INDIANAPOLIS – While portions of 38th Street find themselves completed or well under construction, the corridor between Fall Creek Parkway and Arlington Avenue have yet to be considered for renovation nearly 63 years since the once-flourishing, streetcar neighborhoods made their debut in Indianapolis. An area that once represented the premier, sub-urban option for living in Indianapolis – the corridor has seen much disinvestment and neglect. Today, revealing signs of regeneration, the corridor is now home to a modern branch library; successful charter schools; park improvements; neighborhood gardens; anchoring institutions; and key housing developments such as the 247 unit Avondale development.
A new sense of what the quality of urban living could be is quietly emerging along 38thStreet, as studies get underway for transit improvements along the NE Corridor. Recognizing the potential for big changes, United North East Community Development Corporation (UNECDC) & Urban + Public Design firm w/purpose are working together to organize neighbors and develop a vision in response to these big changes and their impact.
Community involvement by neighborhood stakeholders is a key element of the goals underlying this initiative. All those who have an interest in the areas along 38th Street between Keystone and Arlington Avenue are invited to show their commitment by sharing their time, knowledge, or resources in several focus groups that will be scheduled over the next several months. The final focus group discussion will be:
Monday, July 11th – Northeast Indy Community Service Corporation
6:00 pm // Mt. Zion Apostolic Church (4900 E. 38th Street)
- Duane Ingram, NSP Program Director King Park Area Development Corp.
- Maury Plaumbeck, Director of Dept. of Metropolitan Development
- Mike Higbee, Former Director Department of Metropolitan Development
- Rick May, Assistant Administrator for Economic Development Department of Metropolitan Development
- Wil Marquez, Creative Director and Owner w/purpose
- George Brown, Executive Director United North East Community Development Corp.
- Carolyn Mosby-Williams, Board Chair Indiana Black Expo
UNECDC Executive Director, George Brown has invited w/purpose to oversee the initiative after seeing the recent success of a similar campaign in neighboring Devington.  w/purpose is an Indianapolis based design studio curious about the built environment and its future.  For them, this means neighborhoods and buildings; the experience of streetscapes; or the spaces where neighbors may shop and spend their time. For w/purpose Founder, Wil Marquez, it’s about interrelationships between urban elements, their meaning, and how to make them better. He explains, “Preparing communities to solve community challenges about the future isn’t simply a single entity’s job or a series of slide images at a one hour meeting. We believe by engaging neighbors in a process about the possible appearance; identity; or innovations available to them, we’ll be able to learn and unfold a new reality for 38th Street – a reality whose future is viable, healthy, and connected.â€
Please visit www.wpurpose.com for event details and how to get involved.