Creating the plan isn’t easy. Neighborhood planning requires meetings, strategy sessions, and reaching out to neighborhood residents, churches, schools, business leaders, and other stakeholders to make sure it is a plan your entire neighborhood will embrace. You have to consider all sorts of factors, from land use to education to public safety to the quality of housing to health care and beyond. It can (and probably should) take months to bring a plan together.

But it’s worth it. Through planning, you can develop a guide for the growth of your neighborhood. You see not only where you want to go, but how you can work together to get there.
A quality-of-life plan captures the vision of residents and turns your goals into achievable projects and programs. It’s not planning for planning’s sake, but practical planning driven by real community needs—that leads to real, visible results.

Also, a quality-of-life plan is living document. It’s not static: it changes and grows as your neighborhood changes. That’s because it’s important to begin taking action while you’re planning. An important part of creating your quality-of-life plan is finding meaningful actions you can take now to start making your neighborhood great.

Finally, your quality-of-life plan is your plan. It’s not something imposed on you by the City or GINI or anyone else. Only you truly understand the opportunities and challenges in your neighborhood. Only you can determine what your neighborhood needs to do to become the next Great Indy Neighborhood.