IBJ Podcast: Inside the plan to extend life expectancy for residents of five Indy neighborhoods

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One way you can gauge the health of a city is the number of cranes on its skyline. One of the biggest contributors of cranes over downtown in the last two years has been the $4.3 billion IU Health hospital campus under construction just south of Methodist Hospital. It’s a generational development for that side of downtown, but IU Health officials want to make sure it doesn’t overshadow the many needs of historic neighborhoods to the north and to the west.

For several years the hospital system has been planning an initiative and nonprofit organization known as Indy Health District. It focuses on five neighborhoods with a total of about 9,000 residents who, due to a number of socio-economic factors, have a much lower life expectancy than folks who live in other parts of the Indy metropolitan area. The district’s leaders want to find solutions for most, if not all, of the issues weighing on these neighbors, including housing, transportation, land use, safety and food deserts.

It’s an incredibly ambitious undertaking that’s a bit difficult to wrap your brain around. It also prompts a healthy amount of skepticism. So we’ve invited Jamal Smith to lay out the plans for us. He’s executive director of Indy Health District and executive director of government affairs and strategic partnerships for IU Health. And he grew up with some of the impediments to success and good health that the residents of the district face.

Click here to find the IBJ Podcast each Monday. You can also subscribe at iTunesGoogle PlayTune In, Spotify and anyplace you find podcasts.

You can also listen to these recent episodes:

IBJ Podcast: What’s the potential impact of Lilly’s $4.5B ‘medicine foundry’ in Lebanon?

IBJ Podcast: Indy’s ‘A Couple Cooks’ on building their site, making and selling new cookbook

IBJ Podcast: From the Army to finance to tech to excavation, Andrea Sloan says ‘yes’ and takes big leaps

IBJ Podcast: Fever’s sales guru on preparing for Caitlin Clark, using data and AI to win over fans

IBJ Podcast: Orr fellows leverage networking to boost value of tech, entrepreneurial positions

IBJ Podcast: Pete the Planner on the best places to stash your cash

Looking for another podcast to try? Check out IBJ’s The Freedom Forum with Angela B. Freeman, a monthly discussion about diversity and inclusion in central Indiana’s business community.

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