Where We Work

LISC Indianapolis’ Strategic Plan 2015 - 2018 aims to connect both the people and places of Indy to the opportunity in the region. Through collaboration with other community organizations and private sponsors, we focus on strategic priorities to improve quality of life for all the city’s residents. This goal requires commitment to achieving collective impact - we want to combine resources to reshape our urban places and foster neighborhoods full of growing businesses and healthy prosperous residents.

In the last 50 years, the population of the Center Township of Indianapolis has declined by 52%. The poverty rate in our core neighborhoods has grown from 12% to 21%. No longer are we the manufacturing hub of the 1960s. Today, sectors like logistics, health care, and biotechnology offer the most opportunity for the urban Hoosier workforce, but inadequate education has left many behind. Indy residents are ready to be connected to those opportunities, and our neighborhoods are ready to be a home to their businesses. Our Strategic Plan through 2018 demonstrates how we intend to jump-start Indy’s potential as a community and a destination.

We seek to achieve our goals in our targeted neighborhoods by focusing on four essential elements of a healthy community:

Livability: Creating healthy, active, beautiful places
Opportunity: Fostering entrepreneurship and employment
Vitality: Reviving and growing a diverse population
Education: Offering excellent lifelong learning opportunities
This is a transformation we have already substantially achieved in neighborhoods like Fountain Square and Indy’s near east side; and continue to pursue through supporting neighborhoods that are actively implementing their Quality- of-Life Plans, LISC also participates in various citywide initiatives that seek to leverage additional investment into these neighborhoods, including:
  • Great Places 2020 which seeks to transform Marion County neighborhood centers into dynamic centers of culture, commerce and community.
  • FOCUS: Works, Fostering Commercial Urban Strategies, is designed to attract investment and job creation and bolster economic opportunity in our older commercial and industrial districts.
  • The Center for Working Families network is composed of 11 neighborhood-based centers that transition families from living paycheck to paycheck to investing in their future

Click here to read the Full Strategic Plan.