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Indy Health District Unveils 10-Year Plan to Close Life Expectancy Gap in Five Historic Neighborhoods
The Indy Health District's 2026-2036 Quality of Life Plan targets groceries, housing stability, safer streets and economic opportunity across five near-northside neighborhoods where residents live an average of 67 yearsâ6.5 fewer than Marion County overall.
Residents of five historic near-northside neighborhoods live an average of 67 yearsâ6.5 years less than the Marion County average and more than a decade less than many nearby suburbs. On Wednesday, the nonprofit Indy Health District unveiled a 10-year plan aimed at closing that gap.
The 2026-2036 Quality of Life Plan, presented at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, covers more than 1,500 acres and nearly 10,000 residents across Crown Hill, Historic Flanner House Homes, Highland Vicinity, Meridian Highland and Ransom Place. It organizes its work around six priorities: health and wellness; neighborhood infrastructure and environment; economic mobility and local entrepreneurship; family stability and youth development; community safety and justice; and community preservation and cultural identity.
The plan was shaped over nearly a year of community engagement that included more than 500 survey responses, over 100 interviews, neighborhood workshops and door-to-door outreach. Residents accounted for at least 70% of the input, according to the district. Among the participants were 49 Crispus Attucks High School students, who emphasized better career opportunities, mental health support and a safe place of their own to gather.
Affordable, healthy food emerged as a leading concern. More than half of district residents currently live in a food desert, according to the district's health dashboard, and residents called for a full-service grocery store within reach of every neighborhood. At an October validation session, nearly 80 residents cast 349 votes on proposed goals and submitted almost 150 written comments. That feedback strengthened commitments to property-tax relief, estate planning and home-repair assistance for seniors, the district said.
Residents also raised concerns about gentrification and displacement as new development arrives, and the plan prioritizes protecting the neighborhoods' historic Black identity and generational homeownership.
"Progress cannot simply be measured by what we build," executive director Jamal Smith said Wednesday. "It must be also measured by the number of people who can benefit from the investments that we also make." Smith thanked residents for advocating for their neighborhoods, urging them to "challenge us, and demand that we think bigger and better."
Because life expectancy will not change overnight, the district is partnering with the IU Fairbanks School of Public Health, the Polis Center at IU Indianapolis and Health by Design to track roughly 30 measures across short-, medium- and long-term timelines. Those measures include education, health care access, neighborhood conditions, economic stability and residents' sense of community. A survey of 203 households found 66% believed neighbors would help them in an emergency, while 63% said they felt they belonged in their neighborhood.
Valerie Yeager of the Fairbanks School of Public Health said the measures will help show whether initiatives are improving well-being before changes in life expectancy become apparent. She also said tracking who moves in and out is essentialâotherwise, an apparent improvement in life expectancy could be misleading if healthier newcomers replace longtime residents.
Next, the district will organize resident and partner working groups around the six pillars, use a public health-impact dashboard to track the roughly 30 measures and report progress annually. It is already pursuing priorities including adding early-learning capacity, operating floating farmers markets and supporting a $25 million investment in the Crispus Attucks High School expansion.