The Near West Collaborative is a community in southwest Indianapolis consisting of four neighborhoods: Haughville Strong, Hawthorne, Stringtown, and WE CARE. The area hosts more racial and ethnic diversity than other parts of Marion county. According to 2010 census data, 43 percent of the population is African American, and 40 percent is Caucasian. The Hispanic population makes up an increasingly large portion of the neighborhood population at 20 percent. Approximately 38 percent of the community’s households include children. One out of every three people in the Near West Collaborative lives at or below the poverty level.  

Historically, the Near West Collaborative was home to the city’s small but vibrant meatpacking industry, initially established in the late 1800s, and thriving into the mid-late 1950s. As large meatpacking plants became more common, many smaller, family-owned meatpacking enterprises went out of business in the 1960s and 1970s. Many Near West residents were employed by the meatpacking industry and earned stable, middle-class wages. In the 1970s, as most of the area’s meatpacking industry went out of business, the economic vitality of the community waned. The area went into a steep decline, from which it has not recovered. 

The Near West Collaborative has consistently been plagued with high levels of homicide and other violent crimes, including rape, robbery, and non-fatal shootings. In addition to socioeconomic blight and lack of resources, community residents and police agree that major violent crime issues stem from the drug trade. 

Residents and stakeholder organizations are now working to restore the area. Efforts to revitalize the neighborhood are underway, promoted by active community organizations, including the Hawthorne Neighborhood Association, the Haughville-Strong Neighborhood Association, We Care Neighborhood Association, and the Stringtown Neighborhood Association.

The site will engage in a nine-month planning phase resulting in the development of a comprehensive Action Plan that outlines the range of strategies that the MovementForward Team will pursue. The Planning Phase will include six tasks: 

Task 1. Increase Community Engagement and Capacity -Build Community Partnerships and Leadership to Ensure Engaged Community.  

Task 2. Identify, verify, and prioritize chronic crime focus areas. 

Task 3. Work with cross-sector team and Law Enforcement partners to develop multi-faceted strategies to address crime drivers. 

Task 4. Develop the Community by MovementForward, Inc.  mobile application to support community engagement and crime reduction strategies. 

Task 5. Launch the Community by MovementForward, Inc. app as a method for increasing citizen engagement in crime reduction efforts throughout the Near West Collaborative community.  

Task 6. Develop a comprehensive Action Plan to reduce crime, including a range of strategies. 

Strategies will be considered for the Implementation Phase that promote the primary goal of reducing violent crime through a cross-sector partnership in the Near West Collaborative community. 

The goal of the NWCCR Project is to enhance community safety in the Near West Collaborative community in Indianapolis. This goal will be accomplished and sustained under the newly created NWCAB and will include the launch of a new mobile application that supports the implementation of Problem Oriented Policing (POP), Focus Area Policing and other evidence-based crime reduction strategies. 

Utilizing crime data and community input to identify focus areas, over the past nine months, the NWCAB has acquired a comprehensive picture of violent crime in the Near West Collaborative of Indianapolis. Moreover, both crime data and community perspective have also informed the development of the Community by MovementForward mobile application. This app will promote and facilitate communication and information sharing between community and law enforcement in the NWCCR Project area to create proactive community policing strategies to identify specific problems, conduct problem analysis to determine underlying causes and develop and deliver tailor-made responses that effectively reduce crime at its root causes. Paired with the establishment of the NWCAB, the launch of the mobile application will serve as a focal point for the formation of partnerships with other community safety agencies, community organizations and community members to deliver non-law enforcement responses. 

The following four steps describe how the NWCCR Project is being planned and implemented: 

Step 1: Identification of focus areas through crime data.

Step 2: Ongoing data gathering on crime reporting and use of community services in focus areas through the mobile application.  

Step 3: Collaboration with the NWCAB to bring together the IMPD and community leaders to work in partnership on POP activities and other crime reduction efforts in focus areas.  

Step 4: Rolling analysis of crime data by researchers on focus areas to identify successes and to adjust focus areas as needed. 

The following work plan outlines activities for each Implementation strategy: 

Task 1. Implement comprehensive plan deliverables:  

D1. OneCOP app implementation (innovative strategy). 

D2. Evidence-Based Strategies implementation.  

D3. Promising Practices implementation.  

D4. Performance measurement – track continuous improvement. 

Task 2. Convene regular meetings with cross-sector partners and management team Milestone: 

NWCCR Team and IMPD engage in regular meetings and collaborations. 

Task 3. Build advisory board’s capacity to coordinate and engage in problem-solving Deliverable:  

D5. Project sustainability after grant period. 

Task 4. Continuously evaluate comprehensive implementation plan performance and modify as necessary Milestone:  

Ongoing NWCCR Team engagement and plan implementation. 

Task 5. Identify and develop a sustainability strategy Deliverable:  

D6. Project sustainability after grant period.  

Task 6. Final Report Deliverable:  

D7. Final Report. 

The City of Indianapolis, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD), Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, US Attorney, Local houses of worship, Local businesses, Hawthorne Neighborhood Association, Haughville Community Council, We Care Neighborhood Association, Stringtown Neighborhood Association