Skip to main content
Monthly Archives

May 2021

May 25

Circle Up Indy’s 5th Annual Peace Festival raises awareness about ongoing needs in disadvantaged neighborhoods

By Feature

by Shari Finnell, editor/writer

James C. Wilson, CEO and founder of the nonprofit organization Circle Up Indy, vividly recalls the day he was interviewed by a TV journalist for a story about his volunteerism in Martindale-Brightwood — an Eastside Indianapolis neighborhood plagued by poverty and high unemployment rates.

At the time, Wilson, who grew up in the neighborhood, was astonished that many of his neighbors were calling out to him during the taping … asking him to be a spokesperson on their behalf. “Tell them about the sidewalks! Politicians don’t care about us!,” Wilson said, recalling some of the pleas directed at him.

Those voices stuck with him, prompting him to step beyond his volunteerism to launch Circle Up Indy in 2014. The organization is focused on advocating for initiatives to transform impoverished neighborhoods in Indianapolis and surrounding counties, including Martindale-Brightwood.

Circle Up Indy also hosts an annual festival that is designed to raise awareness and intentionally discuss and address socio-economic disadvantages many black and minority families experience and to increase community accountability across the city, according to an organization statement.

Due to COVID-19, the festival was cancelled in 2020, Wilson said, but the 5th Annual Peace Festival is on for this year. It is scheduled for July 10, from noon to 7 p.m., at Frederick Douglass Park on the Park’s 100th Anniversary. Because of the late start in determining whether the festival would go on as scheduled, Wilson and his team are still seeking commitments for vendors and partners.

Wilson, who also has a podcast through a WISH-TV partnership, acknowledges that he sometimes feels overwhelmed with his role in transforming his childhood neighborhood and others like it. He said he feels a responsibility to advocate for transformation, which, in all too many cases, seems to be a slow process.

“I’m honored but I’m terrified. I just want to help people,” Wilson said. “There’s a lot of pressure on me to change things but at times it seems we’re barely pushing the needle. I’m watching friends and family die.”

Wilson, who spent most of his formative years — since the age of 10 — in and out of prison, has first-hand knowledge of the challenges facing some of the youth and families in troubled neighborhoods. “I never had a father teach me how to be a man. The streets taught me what I thought it meant to be a man,” he said.

During his last stint in prison, the trajectory of Wilson’s life took a turn for the better. He met several older inmates who saw his untapped potential. “These brothers taught me so much about life,” he said. “They kept reiterating, ‘they can take your body, but they can’t take your mind.’”

When Wilson was released after serving eight years of a 10-year prison term on a robbery conviction, he thought about those invaluable lessons and attended Ivy Tech, where he became active in volunteerism, including serving as student body president, regularly participating in Lilly Global Day of Service, and serving as president of Collegiate 100, an affiliate of 100 Black Men of Indianapolis.

It was then that his community work caught the attention of a television station, which led to that unforgettable exchange with his neighbors. “After that interview, I didn’t know what to do about all the issues going on in my community … no resources, no jobs, no housing opportunities, lack of quality education,” Wilson said. “They feel snubbed because they don’t see development in their community.”

He considered what he could do to encourage an investment of resources in the community to change outcomes, including health-related programs to address mental health and addiction.

Through Circle Up Indy, he has seen progress but not as much as he had hoped for seven years ago. He is encouraged that an increasing number of individuals representing various organizations have taken the time to visit the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood, including executive leaders from Central Indiana Community Foundation, Lilly Endowment, Inc., and Community Health Network, a major sponsor of the 5th Annual Peace Festival.

He noted major milestones such as the opening of a 15,000-square-foot library in 2020 and the Kipp Indy Legacy High, a high school that was founded in 2019.

Wilson noted that housing is a major issue in the community. “Education is always a concern but it’s offset when you have housing issues,” he said. “No one feels comfortable in school if their home situation is not stable.”

Earlier this year, the city of Indianapolis announced that $3.5 million would be invested in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood as part of the Lift Indy program. Under the initiative, at least 10 low-income households will have the opportunity for homeownership through career coaching and home repair.

Wilson said he is hopeful that more changes are coming for Martindale-Brightwood through a strategic, comprehensive plan that takes into account the root causes of the problems in the neighborhood — not just the data.

