SPECIAL PREMIERE EDITION January - March 2026
PRESENTS: rooted. COMMUNITY HEART WORK JOURNAL
featuring: the learning tree
“Every neighborhood already has what it needs. Our job is to uncover the gifts and connect the people.” — DeAmon Harges, The Learning Tree
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COMMUNITY AMBASSADORS: A PRACTICE IN COMMUNITY ADVOCACY THROUGH TRUSTED RELATIONSHIPS
Community Ambassador Wildstyle delivering a keynote on being a Roving Illustrator and and Roving listener in his work as a Community Ambassador during the Learning Tree’s Common Ground Gathering at Witherspoon Presbyterian Church (photo: Le’Deana).
The Community Ambassadors’ work at The Learning Tree is rooted in a simple, powerful belief. Communities already possess the knowledge, relationships, and capacity needed to thrive. This program emerged from years of listening, walking alongside neighbors, and recognizing that trust is not built through transactions, but through presence. Community Ambassadors are not representatives sent into neighborhoods. They are neighbors who already hold trust, history, and lived experience within them. Their work centers on identifying gifts, surfacing local leadership, and strengthening the connective tissue between people, organizations, and systems that often operate independently. By honoring what already exists, ambassadors help institutions gain valuable insights on communities on a grassroots level.
COMMUNITY AMBASSADORS TEAM
ANNIE
LE’DEANA LEADERSHIP TEAM
BEATRICE LEADERSHIP TEAM
WILDSTYLE LEADERSHIP TEAM
LEADERSHIP TEAM
CYNTHIA
VALERIE
TEDD
SAYRA
LUNA
TERRI
CYNTHIA
EBONI
JAMIL
LISTENING AS PRACTICE: HOW COMMUNITY AMBASSADORS SHAPE THE INDIANAPOLIS FOUNDATION’S WORK rooted. | issue 1
By: Shari Finnell Senior Director of Communications, The Indianapolis Foundation By the time the Indianapolis Foundation (IF) formally adopted its new strategic plan in 2018, something fundamental had already shifted. For the first time in its long history, the foundation wasn’t just listening to grantees or institutional partners about what Indianapolis needed. It was listening directly to residents—people living the realities behind the data points, programs, and proposals. “That was a turning point for us,” said Rob MacPherson, vice president of grantmaking at the Indianapolis Foundation. “As funders, we know there’s always a power dynamic. People may tell you what they think you want to hear. We wanted the honest, sometimes uncomfortable truth of what was really happening.” That decision to move beyond traditional feedback loops and center community voice laid the groundwork for what would become the foundation’s Community Ambassadors program, a model that continues to inform grantmaking, policy priorities, and relationships across Indianapolis. From consultation to connection In 2017, as the foundation prepared for its strategic planning process, it partnered with a local firm to do something new: Hire community members themselves to gather insights from their own neighborhoods and networks. Forty ambassadors were selected to represent a wide range of lived experiences—across race, geography, disability, LGBTQ+ identity, and community affiliation. They were trained in human-centered design and open-ended interviewing, then equipped with tools to collect feedback in creative, accessible ways. “The methods were incredible,” MacPherson recalled. “We had ambassadors talking with riders as Uber drivers, creating graffiti walls that asked people to imagine their neighborhood 20 years into the future, meeting folks where they already were.” What emerged was not just feedback, but a field guide: a living document shaped by hundreds of conversations. One recurring message cut through clearly: communities were tired of programs designed for them, without them. “People told us, ‘You come in with solutions you think will help, but no one ever asks what we actually need,’” MacPherson said. “That idea—do with, not to—came straight from the community.” At the time, the work was intended to be temporary. Few expected it to evolve into a long-term partnership. “We didn’t even know if we’d get robust information back,” MacPherson admitted. “What we got instead was transformational.” Building trust, not transactions As the foundation transitioned from a one-time engagement to an ongoing ambassador cohort, trust didn’t happen overnight. “This is a historically white institution,” MacPherson said. “There was understandable skepticism. Folks wanted to know: ‘Are you really going to share power?’ ‘Are you going to listen when the feedback is critical?’” Over time, that trust deepened—not because of promises, but because of follow-through. The foundation created space for ambassadors, who are part of The Learning Tree, to define their own roles, priorities, and ways of working. Leadership remained open to critique. Decisions began to change.
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According to Leigh Riley Evans, IF vice president of equity and policy, the impact has been structural.
