North Side Neighbors Celebrate Indian Health District

Omenta Smith-Crowe was waiting for someone to invest in her neighborhood again.

The 96-year-old is the original developer of Historic Flanner House Homes, a landmark community built in the 1950s by African-American families facing segregation and housing discrimination.

Today, residents struggle with health disparities as their homes fall into disrepair and gentrification drives up property taxes. Life expectancy in the city’s near north side is two decades lower than the average in other parts of the city.

“I’m honored to still live in the house that my husband built,” Smith-Crowe told Mirror Indy. “The attention has waned since then.”

But that’s changing now, thanks to a new nonprofit that will spend $500 million in the area.

On Oct. 21, Smith-Crow watched from her wheelchair as city and business leaders announced the creation of the Indy Health District, a nonprofit serving the five boroughs that is funded by their institutions, including IU Health, the Children’s Museum, Ivy Tech Community College and Citizens. Energy group.

“We are here to bring to life the data, requests and recommendations that the community has shared with us for years,” said Jamal Smith, executive director of the initiative. “It is our collective partnership that makes the difference.”

The money will be spent on several purposes: making neighborhoods more walkable; increasing education and economic opportunity; ensuring access to healthcare, housing and food for all. The nonprofit has a dashboard to publicly track the impact of funding in these areas.

“It’s not just about accessibility,” Smith said. “If nothing around me speaks to me, my family, or my culture, then you have essentially displaced me anyway.”

The area extends from the north end of downtown to Crown Hill Cemetery, including the Crown Hill neighborhood, the Highland neighborhood, the historic homes of Flanner House, Meridian Highland and Ransom Place. Leaders from each neighborhood association helped shape the project and will provide feedback at quarterly meetings.

“As a resident who is actively involved in this community, I am pleased to receive tangible support,” said Danita Hoskin, president of the Crown Hill Neighborhood Association. She quoted Fred Rogers from the podium: “It’s a beautiful day in this area.”

The development comes as IU Health builds a new hospital downtown. CEO Dennis Murphy said the medical district is part of the hospital chain’s plan to transform areas around the medical campus by reducing health disparities.

“If we build a great hospital,” Murphy said, “we will fail.”

Neighbors were excited about the new resources coming to their communities, but also wary of past experiences.

“I know firsthand how devastating it can be when the systems designed to support us fail,” said Carlette Duffy, a Historic Flanner House Homes resident and the city’s chief financial officer. “For too long, our communities have demanded a seat at the table.”

In an interview with Mirror Indy, Duffy shared her experiences with appraisal discrimination.

When a 50-year-old black woman presented her home as belonging to a white family (by removing photos of her family members and having a white man pose as her brother during a visit), the appraiser more than doubled its value.

She hopes the new health district will provide residents with financial resources and give them a direct connection to the agencies that serve them.

“No one should ever have to lose their home to a tax sale if the community works together,” Duffy said. “And a distance of two miles should not reduce your life expectancy by 20 years.”

Residents will be able to attend the district’s first community meeting in November. Event information will be available soon at IndyHealthDistrict.org.

Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health care. Contact her at 317-721-7648 or [email protected]. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.

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