INDIANAPOLIS – Reconnecting to Our Waterways (ROW) recently awarded grants totaling $250,000 for creative placemaking projects and programming along three Indianapolis waterways of focus to the collective impact initiative – Fall Creek, Central Canal and Pogue’s Run. A portion of the funding has been awarded to ROW’s Ecology Committee as well. These creative placemaking projects will use arts and culture to shape the physical and social character of Indy neighborhoods.
The grants are the final installment of the $1.6 million awarded to ROW in 2013 – $1.3 million from the Kresge Foundation, $300,000 from the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) – for creative placemaking strategies, research and measurement, and management of the grant over three years (2014-16).
While only ROW Element and Waterway Committees were eligible to submit applications for this final round, residents, artists and businesses were and are encouraged to join waterway committees, to get engaged with revitalizing their local waterway. ROW’s overall mission is to steward the collaboration between key influencers in the neighborhoods where its committees reside, as it has done with this final allocation of the Kresge-CICF funding:
- ROW Ecology Committee received $12,000 for their plan to conduct a “BioBlitz” – a 24-hour survey of a specific waterway area in which experts and interested volunteers record all species of plants and animals present.
- ROW Fall Creek Waterway Committee was awarded $72,750 to fund the Silver Falls art installation – an iconic sculpture designed by Scott Westphal to be installed in the Broad Ripple area – as well as green space beautification projects in the area.
- ROW Central Canal Waterway Committee received $94,000 to fund their grant, which will mobilize habitat restoration and clean up, programming and public art, a community connection program. This committee will also use the funding to employ local youth to remove invasive plants in the area.
- ROW Pogue’s Run Waterway Committee was awarded $71,250 to fund their green space preservation/prevention program, which includes a re-entry training program and will focus on transforming a vacant lot in the Springdale neighborhood.
“We at Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) continue to be thrilled about how the Kresge Foundation grant to CICF, leveraged with CICF’s investment, is acting as such a powerful catalyst for neighborhood creativity and transformation,” said Brian Payne, president and CEO of CICF and The Indianapolis Foundation.
Since the initial funding was announced in 2013, ROW has been intentional in selecting committee grant winners each year that will set in motion projects along the waterways that are most needed. In 2014, $370,000 was awarded for projects along Pleasant Run, Fall Creek and White River. In 2015, $232,260 was allocated to projects along all six waterways of focus – Central Canal, Fall Creek, Little Eagle Creek, Pleasant Run, Pogue’s Run and the White River. ROW will continue to implement and manage these projects.
To further leverage this private funding, in 2015, the City of Indianapolis announced $5 million in new project investments along the city’s waterways through the Community Development Block Grant program. Construction of these projects is underway; including an extension of Pogue’s Run trail, the installation of a pedestrian bridge over Pleasant Run, and architectural lighting on the New York and Michigan Street bridges over White River.
”The past three years have been transformational for ROW working as a collective impact – neighborhoods and policy experts have put their heads together on how to increase quality of life in Indy neighborhoods along our waterways,” said Corrie Meyer, director of Reconnecting to Our Waterways. “As we look forward, we see greater collaboration with the City, stakeholders, neighborhood residents, and creative professionals to create opportunities for art, nature, and beauty along our waterways and waterway neighborhoods.”
About Reconnection to Our Waterways
Reconnecting to Our Waterways (ROW) is a grassroots movement that is helping neighbors strengthen waterways, and in turn, helping waterways strengthen neighborhoods. ROW focus on six of Indianapolis’ main waterways: Fall Creek, Pogue’s Run, Pleasant Run, White River, Little Eagle Creek and the Central Canal.
For more information visit OurWaterways.org, Facebook.com/OurWaterways, and Twitter.com/OurWaterways.
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