“It’s just the beginning,” Wilson said. “It takes a community. Not just me. It takes all of us.”

About the 5th Annual Peace Festival

The event, which takes place on July 10, from noon to 7 p.m., at Frederick Douglass Park, offers a wide range of information and resources staffed by local organizations who will help the community focus on addressing untreated trauma, slow economic development, and community accountability through effective programs, resources, employment, entrepreneurial development, and educational opportunities.

The Community Health Network Pavilion (Healthcare Zone), staffed by Community Health Network physicians, nurses, and volunteers, will provide attendees with blood pressure checks, free COVID-19 vaccines, mental health education, and other health-related wellness education.

The festival also will feature carnival games, drawings, prizes, kid zone activities, animal attraction, food and live entertainment.

Circle Up Indy is inviting vendors, exhibitors and volunteers to register to participate. Vendors can register here, exhibitors can register here and volunteers can register here.

May 17

Achieving racial inclusion in the workplace

By Sponsor Insight

by Jeremy York, author, Synergy, adapted from the Society for Human Resource Management

Ensuring people from underrepresented communities are recruited and advanced is far more beneficial for an organization than recruiting or advancing any one individual. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) attempts to level the playing field to allow the best ideas to flourish, connect talented individuals from underrepresented backgrounds with opportunities that those in the majority often have unfair access to, and empower the best organizations to thrive. Done right, creating diverse, equitable, inclusive organizations yield greater profitability, innovation, and smarter teams.

When employees who are different from their colleagues are allowed to flourish, the company benefits from their ideas, skills and engagement. The retention rate of those workers also rises. Here are five practical strategies for creating an inclusive environment.

  1. Educate your leaders. Your organization’s executives and managers will be instrumental to your DEI efforts. Leaders — especially middle managers — must be held accountable for results. Leaders should be expected to demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity and, more importantly, to be responsible for the environment in their respective departments. Ongoing feedback from their own managers will help to hold them accountable, as does tying the goal to their performance evaluations.
  2. Form an inclusion council. Consider forming a council comprised of a dedicated group of eight to 12 influential leaders who are one or two levels below the CEO. Carefully select them for their passion and commitment to inclusion. They need to be “a channel for communication” between the rank and file and the C-suite, and that includes advocating for inclusiveness in discussions with top executives when necessary. Ideally, councils should be involved in goal-setting around hiring, retaining and advancing a diverse workforce and in addressing any employee engagement problems among underrepresented employee groups.
  3. Celebrate employee differences. One of the most important ways to show employees that you respect their backgrounds and traditions is to invite them to share those in the workplace. It’s well-known that diversity in teams leads to better decision-making, greater innovation and, ultimately, higher returns. Inclusion is what connects people to the business, and we believe it’s one of the core reasons that diverse employees stay with organizations that recognize and celebrate diversity.
  4. Listen to employees. Conduct a comprehensive assessment of your organization’s demographics and people processes to develop specific strategies to promote inclusiveness. Think about the culture you want and how you can create one that is authentic to your brand while meeting the needs of your employees.
  5. Communicate goals and measure progress. Establish and clearly communicate specific, measurable and time-bound goals as you would with any other strategic aim. Every company should first benchmark their culture before they begin investing in it. Here are some actions to follow:

    Conduct a full audit of your people processes — from recruiting and hiring to developing and retaining employees. Couple the data with engagement and other workforce survey data to gain a full measure of your climate.
  • Identify any shortcomings and measurable discrepancies around inclusiveness in your organization.
  • Instill rigor into inclusion strategies with data-driven plans, and measure the results.
  • Establish a clear business case for how the company will benefit by having a more inclusive culture by asking:
  1. What are our inclusion goals?
  2. What are the reasons for those goals?
  3. How do we quantify inclusion?
  4. How will inclusion impact our mission, brand or bottom line?

When you can answer these questions, you’re speaking the language of your stakeholders, legitimizing the business of inclusion and making inclusion a ‘verb’ versus an ideal.

Instead of trying to change some people to fit the organization, we must focus on transforming our organizations to fit all people. To get workplace diversity and inclusion right, you need to build a culture where everyone feels valued and heard.

To hear the full interview with Jeremy York of Synergy, click below.

