Why Dreamers Love Indianapolis

Why Dreamers Love Indianapolis

Last Friday, I walked into the old City Hall, an imposing edifice downtown built from Indiana limestone.  Now transformed into The Hall, the building has played an important role in Indy’s history.  Constructed in the early 1900s to symbolize “the stability and achievements of the city,” the Hall housed government offices, the State Museum, and Central Library.  It was an essential building until 2008, when after almost 100 years of use it sat vacant.  Thanks to a local nonprofit, in 2014 old City Hall became The Hall and now serves as a meeting space for community-based initiatives.

Now, I am a city girl through and through.  I have a Vonnegut doll, a penchant for eating too much Bazbeaux pizza, and a passion for promoting progress in Naptown.  That's how I found myself at The Hall for Indy 5X5 – re:Purpose, an event that's part of a bigger plan to strengthen the community.  

Here's the rundown: Indy 5X5 chooses five presenters to share their ideas for “repurposing urban waste into assets,” community members vote for a favorite, and the winner walks away with $10,000 toward his/her project.  Sounds riveting, right?  As much as I thought this was an awesome way to spend my Friday evening, I was hardly expecting a large crowd. 

Boy, was I mistaken.  Every folding chair on the expansive marble floor was occupied; small groups stood along the back wall and in doorways leading to halls under construction.  Around the room, community members networked and spoke of Indy's potential.  When it was time for 5X5, we all squeezed into the dense rows of flimsy chairs and held tight our voting tickets for the end of the evening.

The presenters’ projects varied in size and scope, but shared a common vision of community collaboration.  The winning park project, E.N.G.I.N.E, centers on repurposing a Bonneville into artwork that celebrates the community’s Hispanic heritage.  This park project fills a spot that has been long empty, and will allow youth in the Near Westside to have both a safe place to play and a space that embraces culture.

When I got home, I sat at my small kitchen table, looked at my limestone Indiana paperweight, and began to dream up my own projects for the city.

So why do dreamers love Indianapolis?  Because when I walked into The Hall on Friday, I saw a community gathered together for a noble cause.  I saw The Hall repurposed from a vacant building into a haven for innovative pursuits.  Finally, I saw a start-up group with a great idea given the opportunity to benefit its neighborhood in a big way!

Our vast network of nonprofits and committed government officials allows community members with great ideas to uniquely repurpose Indianapolis. 

I am proud to be part of one such nonprofit that is encouraging and innovative in its community pursuits.  As we speak, MCCOY is working on some very exciting stuff including a revamped Youth Advocacy Council, the Family Access Network services center, and of course much, much more!

For more information, visit www.mccoyouth.org :)

City Hall References:

Historical information regarding Old Indianapolis City Hall retrieved from http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/indianapolis/oldcityhall.htm National Park Service. "Old Indianapolis City Hall." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 01 July 2014.

Photo Credit:

People for Urban Progress website: http://www.peopleup.org/right-now/tag/indianapolis "The Hall-- New Life for Old City Hall." People for Urban Progress. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 July 2014.Indy 5X5 website: http://5x5indy.org/index.php/repurpose/ "5×5 Indy » Re:Purpose." Arts, Innovation, 5X5 Indianapolis. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 July 2014.

They Say We Stand For Nothing and There’s No Way We Ever Could

The past month I have been so involved in democracy that I dream about bills and manage to turn every conversation into one about legislation. It’s annoying and yet I’m hooked. I soak it all up. Yesterday I attended COBI—Children…Our Best Investment, which is a day where students can hear speakers talk about current issues, form messages for their legislators, have lunch with Senators and Representatives, and go to the Statehouse for tours and conversations with legislators. I was so impressed to see young people soaking it up just like I do.

They asked panelists tough questions that forced them to get to the heart of the issues. When legislators came to lunch, they brought up problems in education that they are facing and asked how the current bills are going to address the issues. If answers from panelists or legislators were not up to snuff, they said, “But what about this…” Everything from gang activity in schools, to undocumented immigrants getting a college education, to how far schools can go in suspending and expelling students, to restructuring the Indianapolis Public School system were brought up and spoken about not only with passion, but with poise, knowledge, and confidence.

At the Statehouse later in the day I saw students talking with their legislators, grilling legislative assistants about how they got their jobs and what degree was needed, and introducing themselves as “Future Senator So-and-So” and “Future Governor”.

If this is the face of Indiana’s future, we are in good hands. These high school students want to know the answers. They ask good questions. They’re not interested in simply identifying a problem; they’re interested in coming up with solutions and making them happen. I’m confident that even in a highly partisan political climate that is discouraging many, these students will keep their drive and optimism and become great leaders.

One day our generation is gonna rule the population, so stop Waiting on the World to Change. These youth did.

Interested in having your voice heard? Join MCCOY’s Youth Advocacy Council.
Want to stay updated on the legislative session and other advocacy updates? Follow MCCOY_Advocacy on Twitter.


 

Election Day is Next Month - Are You Informed?

Election day is less than a month away and, while this isn't a presidential election year, it is no less important. For voters who live in Marion County, the mayoral race is heating up and could potentially be historic for Indianapolis if Melina Kennedy is elected as the first female mayor for the city. This is also a municipal election year and many seats on the City/County Council are up for grabs as are other council seats in surrounding counties.