“The biggest benefit is that it keeps us externally focused,” she said. “Community ambassadors help center community voices in our grantmaking. They guide where funds go, what we prioritize, and when we need to course-correct.” Rather than relying solely on internal assumptions or shifting political winds, the foundation stays grounded in what residents are experiencing in real time.
“It keeps us focused on what matters,” Evans said. “Not what’s trending, but what’s true.”
Proximity in practice For Fabio Yataco, IF senior community leadership officer, the ambassadors are essential to how the foundation shows up day to day. “They keep us grounded in our mission,” Yataco said. “They keep us accountable. And they keep us proximate to the issues impacting everyday people in Indianapolis.” That proximity often looks practical, immediate, and deeply human. Yataco recalled a recent moment when a colleague encountered an undocumented Spanish-speaking resident seeking help at a community event. “It was six o’clock on a Friday,” he said. “I called one of our ambassadors, and they were able to step in right away with resources and information. At this moment in our history, that kind of support can be life-changing.” The relationship works because ambassadors are trusted voices in their own communities … people with lived experience who understand both the systems at play and the realities on the ground. “They act as a bridge,” Yataco said. “They allow us to work with community, not to community. That’s the difference between transactional engagement and authentic partnership.” Changing how philanthropy shows up The long-term impact of the Community Ambassadors program is visible not only in stories, but in outcomes. The foundation’s grantmaking has shifted toward deeper relationships, greater accessibility, and increased investment in BIPOC-led and BIPOC-serving organizations.
“We’re better grantmakers because of this,” MacPherson said. “The community is better served because of this.”
Perhaps just as importantly, the program has reshaped the foundation’s standing in the neighborhoods it serves.
“Our reputation is more trusted and more credible than it’s ever been,” he said. “Not because we talk about equity, but because we keep showing up and sharing power.”
For Evans, the model offers a lesson for other institutions navigating a changing philanthropic landscape.
“This kind of collaboration helps organizations stay centered in their mission,” she said. “Whether equity is popular or politicized, we’re not reacting to swings. We’re listening to the community.” MacPherson added, “The most important thing is that the feedback loop goes in—not out. When you listen first, everything else follows.”
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Rooted is a community- centered publication committed to documenting the people, practices, and partnerships advancing well being across Indianapolis. Grounded in relationship, listening, and shared responsibility, Rooted centers community voice and lived experience as essential sources of knowledge. Through storytelling and research, we highlight how local leadership, collective care, and institutional collaboration come together to strengthen neighborhoods and expand opportunity. Our work is guided by dignity, accountability, and the belief that lasting change is cultivated alongside the people most connected to the work.
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A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Rooted was created from a deep belief in the wisdom that already exists within our communities. The stories I witness continue to reaffirm a simple truth: people do not need outsiders telling them what they need. Communities already hold the answers to their own well being. Anyone seeking to enhance the quality of life of others must begin with deep listening, guided by an open heart. When listening leads, trust follows. From that trust, solutions emerge that reflect lived reality and create lasting impact. For nearly two decades, my work through Midwest Leak has been rooted in listening and documentation. I have focused on the people and places shaping our city, paying attention to what is working and honoring leadership that often goes unnamed. Storytelling, when done with care, becomes a way to witness community wisdom and to stay accountable to it. This edition of Rooted is dedicated to giving voice to the quiet, consistent work of The Learning Tree, its Community Ambassadors, and the Indianapolis Foundation ecosystem. Together, their efforts are strengthening neighborhoods, building trust, and impacting the lives of our neighbors across Indianapolis in meaningful and lasting ways. When The Learning Tree invited Midwest Leak to serve as the storytelling partner for the Community Ambassador Program, the alignment was clear. This work requires proximity, trust, and a commitment to ensuring community voice remains intact as stories and data are gathered, interpreted, and shared. Midwest Leak brings a long standing practice rooted in relationship rather than extraction, built through presence and consistency over time. In Rooted, storytelling is approached as documentation, not decoration. Stories are used to inform understanding, surface patterns, and capture what metrics alone cannot. The stories in these pages reflect what becomes possible when community leadership is trusted, when lived experience informs decision making, and when institutions choose to walk alongside the people closest to the work. This is why Rooted exists. Because in this work, story is accountability. P.S. Take a moment to scan the QR codes within
Le’Deana Brown Founder, Midwest Leak Magazine Community Ambassador, The Learning Tree “Rooted exists to honor the wisdom already present in our communities and the people leading from within them.” this issue to watch video stories about The Learning Tree and team on their YouTube page and website.