May 10

Addressing Indianapolis’ food desert challenges

By Feature

by Shari Finnell, editor/writer, Not for Profit News

For many Indianapolis residents, the ritual of getting dinner on the table throughout the week may involve a combination of trips to the grocery store, takeout and delivery from a few favorite restaurants or, as an increasingly popular option, meal kit delivery subscriptions.

Those options are rarely available for at least 208,000 people living in Indianapolis neighborhoods that fall into the category of food deserts, according to “Getting Groceries,” a report published by SAVI in 2019. The report, which tracked the number of people who live in low-income areas with no grocery stores and healthy food options easily accessible by public transportation, revealed a 10 percent increase from 2016 to 2019 — just one year before the COVID-19 pandemic, an event that likely further exacerbated food access challenges.

With grocery retailers closing, as in the case of Marsh in 2017, and others opening or expanding in non-food desert areas of the city, corporations, nonprofits and government leaders have announced plans in recent months to fill the gap.

One of the most recent developments is a proposed14,000-square-foot grocery store near 38th Street and Sheridan Avenue — a location that has been designated as a food desert. Cook Medical, Inc., based in Bloomington, Ind., announced it is collaborating with numerous nonprofit organizations and neighborhood leaders to prepare for the opening of Indy Fresh Market in 2022. The partners include Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana, The Indianapolis Foundation, IMPACT Central Indiana, Martin University, the State of Indiana, City of Indianapolis, and the United Northeast Community Development Corporation.

In another recent development, the state of Indiana approved a pilot project that would provide $600,000 to an individual or entity opening a grocery store in a low-income area “where access to resources for food is limited in a consolidated city.” The money is to be used specifically for providing training and acquiring equipment for a store being opened by people who already have private funding to build or rent a building.

Also, Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) and the Anthem Foundation are issuing a series of grants — totaling $2.45 million — under Equitable Food Systems in Indianapolis Neighborhoods, an initiative to increase food access and food security in food deserts. Those applying for the grants may offer a range of options, from community kitchens to urban gardens, grocery stores or mobile markets. 

Ultimately, these latest developments in Central Indiana can make a significant impact in health outcomes for people who currently live in food deserts, said Unai Miguel Andres, a GIS and data analyst for The Polis Center, which launched the SAVI project.

“Having a grocery store will allow you to make more health-conscious choices,” Miguel Andres says. “Living in areas that are lower income can deprive you of healthy food access, which can lead to serious health consequences such as obesity and diabetes. The assumption is that they will be able to improve their health outcomes because of the ease of being able to access healthy foods.”

Miguel Andres also said that it is important to understand the distinction between food insecurity and food access.

“Food access, in general, has gotten worse with Marsh closing (throughout the city) and Kroger closing in economically deprived areas where there’s nothing else,” he said. “That’s the access part. During the pandemic, from an economic point of view, many people lost their jobs and joined those classified as low-income.”

As a result, this new group of people are considered food insecure, Miguel Andres added. “Whether you have the means to access healthy food options, you’re facing food insecurity. The grocery store may be right in front of your house, but you may not be able to afford to shop there,” he said.

Under the Cook Medical partnership, the manufacturer will build the store and IMPACT Central Indiana will provide start-up capital. Two entrepreneurs, Michael McFarland and Marckus Williams, who are from the neighborhood will oversee the day-to-day operations, according to Cook Medical. McFarland and Williams will undergo training at Martin University, which offers business administration degrees. As part of the plan, the entrepreneurs will eventually take over ownership of the grocery store as part of a lease-to-own model.

“Food deserts exist throughout our state,” said Pete Yonkman, president of Cook Medical and Cook Group in a press release. “They are in our cities and in our rural communities. And we know that more than a quarter of Black Hoosiers live in a food desert. The challenges around food insecurity exacerbates already present health inequalities that can impact many generations to come. Michael and Marckus started with an idea to invest in this community and we, along with the many other partners, are excited to support them in this journey.”

Yonkman also said that the project could serve as a model that could be replicated by other partnerships. “With the support of Martin University to provide an educational curriculum for grocery store operations, our hope is that this project can serve as a model that can be replicated in other neighborhoods and communities,” he said “We’re focused on creating a sustainable business model that supports community ownership and continued education so Northeast Indy can reach its full potential.”