These smaller municipal elections tend to have lower voter turnout than the years with presidential elections, but they are no less important. The candidates for whom you are voting have direct control over your city, town, or neighborhood. They make decisions on public safety, on parks and planning, and on the budget. The impact that these policy makers have affect your daily life in ways greater than the president or your federal legislators.

So, why is turnout so low? Well, there's typically less campaigning and therefore less visibility of the candidates. The budgets are smaller and public appearances happen on a smaller scale. This leads many voters to not even know who is running in their district and not feel invested in the election. Many figure that these local seats have less significance because of lower profile of the candidates.

As a U.S. citizen, our democracy gives every adult the right to vote. We are fighting wars in other countries to promote democracy, but it's interesting that we don't utilize that right to it's fullest potential. Particularly in these contentious political and economic times, we need to ensure that we are paying attention and are informed about the politicians whom we are electing into office. And, if we don't like the job that they are doing, making that known at election time.

The Indianapolis Star has posted an interactive voter's guide to the local candidates. You can search the candidates in your district, learn about their stances and backgrounds, and even print out your sample ballot so that you don't forget your selections by the time you get to the polls. I highly recommend that you check it out.

http://www.indystar.com/interactive/article/99999999/NEWS05/110318019/IndyStar-Voter-Guide

Legislative Update 2/25/11

Aside from the walkout by the House Democrats this week, there have been some interesting things happening at the Statehouse in the past two weeks. The controversial immigration bill passed the Senate and is on its way to the House, albeit with some changes. The equally controversial teacher evaluation and licensing bill has also moved on to the House and the unions are packing the Statehouse to protest the Right to Work legislation.

With regard to youth, there are some good and not so good things happening. First, SB 56 Child Care Regulation was not held for vote and is therefore dead for this session. Senator Miller explained that she has not heard enough "compelling" evidence to prove the need for state regulation of church-based childcare ministries. Also, SB538 Bullying Prevention was defeated in committee - a surprising move to most child advocates. Reasoning had to do with an already over-burdened education system and concern that the bill promoted gay rights.

Both SB 4 and HB 1019, dealing with youth suicide prevention, have crossed over to their respective houses. Given the support that both bills have seen, despite being amended, it is likely that this issue will have success in this session - a very positive outcome for our youth.

Finally, HB 1566 School Absenteeism and Dropouts (Porter) passed committee on Monday. This bill will:

• Require schools to report chronic absenteeism to the DOE, identify contributing factors to absenteeism and develop chronic absenteeism reduction plans.
• Directs the education roundtable to study and make recommendations concerning early childhood education.
• Allows school corporations to contract with nonprofit entities to provide health care services in school-based clinics.

Let's hope for a peaceful solution to the standoff at the Statehouse so that we can get down to business and create some meaningful legislation that will help and not hurt the youth and families in our state.

Real Change will Happen only through Informed Voters

Aside from the extremely tough economic times, our country seems to be in a deep state of political turmoil. It seems as though politicians have lost their way and have forgotten the purpose of holding an elected office – to effectively serve their constituents. Members of the Democratic and Republican parties have strayed from the fundamental basics of a two-party system. This system was designed to reflect differing opinions and interests on the role and scope of the federal government and liberalism versus conservatism on social and economic issues, among others. The ideal would be to have all interests represented, with agreement on policies that reflect the best interests of the majority of Americans.

What is happening instead is lowbrow political campaigning, with a large focus on fear and little focus on critical issues that our country is facing. There are mudslinging battles between parties that result in little being accomplished to bring the country back to a better place both on the domestic and international fronts.

The result to a large percentage of American voters has been confusion, apathy and misguided decisions of which candidates are best suited to represent them in local, state, and federal government. But, Americans have the power to change this trend by becoming informed voters who analyze candidates not through the skewed political ads and partisan political analysts, but through non-partisan research of their stance on the issues. With so much negative campaigning and influence of special interests, it is hard to sift through what is fact and what is fiction. How do we know what the candidate really believes?

The key to being an informed voter is taking everything that the opponent says with a grain of salt. Most claims of political opponents are exaggerations of the truth, distortions of the truth by taking statements out of context, and sometimes just blatant lies. Do your own research and understand the partisan leanings of the media source from which you obtain your information. Most media outlets, whether openly or not, lean conservative or liberal on most issues. These influences affect the way they report stories and what information they choose to share or withhold from their stories.

Two great websites that I have found to be useful and non-partisan are www.factcheck.org and www.votesmart.org. Factcheck.org is a non-profit project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The site analyzes the factual accuracy of political ads, debates, speeches, etc. Votesmart.org is a non-profit organization made up largely of volunteers representing the entire political spectrum. The site provides information on federal and state candidates as well as current elected officials. You can search the site to find information such as key votes on issues, recent speeches and even current endorsements and campaign finance.

Being a country founded on democracy in which the citizens have a voice in the functioning of their government, Americans have the inherent right and fundamental duty to make informed decisions about how that government serves them. It’s time to step up and take charge of that power. Let’s let politicians know that we’re paying attention.