What are we?
Making Connections is 10 year national initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Making Connections Indianapolis is one of 10 participating cities that is focused on building strong neighborhoods, strong families, and strong children.
Making Connections Indianapolis partners with neighborhood residents to improve the lives and prospects of families and children living in some of
Common sense tells us that children do better when their families are strong, and families do better when they live in supportive communities.
Marking Connections focuses in three areas:
- Increasing opportunities for people to increase their household income, save, and invest
- Ensuring that children enter school healthy and ready to be successful
- Helping residents become engaged in their communities and develop their leadership skills
Where are We?
Making Connections Indianapolis targets two neighborhoods: Martindale Brightwood and Southeast.
- Martindale-Brightwood is a primarily African American community of nearly 10,000 people that faces many challenges.
- The Southeast area, is composed of four diverse neighborhoods of Whites, African Americans, and a growing number of Hispanics. As is the case in Martindale-Brightwood, most of the residents live in wood frame, single family dwellings, many of them rental properties. This neighborhood, too, has outcomes that are far below the County as a whole.
Who are we?
Making Connections Indianapolis is the residents, community and faith-based organizations, community leaders, businesses, and interested partners who live, work, or worship in tough neighborhoods. Making Connections Indianapolis is staffed by people with a strong commitment to achieving results in these communities.
The Making Connections Indianapolis Staff
Dori Sparks-Unsworth
Executive Director
dori@mcindy.org
Yvette Williams
Technical Assistance
yjwrealtor@aol.com
Alicia Barnett
Resident Engagement And Leadership
aliciajbarnett@aol.com
Cynthia Cunningham
Local Learning Partnership
cunninghamconsulting@earthlink.net
Karen Ruprecht
Local Learning Partnership Diarist
ruprechk@purdue.edu
Lisa Osterman
Local Learning Partnership
Workforce Development
torr@lisc.org
Megan Query-Roth
Data Assistant
megan@communitysolutionsinc.net
Melody Barber-Hence
Children Healthy and Prepared to Succeed in School
mbhence@aol.com
Patrice Duckett
Program Assistant
pduckett2002@yahoo.com
Will Fay
Diarist
willfay@ameritech.net
Julie Barrett
Workforce Dept. Employment Specialist
jbarrett@ipic.org
Elaine Cates
Workforce Dept. Employment Specialist
cates1e@yahoo.com