Brian Schutt: Civic opportunities are plentiful all around

“People often confuse optimism and hope. They sound similar, but in fact they’re very different,” said Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. “Optimism is the belief that things are going to get better. Hope is the belief that, if we work hard enough together, we can make things better. It needs no courage, just a certain naivety, to be an optimist. It needs a great deal of courage to have hope.”

The late Rabbi Sacks’ words, delivered by American Enterprise Institute Director of Social, Cultural and Constitutional Studies Yuval Levin, set the framework to kick off the Civic Renewal Fellowship in February. Levin’s encouragement to the inaugural nationwide cohort was built on his belief that the problem with politics and culture won’t be solved from the top down through politics at the national level, but through institution-building at the local level.

Those words were ringing loudly when AEI came to Indianapolis in late August. I had the opportunity to host the Civic Renewal Fellows from across the country with the goal of seeing civic renewal in action.

Bottleworks Hotel played host to the group, which was welcomed to the city by Fred Yeakey (vice principal of Providence Cristo Rey High School, where he started a barbershop for his students). Yeakey told the story about the evolutionary founding of the Barbershop Initiative and the transformative impact that’s possible for students sitting in a barber’s chair. Many of his students don’t have relationships with their fathers, and the relationships he builds teaches them lessons they’re not hearing other places. As Yeakey put it, “It puts the power of God on display through grooming them not just outwardly, but inwardly.”

The next morning, we toured the Harrison Center, at 16th and Delaware streets. Founder Joanna Taft walked us through the galleries, studios and coworking area where we met artists, interns and entrepreneurs. Taft and her husband, Bill, have been living and investing in the Herron-Morton neighborhood for over two decades. Sharing how the building and community have evolved, she explained how “constraints produce creativity.”

Some of the creativity on display left the fellows in awe—an indoor Koi pond in a room that kept flooding, the conversion of a smokestack into a multicolored steamstack, the concept of “pre-enactments,” where actors model visions of a “yet to be created” future to spark the imagination of the community.

Next up was Purposeful Design on the near-east side. Founder David Palmer walked us through the group’s impressive 28,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and office space where world-class wood furniture is handcrafted by men formerly addicted, incarcerated or homeless.

These men are mentored and ministered while they learn a valuable trade. In the decade since its inception, the results have been staggering: Where the national average of prison recidivism is 77%, Purposeful Design is at 8%; where the drug and alcohol relapse rate range is 67%-90%, Purposeful Design is at 24%; and with a national average for return to homelessness at 63%, Purposeful Design’s is at 12%.

While there are plenty of reasons to lament the direction of Indianapolis, civic entrepreneurs like these inspire hope. As one fellow put it, “I’m in on Indy!”

If the stories of civic courage inspire your vision, there are great programs available to help aspiring founders take action. Here are a few that are currently accepting applicants:

◗ Wayfinders Impact Identity Workshop (yourwayfinders.org).

◗ Washington, D.C.-based Builders & Backers has two remote Idea Accelerators—Heartland and Redemptive Builders (buildersandbackers.com/).

◗ Next Studios has Discovery Workshops for all types of entrepreneurs across the state (nextstudios.org/).•

__________

Schutt is co-founder of Homesense Heating & Cooling and Refinery46 and an American Enterprise Institute civic renewal fellow. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.

Click here for more Forefront columns.