Keep Indianapolis Beautiful is celebrating 50 years in the city and aims to raise about $4 million through a campaign to fund community-focused projects in Indianapolis. They plan to use that money for a small number of flagship projects as well as funding for upkeep on existing green spaces.
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful says the newly planned projects are roughly 10 times bigger than their usual programs. KIB also works to transform empty lots into green space, clean up litter and plant trees.
President and CEO Jeremy Kranowitz said studies show that their green spaces make communities healthier and safer.
"If you take something that has been a vacant or abandoned lot and turn it into a community green space, and now you've got a reason for neighbors to engage in that space,” said Kranowitz. “We know that there is a statistically significant drop in violent crime when that happens."Kranowitz pointed to research from the University of Louisville that suggests that people living in areas with more trees and shrubs have better health outcomes.
Roughly $1.3 million will go towards three new, large park projects.
On the near northwest side, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful is partnering with Nine13sports, a bicycle nonprofit, to create a traffic garden where kids can learn about bicycle skills and safety.
"If this green space prevents one serious accident or accidental death from a kid on a bike colliding with a car, it will have paid for itself many times over," said Kranowitz.
Another location the group plans on revamping is on the far east side, near the intersection of Post Road and 30th Street. The plan there is to make an outdoor commons filled with native plants to complement a nearby community center.
KIB rounds out their new parks with an urban microforest. This project will turn an underused parking lot into a green oasis filled with various trees and shrubs. Kranowitz says the project will help lower the heat index around the area and keep roughly 750,000 gallons of stormwater runoff from entering local water treatment facilities. The location of the microforest project is yet to be revealed.
Another large project will build a new $2 million building where Keep Indianapolis Beautiful will engage in workforce development initiatives with high schoolers and college students. The group works with roughly 60 high schoolers and a dozen college students every year to earn workplace certificates and familiarize themselves with tree and plant care.
“We are teaching kids who will become successful field workers in the future,” said Kranowitz. “And I think, as you know, with a real dedicated training place for that, that will help Indianapolis well into the future.”
Roughly $700,000 of the money raised will go towards maintaining the 65 green spaces Keep Indianapolis Beautiful has built during its 50 year history.
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful started in 1976 with Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut asking city workers for a volunteer to help control litter around the city. Kranowitz recalls that early volunteer and employee Betty Stanford stepped up thinking it’d be unpaid work.
“[Mayor Hudnut] told her, ‘No, this is going to be a paid job,’” said Kranowitz. “‘You're going to be reporting directly to me, and the job starts in 48 hours.’”
First called the Clean City Commission, the group began a public awareness campaign featuring Mayor Hudnut throwing litter into trash cans, demonstrating what came to be known as the “Hudnut Hook.”
The organization became a nonprofit separate from the city government, and the Clean City Commission officially changed its name to Keep Indianapolis Beautiful in the 90’s.
The organization has already raised $3.5 million. Most of their projects will finish in 2027.
Contact WFYI Digital Producer and Reporter Jeremy Reuben at jreuben@wfyi.org.