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ABOUT THE INDIANAPOLIS FOUNDATION + COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR COLLABORATION Partners in Progress “There needs to be a power shift in our communities. It’s not about giving power to one group and taking it away from another. it’s about sharing the power. Lifting up and listening to voices that have been left out. that’s what our community ambassadors are bringing to cicf. that’s what we hope to see more of in this community.” - Pamela Ross, former Vice President of Community Leadership and Equitable Initiatives
“During COVID, our Community Ambassadors told us the rental- assistance rules looked fine on paper but were breaking down in real life. As trusted, long-serving neighbors of our city, these were opinions that were informed by firsthand information. One of them said to me, “I’m watching families do everything right and still fall through the cracks. Their feedback helped to reshape local policy around rental assistance and eviction-prevention. That experience proved to me that democratizing philanthropy means: the people living the problem must help shape the response.” - Jennifer Bartenbach, CEO of Central Indiana Community Foundation
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COMMUNITY AMBASSADORS + THE INDIANAPOLIS FOUNDATION: LISTEN, LEARN, IMPACT.
The Learning Tree team leading a collaborative Asset Based Community Development Training with, The Indianapolis Foundation and the Indiana Governors Council on Developmental Disabilities (photo by Jamil).
Goodness is understood as something that multiplies when people are connected across neighborhoods and institutions. Trust is built locally and extended outward, creating pathways for collaboration that honor dignity and shared humanity. Gifts and talents are revealed. In communities historically labeled as low income or low wealth, The Learning Tree works to surface what has long been present but overlooked. These gifts, once visible, hold the power to catalyze transformation. Abundance is practiced intentionally. Neighbors are not treated as deficient or broken, but as sacred. Assets are named, stories are honored, and scarcity narratives are disrupted. Social transformation follows when people begin to see themselves differently. As individuals transform, systems follow.
The Learning Tree founder DeAmon alongside community ambassadors Le’Deana and Wildstyle speaking with community members at the Indianapolis Foundation’s event at The Children’s Muesum (photo by ambassador Jamil).
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A LIVING MODEL OF LASTING IMPACT COVER STORY
Three roles. One ecosystem. Community transformation is strongest when roles are clear and relationships are honored. The Community Ambassador ecosystem in Indianapolis is built on a shared understanding that lasting change does not come from a single actor. It emerges when distinct roles move in alignment, each grounded in its own responsibility and guided by trust. This work is held together by three essential functions. Community leadership, institutional support, and intermediary stewardship. Each plays a different role. Each is necessary.
Community Leads
Community Ambassadors are embedded in their neighborhoods and lead from lived experience. They cultivate relationships, listen deeply, and organize alongside neighbors to surface gifts, identify needs, and imagine what is possible. Their leadership is rooted in proximity and accountability to place. Ambassadors help shift narratives from scarcity to abundance and ensure that solutions reflect the realities of daily life. Institutions Reshape Systems Institutions hold resources, influence, and the ability to change conditions that communities cannot address alone. In this ecosystem, the role of the institution is not to manage community, but to reshape systems. This includes examining policies, funding practices, timelines, and norms that can unintentionally create barriers. It requires listening differently, investing differently, and remaining open to learning from community led leadership. Intermediaries Hold the Framework When institutions focus on changing systems rather than directing people, space opens for more equitable and sustainable outcomes. B etween community and institution sits the work of the intermediary. This role is to steward relationships, translate values into practice, and protect the integrity of the ecosystem as it evolves. The Learning Tree holds the framework that allows community leadership and institutional partnership to move together without collapsing power or autonomy. This includes guiding operations, supporting alignment, and ensuring that trust remains central to the work.
Intermediary work is often unseen, but it is essential. It creates the conditions where collaboration can grow without extraction.
Return on Community
When these three roles move together, impact is measured differently. Success is not only found in outputs or short term outcomes, but in relationships strengthened, leadership sustained, and barriers reduced over time. This is what Return on Community looks like in practice. It reflects an understanding that investment in people, trust, and connection creates value that extends far beyond a single initiative.
A Living Model
This ecosystem adapts as neighborhoods change, as institutions learn, and as relationships deepen. What remains constant is the commitment to clarity, care, and shared responsibility. Community leads. Institutions reshape systems. Intermediaries steward the space between. Together, they form an ecosystem rooted in abundance, capable of learning, and built to last.
