INTRODUCTION
Financial stability for individuals and
families is critical on many levels,
providing a sense that one can, at
minimum, consistently provide shelter
and food. A living wage is a determining
factor of economic stability; it is a
path to quality education that provides
marketable skills. This foundation
allows choices on where to live, deciding
whether to buy or rent, paying bills on
time, affording health insurance, saving
for retirement, and enjoying activities that
lead to a better quality of life overall.
Owning a home is often considered
a reflection of a family’s financial health.
On this measure, several publications
have cited Indianapolis as a city with
a high degree of home ownership. In
partnership with the Polis Center at
IUPUI, urban analyst John Marron looked
more deeply into the issue of affordable
housing in Central Indiana. The findings
are published in the report, The Affordable
Housing Market and Why It Matters.
Our feature story, “A Better
Foundation: Building Economic
Prosperity with Truly Affordable
Housing,” highlights a central theme
of the report: affordable housing
encompasses a broader range of
economic issues than the price of a
home. Despite its reputation, Central
Indiana can do better in helping its
citizens become less cost-burdened by
housing. At a minimum, we need to help
people learn marketable skills. Without
the necessary skills to obtain a job with
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compensation at a moderate or higher
level wage, everything suffers.
Job training starts with the young,
and our case study of the TeenWorks and
YouthWorks programs shows how they
help provide employment opportunities
for disadvantaged area youth. The
support for these programs comes from
the Marion County Commission on Youth
(MCCOY), which uses data from the SAVI
community information system to make
its case to funders.
Like MCCOY, the Edna Martin
Christian Center (EMCC) mines data from
SAVI to better inform funding requests.
EMCC provides a full range of services for
its neighborhood, including job training.
In this issue, the Center shares how it
uses SAVI to write better—and more
successful—grant proposals.
SAVI was central to the development
of The Affordable Housing Market and
Why It Matters. It provided data, spatial
analytics, and advanced visualizations
that reveal trends, patterns, and gaps.
SAVI is also the basis of IndianaImpact. org
and IndyVitals.org, digital tools that
respectively provide regional data through
the state to help local United Ways and
detailed information about specific
neighborhoods in Indianapolis.
In December, we will unveil our newest
web program powered by SAVI—the
community assessment tool—which
will allow users to develop custom and
updatable research reports. Check out
the details on page 11.