Fort Wayne Media Collaborative | Fort Wayne Media Collaborative

Regional Shelter Offers Opportunity for Reclaimed Lives

by Angela Mapes Turner | Feb 13, 2023

Auburn has become a city on the rise. In its west-side commercial district, heavy construction equipment and cranes have been a common sight, as older buildings give way to new ones springing up all over. One project, though, has taken shape more quietly. Tucked behind the ongoing new construction of a chain deli, a relic of the 1960s has been given new life — and gives new hope — to families and individuals facing homelessness. Fortify Life, a fledgling nonprofit, has renovated 13 rooms in a modest former Days Inn motel, creating emergency and transitional housing in a community that has shown great need for it. Jeremiah Otis, Fortify Life’s energetic director of development, said the renaissance of the motel is part of a new approach to addressing poverty in northeast Indiana. The...

Fort Wayne Media Collaborative Healthy Neighborhoods Panel Discussion

by admin | Jan 30, 2023

Local leaders and housing advocates discuss the elements of a healthy neighborhood, the challenges communities face in designing, building, and maintaining healthy neighborhoods and possible solutions to those challenges. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6RZ6rL-uV8 Panel discussion was recorded on 12/05/22.

Eviction Intervention Program Helps Allen County Tenants Stay in Their Homes

by Dave Gong | Nov 28, 2022

On any day that there are eviction cases on the docket at the Allen County Court’s Small Claims Division, there are people in the courtroom gallery actively looking for people they can help. They’re with the Just Neighbors Interfaith Homeless Network’s Eviction Intervention Program, which opened in January and aims to help tenants avoid an eviction by providing financial assistance, or by offering referrals to legal representation and other social service agencies. Since most eviction cases filed in Allen County have to do with nonpayment of rent, much of the team’s time is spent processing rental assistance applications. If a tenant is approved under the Eviction Intervention Program, Just Neighbors will pay their past-due rent, as well as rent going forward for a set period of time, in...

Building a Future for Young Adults Aged out of Foster Care

by Gabi Lorino | Nov 28, 2022

“When we were in foster care, we weren’t allowed to get a license, we weren’t allowed to have a bank account or a phone. We weren’t allowed to have anything.” A young woman in Fort Wayne’s young adult housing described the steep learning curve she encountered at age eighteen. The path to adulthood is fraught for any young person, but it presents additional challenges to those who age out of foster care without a support system in place. These kids are given $600 and a backpack on their eighteenth birthdays, but if they don’t have a birth certificate or a Social Security card, the next steps seem insurmountable. At The Courtyard on Home Avenue in Fort Wayne, most residents used to be foster children. The Courtyard is an apartment complex that houses young adults, usually between ages 18...

For Some or For All? Electric Works is going to change Fort Wayne, but there is trepidation

by Angela Stanley | Nov 23, 2022

(Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-installment joint project between Fort Wayne Ink Spot and Input Fort Wayne [inputfortwayne.com] looking at the catalytic potential of Northeast Indiana’s largest project—Electric Works—and how it will affect various neighborhoods near and around the development such as inclusivity, gentrification, and community development.) One of the biggest unanswered questions about Electric Works is: How will a project of this nature and scale, in an economically depressed part of town, impact the neighborhoods surrounding it and across the city? As the master redevelopment firm, RTM Ventures has already started construction on the 39-acre, 18-building adaptive reuse project that seeks to transform the city’s vacant General Electric (GE) campus into a...

Will Electric Works Be An ‘Inclusive’ Development For Fort Wayne?

by Angela Stanley | Nov 23, 2022

(Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part joint project between Fort Wayne Ink Spot and Input Fort Wayne (inputfortwayne.com) looking at the catalytic potential of Northeast Indiana’s largest project—and how it will affect various neighborhoods near and around the development. Issues such as inclusivity, gentrification and community development.) In recent years, Fort Wayne has seen considerable growth and development in the form of private and public projects—from the Parkview Regional Medical Center‘s sprawling Dupont campus to the City of Fort Wayne’s decade-long transformation of downtown, starting with Parkview Field in 2009. But while many projects have enhanced Fort Wayne’s quality of life in specific ways, for specific people, their effects haven’t been all positive or...

Legislative Candidates Propose Solutions to Indiana’s Affordable Housing Crisis

by admin | Nov 5, 2022

This story was produced by journalism students at Purdue University Fort Wayne currently enrolled in COM317 - Digital Storytelling, under the supervision of professor Heloisa Sturm Wilkerson. They reached out to 36 Indiana candidates to learn more about their stances on housing issues affecting the state. Only a handful of candidates had proposals to address the housing crisis that has affected the nation. By Eli Jones and Gavin Greer With the 2022 Midterm Elections coming up in November, voters are looking into candidates to learn about their proposals to improve the quality of life in their communities. This story looks at the affordable housing policies of the candidates running for State Representative in Allen County. Democrat Kyle R. Miller, who is competing with Republican Davyd...

Indiana’s U.S. Senate and Congressional Candidates Propose Plans to Tackle Affordable Housing Crisis

by admin | Nov 5, 2022

This story was produced by journalism students at Purdue University Fort Wayne currently enrolled in COM317 - Digital Storytelling, under the supervision of professor Heloisa Sturm Wilkerson. They reached out to 36 Indiana candidates to learn more about their stances on housing issues affecting the state. Only a handful of candidates had proposals to address the housing crisis that has affected the nation. By Emily Coverstone, Sydney Hamblin and Megan Isenbarger The family poverty rate in the state of Indiana is at a ten-year low, but similar to the rest of the United States, Indiana is facing a severe shortage of affordable housing for Hoosiers. The state is facing a shortage of 135,033 affordable and available rental homes, according to a report produced by Prosperity Indiana and the...

Struggle and Success
Section 8 vouchers provide a pathway to stability, but challenges remain

by Dave Gong | Oct 17, 2022

Without the Fort Wayne Housing Authority, Fort Wayne resident Aquila White is confident she would not be where she is today – a homeowner. White, 35, is a former participant in the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program – often referred to as Section 8 – and of the Fort Wayne Housing Authority’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program. She is one of thousands of residents who sought housing assistance from the Fort Wayne Housing Authority – a number that is increasing as the price of rent continues to rise nationwide. Long waitlists and difficulty finding landlords and property owners willing to participate can create harrowing challenges for those in need of assistance. Government officials and social service agencies have noted a rise in housing assistance applications in recent years – many...

City of Fort Wayne to Invest $600,000 in Habitat for Humanity’s Affordable Housing Project

by Julie Creek | Oct 4, 2022

Cecelia Thomas noticed a small crowd of people outside a house under construction at 3009 Warsaw St. Tuesday afternoon as she returned from the grocery, and got excited. “I dropped my food at home, and ran back up here to find out what was going on,” she said. “I still get excited when somebody moves into a house.” While nobody was moving into the unfinished house, Thomas got there in time to watch Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry announce that the city’s Community Development Division has awarded $600,000 in federal funds through the HOME Investment Partnerships program to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Fort Wayne to build six houses in the La Rez, Oxford, and Poplar neighborhoods. “Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home, which is why we are pleased to partner with...

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