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THE LEARNING TREE: PARTNERS IN CONNECTING PEOPLE, POWER AND POSSIBILITY
DeAmon leads a workshop at the Community Ambassadors Annual Winter Retreat
The Learning Tree serves as an intermediary that centers people, place, and possibility. As the connecting partner for the Community Ambassador Program, its role is to steward resources, support professional/personal growth, guide structure of implementation, and protect the integrity of the relationship between the community advocate led group and the institution. Rather than delivering services, The Learning Tree cultivates conditions. Conditions where trust can grow. Where leadership already alive in neighborhoods can be recognized and supported. Where institutions and communities can learn alongside one another. Grounded in Asset Based Community Development, this work starts by naming what is already present. Gifts. Relationships. Knowledge. Care. From there, resources are aligned in ways that strengthen what exists rather than attempting to replace it. The Learning Tree operates as a consulting firm that intentionally reinvests a portion of its income back into Indianapolis communities, with particular care for the northwest side. This commitment reflects a belief that community work must circulate resources, not extract them. Over time, the organization has partnered with grassroots groups including Kephrw Institute, Midwest Leak, and Genesys Solutions, supporting community ecosystems through shared practice and mutual trust.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LEARNING TREE ’ S NEIGHBORHOOD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The Ritz, a decades old neighborhood landmark was aquired by The Learning Tree as a community economic development project. It is being reimagined from a neighborhood bar to an entrepreneurship incubator and community convening hub.
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“Every neighborhood already has what it needs. Our job is to uncover the gifts and connect the people” -DeAmon Harges, The Learning Tree
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THE LEARNING TREE: A TIMELINE OF TREASURE MAPPING
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LEADING FROM LIVED EXPERIENCE GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE
Ambassadors commit to acting from abundance rather than scarcity. When a need arises, they look first to the gifts, relationships, and networks already present in the community. When outside resources are required, they draw upon social capital with intention and care. In every interaction, integrity in human relationships is essential. Ambassadors listen not only to what people say, but to what people do. They treat neighbors with dignity and approach each relationship believing in their capabilities, stories, and potential. Human assets are honored in all forms: hands, head, heart, and joy. By identifying and nurturing these assets, Ambassadors help shift narratives from what communities lack to what they carry. Community Ambassadors cultivate authentic and intentional human relationships with integrity. They listen deeply to community voice and honor collective agency. They seek invention, thinking beyond traditional approaches while remaining grounded in what is safe, legal, and rooted in trust. Ambassadors advocate for equitable access to resources and the redistribution of social and financial capital to communities harmed by the current design of systems. Throughout this work, imagination is understood as necessary. Complex challenges require creativity that reaches beyond the status quo. ACTING FROM ABUNDANCE
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COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR APPROACH The Community Ambassador vision is to uncover and celebrate the gifts of communities that have too often been overlooked. Through trusted relationships, ambassadors help align resources, strengthen social capital, and advance advocacy efforts grounded in urgency and equity. This work is carried out in partnership with institutions, while remaining accountable to community. Community Ambassadors do not speak for communities. They work alongside them. Guided by the principle “nothing about us without us,” ambassadors are embedded in their neighborhoods as listeners first, learners always, and advocates when action is needed. Their role is to elevate community voice, protect its integrity, and ensure it is present wherever decisions are being shaped. The program prioritizes relationships over outputs and proximity over assumption. Ambassadors convene small group conversations, shared meals, learning journeys, and storytelling spaces that allow insight to travel across differences. These moments become pathways for collaboration, problem solving, and collective action rooted in dignity rather than deficit.
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COMMUNITY AMBASSADORS GUIDING PRINCIPLES Foundational Principle: We are rooted in the individual and collective POWER of our communities. When we come together, move as one, and organize in unity, we build a dynamic POWER structure that cannot be broken. Our POWER is grounded in LOVE, resilience, joy, and the unwavering strength of our people. Vision: to connect underappreciated communities with needed resources and social capital through advocacy, urgency, and equity. Guiding Principle #1 – Cultivate authentic and intentional human relationships with integrity in an abundant ecosystem. Guiding Principle #2 - Discover human assets by actively listening to Community Voice and support in its collective agency. Guiding Principle #3 – Seek invention, thank beyond the norms while taking risks. Guiding Principle #4 – Advocating for equitable access and redistribution of resources to communities harmed by the current design. Guiding Principle # 5 - Nothing about US without US. That means we will be embedded in our communities to be their eyes, ears, and voices.
