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Tysha Hardy Sellers (left) holds an award for her work done in the Martindale Brightwood community next to Joanna Taft (right), who helped plan the celebration.
Jeremy Reuben / WFYIMartindale Brightwood, one of Indianapolis’ historically Black neighborhoods, celebrated a new five-year community improvement plan at an event on Wednesday.
A coalition of organizations in the neighborhood, which sits on the city’s near northeast side, worked with neighbors on the initiative for the last three years.
The resulting plan focuses on 10 key areas including housing and infrastructure, arts and culture, economic development and environmental justice. Its overall mission is to improve quality of life for residents.
Wednesday's celebration, held at the historic Polk Stables building, included a parade, live music, art and an interactive theater experience for community members. The goal was to showcase everything the Martindale Brightwood community has to offer through art, commerce and history.
"This is a resilient neighborhood,” said Joanna Taft, one of the event's organizers and executive director of the Harrison Center. “This is a neighborhood that knows what it is to be a community, and knows how to come together and how to celebrate and how to move forward. And that’s what they’re doing with the quality of life plan."
The theater performances were done by PreEnactment Theater — each performance depicted what the quality of life plan envisions for the neighborhood’s future.
Contact WFYI Morning Edition Newscaster and Reporter Abriana Herron at aherron@wfyi.org, and WFYI Digital Producer and Reporter Jeremy Reuben at jreuben@wfyi.org
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