ONE wins $250,000 for home repairs

Over the last few years, houses on Indianapolis � east side have faced a downward spiral of disrepair and chaos. The residents that are left in the neighborhood have struggled through crack epidemics, crime, predatory lending and foreclosures.

Members of the Organization for a New Eastside (ONE) counted 200 houses in need of major repair work within two square miles.

øIt was pitiful,Ó said Carol Hammock, a ONE leader.

ONE leadership meetings uncovered an untapped resource of city funding available for home repairs. When checking on past funding, leaders discovered that little if any money was being earmarked for home repairs. In 2001 only $4,400 was spent in home repairs in the most dilapidated portion of the city.

ONE decided it was necessary for the city to expand the amount of home repair dollars and spent in ONE�s turf. After a series of actions, public meetings and negotiation sessions, the city agreed to spend $250,000 in the neighborhood on home repairs, calling the increased funding - the ONE Renew Project.

But before the ink was dry, a group of real estate brokers and investors that operate on the edge of ONE�s turf began to lobby the city for input on the ONE Renew Project. The group wanted to take control of the project and direct the dollars towards their investments in ONE�s neighborhood.

øThis is the biggest thing this neighborhood has seen in years,Ó said ONE leader Charlie Conover. øIt means the difference between getting our homes fixed so people can live in them or losing the ones that are left and having more abandoned buildings in our neighborhood.Ó

In response, leadership created a phone blitz and public meetings to put pressure back on the city to force the money back in ONE�s control. Leadership meetings were held on almost a nightly basis, practice sessions and negotiation role-playing occurred nearly every afternoon.  Residents who had sat at the back of the meetings for years, began to show up to strategize for leadership meetings.

ONE also targeted the city and the real estate group in the press for breaking a promise to the east side neighborhood and its residents. Once public pressure came on strong and fast, the city conceded and committed to ONE�s continued management of the home repair funds.

ONE is now planning how to use the quarter of million dollars in rehab home and improve the lives of east side residents.