana. IND's Airport Master Plan forms the basis for all future decisions and acts as a guide in the development of IND and its environs. A primary goal of IND's Airport Master Plan will be to provide the framework needed to coordinate airport improvements with local and regional planning to ensure equitable access through resilient and sustainable development.
- $500,000 to the City of Indianapolis Department of Public Utilities (Citizens Energy Group for a combined sewer overflow project to improve water quality.
- $600,000 to the IU Health Foundation for services to improve health and nutrition of vulnerable individuals and provide job training and new employment to improve outcomes. The funding requested will support Cradle Indianapolis, a proven system driven by the community for the community. Cradle Indianapolis is a collaborative effort among parents, caregivers, healthcare professionals and community members to identify and counter causes of infant mortality in Marion County. Working from a model that has reduced infant mortality in Cincinnati, the initiative will address preconception health, pregnancy health and infant health, including issues such as smoking during pregnancy, sleep-related deaths and pre-term births. Cradle Indianapolis's initial focus is the most urgent: African American mothers and their babies in Marion County. The long-term plan is to grow the program statewide, to help all Hoosiers.
- $500,000 for the Ivy Tech Community College, Indianapolis, IN for early childhood education programs, including furniture, minor repairs, and classroom upgrades. The funding would be used to enhance the early childhood education program and center at Ivy Tech by providing equipment and educational materials, early education opportunities for those students with children and benefiting the community through additional childcare services.
- $100,000 for the Kennedy King Memorial Initiative, Indianapolis, IN for human rights education. The funding would be used to implement the Good Trouble Program in memory of the life and legacy of Congressman John Lewis. The design of this civics education program will allow young people in grades 6-12 in Indianapolis to explore the development of protected human rights from a historical perspective, as well as present-day declarations, conventions, covenants and the continuing evolution of human rights knowledge, the various challenges to the full enjoyment of human rights, and the factors that contribute to human rights abuse. This program is located adjacent to the Kennedy King National Commemorative Site, which was enacted in 2018 (PL 115-612). This location is commemorated as the historic place where Robert F. Kennedy informed Indianapolis of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968. John Lewis was there that evening while serving on Robert Kennedy's national presidential campaign staff.
- $185,000 for the Kids' Voice of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN for services to children and families who are survivors of violence, abuse, or neglect. Funds will be used to support the Safe Child Parenting Time program which provides services for families and children who are survivors of violence, abuse, neglect, or are in the court system as part of divorce, paternity, guardianship, or adoption cases in which protection of children during visits is needed. Over the last two years, incidence of domestic violence has increased and demand for these services has increased beyond current capacity, so this funding would allow for expansion of the current program.
- $87,000 for the Overdose Lifeline, Inc., Indianapolis, IN for Camp Mariposa-Aaron's Place Youth Prevention Program to provide behavioral health and related services to youth. Overdose Lifeline's Camp Mariposa-Aaron's Place Youth Prevention Program would impact children and families by expanding upon their programing to high-risk youth ages 13-17. Currently their programming is yearlong, evidence-based camp experience for younger children and their families affected by substance misuses and especially targets children whose parents are in active use or in recovery; children who are in, or at risk of entering the foster care system; and children with one or both parents incarcerated. The teen program will incorporate key elements from the Camp Mariposa-Aaron's Place model through the development of a revised, age-appropriate curriculum with emphasis on both mentoring and family-centered harm reduction.
- $1,000,000 for the The Indianapolis Private Industry Council, Inc., Indianapolis, IN for youth job training and a work-based learning program. The EmployIndy Junor Park Ranger Program is a modern apprenticeship program, a partnership between the public school district, EmployIndy, the workforce board, and the City as the employer. This program will provide a pathway for high school children to become Rangers once they complete their education. These jobs serve the communities in which the potential beneficiaries live. The Ranger program aims to provide a safe park experience for all residents and visitors. Further, this program would also include racial equity training to ensure that all Rangers know how to engage the diverse communities served.
- $1,000,203 for the Workforce Inc. dba Recycleforce, Indianapolis, IN to expand job training and job placement programs. The funding would be used to employ and serve an additional 100 adults returning from prison to Indianapolis. Recycleforce has a strong track record of helping adults returning from prison and this funding will help provide immediate wage paying jobs, training and workforce credentials to medium to high-risk returnees.