Democratizing Our Data: Covid-19 Impacts on Black and Brown Businesses

The economic impact of Covid-19 on small businesses is unprecedented. Between February and April of 2020, 22% of small businesses disappeared. The number of active white business owners dropped to 17%. In comparison, the number of Black business owners dropped by 41% and Latinx business owners decreased by 32% (Fairlie 2020). This data highlights the disproportionate impacts the pandemic has …

Pandemics & Community Wealth: 4 Stories of Resilience

“We can, Each of us, Do the impossible As long as we can convince ourselves That it has been done before.” – Earthseed: The Books of the Living, Octavia Butler Race, class, patriarchy and capitalism are the primary driving social & economic forces today. These forces shape and define inequitable resource distribution, power and all aspects of our social constructs. …

7 Steps to Community Social Innovation

“Chaos is another word for opportunity.” – I Ching The buzz words just keep coming.  Inclusive Growth Race and Equity Sustainability Social Determinants of Health And of course last, but not least – social innovation. While I understand the importance of words to capture and focus our efforts, I’m challenged by the fact that often these concepts are primarily shaped …

Emergence, Afrofuturism and Desired Future States

“Science fiction is simply a way to practice the future together. I suspect that is what many of you are up to, practicing futures together, practicing justice together, living into new stories. It is our right and responsibility to create a new world.” – Adrienne Maree Brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds Recently I had the opportunity to participate …

Are training programs the answer to racial equity?

In a recent Indiana Business Journal (IBJ) article author Hayleigh Colombo shared data from the recent Opportunity Atlas study showing major persistent income disparities between Blacks and Whites regardless of education and generation. She shares that “for every dollar the average white worker in Indianapolis earns…the average black worker born to high-income parents earns 73 cents.” Turning that into dollar …

A Critical Moment: The Struggle to Make Indianapolis a More Equitable City

Recently, the word equity has become more prominent in discussions of how to address growing poverty and inequality along lines of race, class and gender. Some examples in Indianapolis: The Indy Chamber recently collaborated with the Brookings Institute on a study about Committing to Inclusive Growth. The Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) recently changed their mission to “mobilize people, ideas and …

It’s Not About Gentrification

Now that the question of gentrification is not a subject only talked about behind closed doors, it’s time to dig deeper into the root causes of gentrification. While we continue to debate whether economic development will lead to physical and cultural displacement, the issue of gentrification is merely a symptom of much deeper structural/cultural challenges. There are a litany of …

Gentrifying Indy: A Close Look at the Numbers

By WildStyle – Keith R. Paschall II According to a study commissioned by LISC Indy, 5 census tracts have experienced displacement causing the percentage of African-Americans to drop some significantly in several neighborhoods. The study done by the Center for Community Progress shows the Near Eastside neighborhoods of Cottage Home and Holy Cross experienced a 56% decline in their African-American …

Police Reform Revisited?

“A reform that begins with the officer on the beat is not reform at all. It’s avoidance. It’s a continuance of the American preference for considering the actions of bad individuals, as opposed to the function and intention of systems.” – Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Myth of Police Reform. On July 14th, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett announced his plan to bring …

From Indy Community Innovation Lab Emerges “New Music”

What is the Community Innovation Lab and why is KI involved? The lab will bring divergent voices across sectors together periodically over the next 18 months to dig deeper around a specific community issue. The lab is a collaborative effort between EmcArts – a nonprofit art consulting organization based in New York – and local conveners: Spirit & Place, Groundwork …