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HOW THE LEARNING TREE USES DATA At The Learning Tree data is acquired through deep listening, including conversations, learning journeys, and community-led storytelling in addition to surveys, allowing insight that is rich, textured, and full of life to emerge.
Quantitative data provides scale, while qualitative data adds depth, context, and meaning, together creating a more complete picture that supports learning, advocacy, and informed decision-making grounded in real community experience. Data is valued for its ability to surface patterns, relationships, and conditions that may not be immediately visible. This offers insight into how community life is experienced and shaped.
EMAIL TO EXPERIENCE OUR FULL INTERACTIVE 2019-2025 DATA REPORT: LEIGHE @INDIANAPOLISFOUNDATION.ORG
ABOUT JOY FUNDS
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COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP INFORMS POLICY CHANGE
Listening becomes transformative when it changes what systems do next. The Community Ambassador work demonstrates that when community leadership is taken seriously, it does more than inform programs. It reshapes how institutions design processes, distribute resources, and define success. These shifts do not happen through pressure alone. They happen through learning. From Insight to Adjustment Community Ambassadors surface patterns that traditional systems often miss. Through proximity and trust, they identify barriers created by policy, gaps between intention and lived reality, and the unintended consequences of rigid processes.In this ecosystem, those insights did not stop at acknowledgment. They informed adjustments in practice. Listening led to greater flexibility in how resources were accessed and deployed. It influenced how timelines were structured to better reflect real life complexity. It contributed to a broader understanding that one size solutions often fail communities whose needs do not fit neat categories. The result was a series of meaningful shifts that reduced friction between systems and the people they aim to support. Policy Shaped by Lived Experience Policy change here is best understood as responsive design. Community voice informed how stabilization support was interpreted, highlighting that need does not correlate cleanly with household size or standard assumptions. This reinforced the importance of discretion, context, and human centered decision making. Ambassador feedback also influenced how impact was measured. Relationship building, trust, and connection were recognized as outcomes rather than incidental byproducts. This allowed systems to value social capital alongside financial investment. These changes reflect a deeper shift. Systems began to adapt to community reality rather than asking community to adapt to systems. Learning as Institutional Practice The Learning Tree played a critical role in helping this learning travel through systems. By synthesizing patterns without stripping away context, and by translating lived experience into institutional language without flattening meaning, the intermediary ensured that community wisdom could inform practice without being diluted. Learning became shared work. Institutions shifted from being recipients of intake forms and feedback to participants in an ongoing process of adaptation.
WHAT CHANGED BECAUSE AMBASSADORS SPOKE
Greater flexibility in resource distribution, allowing responses to reflect real life circumstances rather than rigid categories Recognition of social capital as impact, expanding how success is defined and measured More adaptive timelines and processes, acknowledging that trust based work moves differently Human centered interpretation of data, reducing reliance on assumptions that overlook lived experience
These shifts reflect learning in practice rather than one time reform.
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MUTUAL AID THAT MOVED AT THE SPEED OF NEED STANDING WITH TENANTS: URGENCY SHAPED ADVOCACY The Tenant Advocacy Program emerged during a moment of crisis. During the COVID pandemic, many renters across Indianapolis were facing eviction, sudden income loss, and housing instability. The need was immediate. People did not need another application process or a ten page form. They needed help fast. Traditional systems were not built for that kind of urgency. Responding in Real Time As eviction notices increased and uncertainty spread, neighbors began reaching out for support. What surfaced quickly was a gap between available resources and people’s ability to access them. Relief programs existed, but the process to qualify was often slow, complex, and overwhelming at a time when families were already under stress. Wildstyle and community partners recognized that speed mattered. Advocacy during this period focused on meeting people where they were and responding in real time. Instead of lengthy applications, the work centered on rapid connection, clear communication, and quick disbursement of funds to prevent displacement. This approach acknowledged a simple truth. When housing is at risk, delay can be as harmful as denial. From Emergency Support to Advocacy What began as emergency response evolved into something more durable. As Ambassadors worked alongside tenants during the pandemic, patterns emerged. Many renters were navigating unclear lease terms, unsafe living conditions, and inconsistent communication with property owners. COVID did not create these issues. It exposed them.By listening to tenants and helping them organize information, the work moved from short term relief to sustained advocacy. Tenants were supported in understanding their rights, documenting concerns, and engaging with systems that often felt inaccessible. Centering Dignity and Agency Throughout the work, tenants were not treated as cases to be managed. They were treated as neighbors with agency. Rapid support was paired with respect. Funds were disbursed with trust rather than suspicion. Advocacy was offered without judgment. This approach reduced harm and preserved dignity during a period when many felt unseen. The work affirmed that people deserve stability without having to prove their worth in moments of crisis. Ambassadors’ Roles Community Ambassadors played a central role in holding this work together. Through sustained presence and trust built over time, Wildstyle helped ensure that tenant voices were heard and that support moved quickly enough to matter. This leadership required balancing urgency with care. Acting fast while staying accountable. Supporting individuals while building collective understanding. The relationships formed during this period became the foundation for ongoing tenant advocacy beyond the pandemic. Return on Community The Tenant Advocacy work during COVID demonstrated what Return on Community looks like under pressure. The value was measured in homes kept, stress reduced, and trust preserved. It showed that when communities are trusted to lead and resources are deployed quickly, harm can be prevented. Out of crisis, a practice emerged. Tenant advocacy became infrastructure rooted in responsiveness, relationship, and dignity. A reminder that effective systems are not only defined by what they fund, but by how quickly and humanely they respond when people need help most.