Miguel Andres anticipates that partnerships among various entities and individuals are likely to continue as the benefits of healthy food access are increasingly realized. “Nonprofits, hospital and health systems, and community organizations are coming together to open stores in underserved areas because they know there are benefits — healthwise — in providing these resources,” he said.

May 05

Nosotros también somos filantropía: La importancia de la representación en las organizaciones sin fines de lucro y específicamente en la filantropía

By Espanol

por Tashi Copeland
 
La falta de oportunidades, equidad e inclusión en las empresas estadounidenses ha sido un tema muy discutido durante este año. Sin embargo, las entidades sin fines de lucro no pueden excluirse de esta conversación. Múltiples estudios muestran que esta industria todavía es predominantemente blanca, especialmente en términos de roles de liderazgo y juntas directivas. Los líderes de organizaciones sin fines de lucro deben aumentar su conciencia sobre las barreras que enfrentan los aspirantes a líderes de color, desarrollar su capacidad para afrontarlas y, en última instancia, desmantelarlas. 
 
La Fundación Comunitaria de Indiana Central (Central Indiana Community Foundation, CICF) reconoce el efecto dominó en el sector filantrópico cuando hay una falta de diversidad, equidad e inclusión. Sin líderes de color, no hay una comprensión cercana de las experiencias racializadas de esas comunidades. Sin personal de color, hay poca o ninguna responsabilidad ante esas comunidades y, en última instancia, sin perspectivas de las personas de color, hay un refuerzo de la brecha de oportunidades raciales: un sesgo sobre cómo se diseminaron los dólares filantrópicos. 
 
La CICF reconoce que la comunidad negra, la comunidad latina, la comunidad asiática, las comunidades indígenas, LGTBQ + y las personas con discapacidad siempre han estado arraigadas en el sector filantrópico, independientemente de su título o afiliación. Cada uno de nosotros, en CICF, celebramos su trabajo y continuaremos elevando sus voces.

Y esta es la voz de Tashi Copeland, gerente de comunicaciones de CICF, con su artículo, “Nosotros, también, somos filantropía”. 

Filantropía. Un colectivo de personas que se esfuerza por crear un cambio profundo.
Creando causas para elevar al colectivo, ya sea la recopilación de tiempo, talento o tesoro.
Pero falta algo.   

Ustedes pueden apreciar que, desde el principio, esta sección de nuestra sociedad estaba reservada para blancos acaudalados.
Y aunque las décadas crearon innovaciones en campañas de promoción y donación,
las dirigencias, los rostros de los equipos y salas de juntas de estas fundaciones no cambiaron.  

Así que ahora nos encontramos en una situación difícil.
El dilema de 2021 es una pandemia, tanto en nuestros cuerpos como en nuestras juntas directivas.
Cuando las decisiones de financiamiento carecen de reflexión porque no hay un miembro de nuestras comunidades a la vista,
nos ignoran.

Cuando la solicitud de subvención no ofrece otra opción que la lengua de los padres fundadores, (Os Estados Unidos não têm língua oficial…por cierto)
nos silencian.

Cuando las barreras falsas, como esa de que la fundación se quedó corta para dar financiamiento a las organizaciones de base,
nos quedamos cortos en el cambio.

Cuando los directivos solo prestan atención a su círculo con quien comparten las mismas membresías del club,
no podemos ser escuchados.

Cuando la narrativa de las comunidades carece de un lenguaje de activos y solo reduce el déficit,
luchamos por demostrar nuestro valor.

Lo que necesitamos es una verdadera oportunidad, equidad e inclusión, no el engaño simbólico en el que nos encontramos hoy en día.
Pero alguien tiene que ser la chispa para encender estas conversaciones, para posteriores iteraciones, del verdadero cambio.
Para mí, la CICF ha sido esa chispa.   

Es una organización que me permite poner todo mi ser en el trabajo.
De mis trenzas artificiales hasta mis preguntas atrevidas.
Y no cuestiona mi silencio cuando los medios constantemente reavivan mi trauma pasado.

Es una fundación que me da la base para saber que está bien cometer errores.
sin perder mi participación en este trabajo crítico.

Trabajar con un equipo de líderes en los que veo mi reflejo, muestra el cambio que debe realizarse en este sector filantrópico.
  
