Eligibility Criteria and Selection Process
- Any neighborhood-based organization across the city is eligible to submit nominations.
- Neighborhood-based organizations may self-nominate. Note that INRC cannot complete an application on an organization’s behalf.
- Only complete nomination forms with all supporting documentation can be accepted for consideration.
- The outcome of the nominated initiative must have been achieved or a significant milestone towards completion must have been reached between January 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012.
- Collaboration is defined for this award as: coordinated efforts by more than one neighborhood association and private, philanthropic, governmental or independent sector organizations or agencies with the intent of accomplishing a goal related to the betterment of the quality of life in Indianapolis neighborhoods. This may include, but not be limited to, collaborating on projects, community events and/or neighborhood planning. Strong resident leadership is essential.
- Selection of award finalists and award winners will be based on consideration of the degree to which those nominated are innovative, overcome obstacles, mobilize community resources and create partnerships between people of different age, cultural, and economic status who would not ordinarily work together.
Selection Process
- Applications are available on INRC’s website (www.inrc.org) and at INRC’s office.
- Completed applications must be received at INRC by 5pm on Friday, August 10, 2012. They can be hand delivered to 1802 N. Illinois Street, faxed to 317-920-0556, or emailed to namccormick@inrc.org.
- Decisions will be made by a committee of INRC Marketing and Resource Development Committee members and INRC Indianapolis Community Building Institute (ICBI) graduates. All deliberation is confidential, and the decisions of the committee are final.
The winner of the award will be announced at INRC’s 18th Annual Meeting on September 24, 2012. A cash award will be presented, and the winning collaborative project name will be engraved on a plaque hung in INRC’s office.
Click here to download the 2012 Collaborative Spirit Award Criteria and Nomination Form.
Previous Collaborative Spirit Awardees
2011: Millersville at Fall Creek Valley
A multi-neighborhood organization with the focus of beautifying, renovating and revitalizing the community surrounding 56th Street and Emerson Way. The organization accomplished four initiatives in the last year and a half. These include the Treasures of Millersville Tour and booklet. This narrated bus tour highlighted the area’s natural resources and rich heritage. An accompanying booklet of historic and environmental information was written and produced. During the summer of 2011, the group added summer concerts on the lawn at the neighborhood IPS School #106.
A project Greenspace grant from Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and IPL supported the group as they implemented a landscape design to beautify the right-of-way areas in the Village including planting trees and perennials along the neighborhood gateways. Finally, a Café Market featuring a weekly mini-fest of live music and select vendors was added from June to August of this year. This on-going project will continue next summer.
2010: Irvington Terrace Neighborhood Crime Watch
A grassroots effort of the Irvington Terrace Crime Watch/Neighborhood Organization, schools, and other neighborhood organizations businesses, this collaboration focused on bringing people together across geographic, economic, and cultural boundaries to work toward the common good.
A four-part project, step one was planting trees to create a gateway to the neighborhood at the Washington and Shadeland cloverleaf. Step two consisted of a campaign for neighborhood residents to shop at the local Marsh during the entire month of April. Working with Marsh, residents completed inventory request forms and Marsh ordered every requested item. Tree planting along Washington Street was step three and step four was painting a mural on Washington Street.
2009: Bates Hendricks Neighborhood Association/Southeast Neighborhood Development
Fab For Less (now called Building Blocks) collaboration was designed to enhance the 1400 & 1500 blocks of South New Jersey Street. This initiative engaged residents in visioning, planning and implementing a transformation of their two blocks and eventually leveraged over a million dollars of investment.
Three homes were completely rehabilitated, while over 35 additional houses received various improvements. Historic lighting was added, and the city of Indianapolis repaved and widened the street, and replaced the sidewalks. As a result of the energy from this project, many new residents became engaged in the community, and an Esplanade Association was formed.
2008: Near Eastside Collaborative Taskforce
Over 530 neighbors and stakeholders of the Near Eastside contributed over 1,000 volunteer hours in creating their visionary comprehensive quality of life plan. The plan details 150 objectives to support comprehensive community development on the Near Eastside. Each objective has an identified lead organization, partners, concrete action steps, a timeline, and performance measures.
From February through June 2007, 25 Near Eastside residents volunteered to be part of a new neighbor engagement team and conducted 110 one-on-one “appreciative” interviews with new neighborhood leaders. These interviews served as invitations to a planning kickoff, the Near Eastside Visioning Event. The Visioning Event drew an attendance of over 400 neighbors, with eight Action Teams formed in order to address quality of life issues most important to the Near Eastside. This initiative has been credited with helping the City of Indianapolis successfully secure serving as host to Super Bowl XLVI in 2012 through the Legacy Project.
2007: Martindale-Brightwood and Perry Township: Bridging School and Community
In the fall of 2006, the Metropolitan School District (MSD) of Perry Township partnered with Oasis of Hope Baptist Church in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood, as well as several neighborhood partners, to sponsor 4 Study Circles. The Study Circles were held with parents and students who are bussed from the Brightwood/Forest Manor communities to Perry Township Schools.
Outcomes from the Study Circles include: families in the “bussed” community now feel a greater connection with the school district where their children attend school; participants were able to establish a communication vehicle between the school and the community that is genuine and collaborative; and, all of the circles developed projects to implement ideas resulting from the circle discussions. This collaboration has also sparked ongoing collaborations that continue to benefit residents in the Brightwood/ Forest Manor communities.
2006: Old Speedway City Neighborhood Association and Speedway Junior High School
Old Speedway City Neighborhood Association’s (OSCNA) initial concept of capturing their history and identifying home styles within its boundaries was realized when the association learned that the Speedway Junior High social studies teacher was interested in historical architecture, and the possibility of working with him and his students was investigated. To assist with the project, the association gave funds to the junior high for the purchase of a digital camera, which has been used by the students during their architectural and historical study of the area.
The information gathered by the junior high students became the catalyst for nominating the original platted area of Speedway as a state and national historic district. With the help of Ball State University Historic Preservation majors, these students gave guidance to the partners on how to write a nomination for such designation. The historic award was granted by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on July 27, 2005 and the National Historic Designation was received on October 21, 2005.
