Far Eastside Plan Moves from Strategy to Execution
“We want to be included in decisions that shape our lives”
Far too often, neighbors are asked to respond to decisions after they have already been made. Residents have a rich understanding of community needs, strengths, concerns, and dreams, but they are not always given a meaningful seat at the table where priorities are set and investments are shaped. The Far Eastside is familiar with that challenge. Now, residents have helped create a plan designed to ensure their voices are heard and central to the change they want to see in their community.
Over the past year, Far Eastside residents, community leaders, organizations, and partners came together around a shared vision: a vibrant, healthy, and thriving community for generations to come. The result is the Far Eastside Quality-of-Life Plan: a community-generated roadmap for future investment, partnership, and action across the neighborhood.
This work was made possible by a $300,000 grant awarded to LISC Indianapolis by the City of Indianapolis through the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) program. Rokh Research & Design Studio served as lead planning consultant, and Ubuntu Planning Studio led community engagement efforts throughout the process. What makes the plan meaningful is not simply the document itself, but the hundreds of residents who helped shape it.
“We need real pathways to economic stability, not just programs.”
From the beginning, resident input served as the foundation. A community-wide survey helped provide a clearer picture of the existing conditions, neighborhood priorities, and resident hopes for the future. Yuquilima Solutions provided language access services so more neighbors could participate and share feedback in their preferred language. Through surveys, community meetings, listening sessions, neighborhood events, multilingual outreach, and stakeholder conversations, hundreds of Far Eastside voices helped shape the final plan. The year-long planning process was led in partnership by LISC Indianapolis, the Community Alliance of the Far Eastside (CAFÉ), and the Far Eastside Community Council. Together, these partners supported residents as they identified priorities, tested ideas, asked hard questions, and helped move key decisions forward.
The planning process officially launched with a kickoff celebration in November 2025, generating early interest and awareness among neighbors. In early 2026, the planning team hosted an existing conditions briefing and strategy sessions with residents, leaders, business owners, and partners. In April, residents were invited to an open house to review the first draft of the plan and provide feedback on implementation priorities. Throughout the process, the Community Advisory Circle brought together Far Eastside partners and stakeholders to help guide engagement strategies and support key decisions along the way. As all of the input came into focus, residents rallied around five interconnected focus areas: Housing Affordability and Equitable Growth; Financial Stability and Economic Opportunities; Safe and Healthy Environments; Multigenerational Power; and Art, Culture, and Belonging. Together, these priorities recognize that housing, economic opportunity, public safety, health, culture, and civic participation are interconnected and must advance together to create lasting community prosperity.
They speak to the need for quality housing without displacement, stronger pathways to economic stability, safer and healthier neighborhood conditions, leadership across generations, and spaces where Far Eastside culture, creativity, and belonging can continue to flourish. The plan also recognizes that lasting change requires resident leadership beyond the planning process. In partnership with the ANT Foundation, 15 Far Eastside neighbors completed a resident leadership training program designed to equip them to continue engaging the community and helping guide the work ahead. The Far Eastside Quality -of-Life Plan is more than a roadmap for shared vision and investment. It is a tool for accountability and a foundation for lasting change.
Achieving this neighborhood vision cannot take place in a silo. Residents, community organizations, public agencies, funders, businesses, and partners will all have a role to play in turning the plan into action. As the planning phase concludes, LISC Indianapolis will transition from helping lead the planning process to supporting implementation, beginning with the Early Action Fund. This fund will support quick, momentum-building neighborhood projects that align with the plan’s focus areas and can be completed in the coming months. These early wins will demonstrate community commitment to implementing the plan and help attract future investment to the Far Eastside.
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