Sin embargo, yo soy solo una cara en un mar de personas morenas y negras que tocan la puerta de la filantropía.

Estamos listos para quitar la cortina y permitir que entre la luz sobre las disparidades en el sector que está lingüísticamente arraigado en el amor a la humanidad.

Estamos listos para abrir las puertas a las organizaciones que nuestros padres fundadores hubieran considerado una locura.

Estamos listos para construir un vecindario de líderes morenos y negros a quienes se les dé más que migajas.

Estamos listos para compartir el legado de Langston de estar en la mesa cuando llegue la compañía.

Nosotros también somos filantropía.

May 03

We, Too, Are Philanthropy: How Representation Matters in Not-for-Profits and Specifically in Philanthropy

By Sponsor Insight

by Tashi Copeland

To read in Spanish, click here. Translation provided by LUNA Language Services.
 
The lack of opportunity, equity and inclusion in corporate America has been a hot topic this year. However, not-for-profit entities cannot be excluded from this conversation. Multiple studies show that this industry still is predominantly white, especially in terms of leadership roles and boards. Not-for-profit leaders need to raise their awareness of the barriers facing aspiring leaders of color, build their capacity to address these barriers — and ultimately dismantle these barriers. 
 
Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) recognizes the ripple effect on the philanthropic sector when there’s a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Without leaders of color, there’s no intimate understanding of the racialized experiences of communities of color. With no staff of color, there’s little to no accountability to communities of color. And ultimately, with no perspectives from people of color, there’s a reinforcement of the racial opportunity gap — a bias into how philanthropic dollars are disseminated.  
 
CICF recognizes that the Black community, the Latinx community, the Asian community, Indigenous communities, LGTBQ+, and people with disabilities have always been entrenched in the philanthropic sector, regardless of title or affiliation. All of us. We at CICF celebrate their work and will continue to uplift their voices. 

And this is the voice of Tashi Copeland, communications manager at CICF, with my piece, “We, Too, are Philanthropy.”  

Philanthropy. A collective of people, powering on to create profound change.
Creating causes to uplift the collective, 
whether that be the collection of time, talent, or treasure. 
But there’s something missing.   

You see from its erection, this section, of our society was sectioned off for wealthy white men. 
And while the decades created innovations in advocacy and giving campaigns,
the people in power, the faces of these foundations’ teams and boardrooms,
they didn’t change.  

So now we find ourselves in a predicament. 
The predicament of 2021 is a plague of pandemic, both in our bodies and our boardrooms.  
When funding decisions lack insight because there is not a member of our communities in sight,
we are overlooked.

When the grant application lends no option other than the founding fathers’ tongue,
(Estados Unidos tiene no idoma oficial…by the way)
we are silenced.  

When false barriers like the foundation is short-changed to give grassroots organizations funding,
we fall short of change.  

When members of leadership will only lend their ears to their network with the same club memberships,
we cannot be heard. 

When the narrative of communities lacks asset-based language and only pens the deficit,
we struggle to demonstrate our worth. 

What we need is true opportunity, equity and inclusion—not the tokenism delusion we often find ourselves in today.
But someone has to be the spark to fire up these conversations, for further iterations, of true change. 
For me, CICF has been that spark.   

It’s an organization that allows me to bring my whole self to work.
From my faux locs to my bold questions.
And does not question my silence when the media constantly re-triggers my past trauma. 

It’s a foundation that gives me the foundation to be okay with making mistakes
without losing my stake in this critical work. 

Working with a leadership team that I see my own reflection,
mirrors the change that needs to be made in this philanthropic sector. 
  
But I am just one face in a sea of Black and Brown people, knocking on the doors of philanthropy. 

We are ready to tear down the curtains and shine a light on the disparities in the sector that is linguistically rooted in the love of humanity.

We are ready to open doors to organizations’ missions our founding fathers would have deemed insanity.

We are ready to build a neighborhood of Brown and Black leaders who are given more than crumbs. 

We are ready to live out Langston’s legacy of being at the table when company comes. 

We, too, are philanthropy. 

Tashi Copeland is the communications manager at Central Indiana Community Foundation. She has always had a passion for strategic thinking and creative communication. Her ultimate goal is to uplift the voices and stories of those who often are overlooked.