Neighbor Power Indy (NPI) 2024 Videos and Workshops
Theme: Great Communities: It Begins with Us
About Neighbor Power Indy
Neighbor Power Indy will focus on sharing stories, exploring new ideas and celebrating wins. NPI 2024 will take place March 1st-9th, 2024. Neighbor Power videos will be prerecorded and highlighted during these dates. On Saturday, March 9th, we will come together for a full day in-person conference where neighbors will present workshops.
Videos
Workshops
Building Community; Turning Passion into Action – Local Vocals, Leslie and Keith Bean
Description: The story of Local Vocals started with a passion to bring people together through music. During the workshop participants will hear about Local Vocals and their incredible diversity, how members engage with one another, and how this can be a model for other projects. They hope to show how connecting with community members can increase emotional well-being and social cohesion, making communities stronger.
During this participatory workshop, attendees will learn the following:
- How to turn your passion into action and a project plan
- How to build an engaging environment that respects and celebrates diversity
- The importance of the elements of resilience and how to build those elements into your projects
Community-Powered Infrastructure 101 – Taylor Firestine, DeJuan Washington, and Daniel Stevenson, Health by Design
Description: In recent years, the City of Indianapolis has adopted new policies supporting tactical urbanism and art in the public right-of-way—two strategies that have had proven success—resulting in an explosion of interest in “DIY” traffic calming and creative placemaking throughout the city’s neighborhoods.
With blossoming interest from residents, business owners, schools, and other community organizations, Health by Design has partnered with the City of Indianapolis Department of Public Works (Indy DPW) to spread the word on this latest community resource — Community-Powered Infrastructure (CPI). This adjustment allows 50/50 matching grants to be made available for smaller-scale traffic calming and road safety installations.
Decoding Indianapolis’s Tactical Urbanism Permit Application – Community Heights Neighborhood Organization, Dr. Leslie Schulte
Description: Our goal is to create a safer 10th St for everyone. In the Summer of 2023, Community Heights used the Department of Public Works new Tactical Urbanism policy to prevent accidents, calm traffic, and create a street that was safe for pedestrians and drivers alike. This workshop will guide attendees on filling out the Department of Public Works Tactical Urbanism Permit Application.
Discover the Power of Community in YOU! – Kim Boyd, Founder & President at The H.O.P.E. (Helping Others Prosper Economically) TEAM
Description: This presentation details how neighbors can bring change to their community and develop their own empowerment.
From Sex Workers to Sunflowers -Eddie Smith and Geno Malusek
Description: The Grace Tuxedo Park neighborhood once had an area referred to as “Sex Worker Alley”, and after community efforts, is now known as “Sunflower Alley”.
This session will highlight about how greening vacant lots and repairing/tearing down abandoned buildings in urban neighborhoods decreases crime and violence, as well as stress and depression in the neighborhoods around them. Grace Tuxedo Park is a shining example of how this practice works.
Grant Writing for the Non-Grant Writer – Tammy Sajdyk and Lynn Levy
Description: This grant writing workshop will be geared for the person who is not familiar with grant writing. The goal of the workshop is to teach residents throughout Indianapolis how to put together a basic grant to help support their community.
By the completion of the workshop participants should be able to:
1.Know the basic sections of a grant
2.Understand the importance of researching the area of interest and how to find relevant references.
3.How to write strong goals and objectives
Indy Center for Conflict Resolution: Community Mediation – Vanessa Romero and Kenwyn Butler, Indy Center for Conflict Resolution
Description: Provides Conflict Resolution 101 to members in the community to help people with how they deal with conflict, react vs respond to conflict, and promote mediation.
Papel Picado en la Calle – BeatrizVasquezArt
Description: For many in the Latinx community, our families have lived in Indiana for 3 or more generations and some of us have lived here since the mid to late 1800s, yet we continue to be underrepresented in leadership roles in all aspects of society in Indiana, including in the arts.
This workshop will detail our project and invite participants to help us create 500 Papel Picados to place between the Woodruff Place Neighborhood and St.Clair Place Neighborhood on the near east side as part of our visibility and representation. Our goal is to connect to our traditions while living in middle America and invite non-Latinx neighbors to explore the possibilities of the ancient traditional art form of Papel Picado. Using this art as a connector to Latinx neighbors in Indianapolis, where we call home.
Using Art and Placemaking to Build Community – Chris Smith, 1000 Words Inc.
Description: We recognize the transformative influence of art on communities, offering benefits such as beautification and strengthened community bonds. We will provide guidance on crafting memorable and impactful art projects with lasting effects on communities. We will explore tools for organizing events and learn methods to assess the project’s impact on the community.
Waterways for All: Celebrate, Engage & Partner – Simona Reising, Reconnecting to Our Waterways
Description: Reconnecting to Our Waterways (ROW) is a collective impact initiative that has worked purposefully since 2012 to change the quality of life and ecology along Indianapolis waterways and surrounding neighborhoods. During our workshop, ROW will celebrate how waterways across Indianapolis are working to improve their communities by embracing and valuing the river and its tributaries. We will discuss how to engage new stakeholders and neighborhoods to discover, celebrate, and create genuine care around waterways as an asset.