Serious social problems such as poverty, low education levels, crime, and a host of health issues are often interrelated. They frequently reinforce and compound each other. Many organizations are addressing one or more of those issues, but typically each organization is focused on only a piece of a more complex set of problems. The public sector tends to do this through large, bureaucratic silos, while the not-for-profit sector is incredibly fragmented. Many organizations do good work. Unfortunately, though, fragmented and siloed approaches to complex problems seldom lead to lasting impacts.

Trends for almost two decades now is for most households to prefer to live where they can live, work, shop, recreate and find most of the services they require within a convenient distance – approximately 15 minutes away. Ideally, we are finding that many residents prefer the car trip to be less, and that they can access these conveniences by foot or bike in 15 minutes or less. Neighborhoods that immediately provide these everyday needed and desired amenities, we call Complete Neighborhoods.

The John Marshall Neighborhood Opportunity Hub on the eastside of Indianapolis solves a list of community needs with private sector collaboration at a abandoned high school in one of the city’s most highly populated distressed neighborhoods.

In 2017, the City of Elkhart adopted the River District Revitalization Master Plan. Developed with broad community stakeholder involvement, the plan was built on the previous decades of investment in Elkhart’s struggling Main Street. This effort shared a vision for the River District to be an expansion of downtown, as a walkable, mixed-use neighborhood redeveloped on 100-plus acres of parking lots, out lot retailers, former industrial sites, and auto-repair shops. Over 65% of the $300-plus million mixed-use development has been realized within five-years. The area continues to attract significant new private investment.  

Distressed neighborhoods often experience a steady decline in household wealth, education levels, and individual health indicators. This is not just a local phenomenon but one that carries across much of the nation. Poverty, household income, and inequality as economic indicators have been moving in a negative direction for much of the past decade for a growing number of urban and rural neighborhoods.

Most cities lack experienced leadership in change management. This, along with the resounding challenges that cities face have only compounded since the pandemic and the overall polarization and contentiousness of current times.

In this new age of a pandemic, racial tension, political divide, global power shifts, redefinition of family and individual identities, and the inequality of accessible, quality educational opportunities, how do leaders provide shared prosperity? The quest for freedom and the American Way remains much the same as our forefathers intended - through the balance of private and public partnerships.