To Stay, Or Not to Stay: Downtown Indianapolis Public Schools (A Deciding Factor)

I grew up in a neighborhood where we walked or biked to school. It wasn't an urban neighborhood; in fact, we had a one-acre garden and multi-acre woods next door. But there was a sense of community, a neighborhood, a close knit group of people, helping each other when needed, checking on others next door, watching when strangers appeared, and most importantly educating the children. I’m not sure if the neighborhood made the school, or the school made the neighborhood, but neither would be the same without the other.

According to a research report published with the Urban Institute, the health of a neighborhood and the success of its schools are inseparable. In fact, the study found that “elementary schools with the strongest links to their neighborhoods have low risk scores and high results scores. The neighborhood clusters … proved to be substantially more racially diverse and had lower poverty rates (as of 2000) and lower crime rates.” As developers and municipalities we need to focus on how the schools located in our target areas can drive our development; as well as how our developments can drive these schools.

The city of Indianapolis has improved every inch of downtown to encourage people to live there. They addressed deficits by adding bike and walk trails, art installations, parking spaces, and shopping, dining and entertainment options. These efforts have bumped our urban population to 25,000, but that number is still below the 40,000 needed to sustain the localized economy. In an Indiana Economic Digest article praising Indianapolis’ efforts to improve its overall livability, J.K. Wall, writer for the Indianapolis Business Journal, claims the city’s goals to attract a larger population of residents is going to require more than “daily access to ‘art, nature and beauty’.” Wall agrees that “the city must continue to add new attractions,” but must also, “reach out to a huge group of people who have largely shunned downtown living: families with children.” However, he acknowledges that barriers still exist–the largest being “fears of crime and lack of school options for kids.”

We can make community grow by attracting new members, but a community’s stability relies on growth from within, which requires growing families. We have to create the right kind of environment to make parents feel comfortable and safe. Building with families in mind means designing our projects with two-and three-bedroom floor plans that can accommodate them. Adding more parks, playgrounds, and pools where kids can cut loose helps parents feel better about their lifestyle choices. Making room for families with children in an urban environment can be risky, but if we want our urban community to grow, someone has to make the first move. The quality of the public schools must also continue to improve so the cost of raising a family downtown is financially comparable to any suburban experience. The cost of private school tuition can be substantial enough to cause a family to choose an outlying community instead. Of the 25,000 residents living downtown, a significant number of them are young couples and when they have children, we want them to feel like staying and raising their family downtown is a viable option.