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In early 2004, local community development corporation leaders,
through the Indianapolis Coalition for Neighborhood Development
(ICND), met with Mayor Bart Peterson to discuss a renewed vision
for neighborhood improvement in Indianapolis. This meeting
eventually led to the Community Development Summit, convened by
Mayor Peterson and ICND in October 2004, where more than 400
stakeholders representing neighborhood residents, organizations,
and businesses talked about building on our successes and
affecting holistic, positive change in our neighborhoods. From the summit, a diverse group of civic leaders formed the Community
Development Strategy Group, which developed the Eleven
Principles of Healthy Neighborhoods (see page 3). Guided by
these principles, the strategy group began a process of
identifying strategies that would foster greater engagement and
support for a more comprehensive approach to neighborhood
development.
The group began to explore the idea of comprehensive
community development: an approach to community development
activities that integrates economic, physical, and human
development to create healthy neighborhoods. It recognizes that
in order to transform neighborhoods, development efforts must
include the physical spaces, human needs, and relationships in
the places we live, work, raise our families, and participate in
our community.
As a result, the Great Indy Neighborhood Initiatives (GINI)
were born. GINI is a program that encourages neighbors to work
together across traditional boundaries to organize and get
involved in their neighborhoods, decide collectively on the
priorities for their neighborhoods, and act on those priorities
to implement change in their neighborhoods.
GINI is different because it begins with what’s right about your
neighborhood. It celebrates the work already accomplished and
provides the opportunity for neighbors to continue enhancing
their neighborhoods together by developing and acting upon a
comprehensive plan for collectively moving the neighborhood
toward continued growth.
You can start to act right now. The GINI approach to
developing a quality-of-life plan for your neighborhood is a
great place to begin! |