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SOCIAL CAPITAL BRIDGES GAPS
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MEASURING WHAT TRULY MATTERS
Every neighborhood carries stories waiting to be heard and gifts waiting to be recognized. Some are visible in the ways neighbors gather, build, and care for one another. Others live quietly in lived experience, creativity, resilience, and wisdom passed hand to hand. When attention is paid, when listening is practiced with care, these gifts begin to surface. The Community Ambassador work in Indianapolis begins with a simple, grounding practice. Paying attention to what is already here. It starts with listening to neighbors, noticing their gifts, and allowing relationships to guide what becomes possible next. This is the heart of an abundance based approach. Not abundance as excess, but abundance as recognition. The belief that every person carries gifts, and that when those gifts are seen, connected, and supported, communities begin to shape their own futures. In this work, relationships are treated as infrastructure. Trust, time, proximity, and social networks are not secondary to impact. They are the foundation of it. Change is understood not as something delivered to a community, but something cultivated alongside it.
SCAN TO WATCH COMMUNITY MEMBERS NAME WHAT BRINGS THEM JOY AT BLACK: A FESTIVAL OF JOY. AMBASSADORS WILDSTYLE AND LE ’ DEANA ARE BOARD MEMBERS FOR THIS EVENT.
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JOY AS AN INDICATOR OF THRIVING COMMUNITIES
What communities name as life giving informs a map for investment
Joy shows up in the data not as a soft idea, but as a measurable pattern of what people value and what they need more of. From family stories, our data report’s joy map surfaces recurring themes that read like a community blueprint:
family community
music dance laughter games food sports reading helping others exercise spirituality
These words are not just descriptive. They are directional. They show what people reach for when they are safe enough to live beyond survival. The report also organizes Joy Fund events into broad categories and points to a continued need for
social engagement community building celebrating joy healing preventing social isolation
Joy becomes a measurement of connection. A signal of belonging. A clue about what kind of programming, gathering space and neighborhood supports actually strengthen well-being over time. This is what it looks like to measure what truly matters: not only what was delivered, but what was restored. Not only what was funded, but what was reconnected. reflect: WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY?
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JOY FUNDS IN ACTION TEACHER APPRECIATION AT KIPP LEGACY SCHOOL WITH BEATRICE BEVERLY
SCAN TO WATCH KIPP INDY SCHOOL STAFF TALK ABOUT THE IMPACT OF GRATITUDE ON THEIR DAY ON THE LEARNING TREE ’ S AMBASSADOR PLAYLIST
social capital ⟶ social cohesion ⟶ social isolation solutions rooted. | issue 1
Social cohesion refers to the strength of relationships, trust, and shared responsibility within a community. Research across public health, sociology, and civic life consistently shows that communities with high social cohesion experience better health outcomes, stronger civic participation, and greater resilience during crisis. Conversely, weakened social ties increase vulnerability to isolation, disconnection, and diminished well-being. In 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a national advisory identifying social isolation and loneliness as a public health crisis. The advisory emphasized that chronic loneliness carries health risks comparable to smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. It also noted that isolation is not solely an individual issue, but a structural one shaped by policy, design, and the erosion of communal spaces. The advisory called for collective action, including: Investing in social infrastructure that supports connection Strengthening community-based relationships and trusted messengers Embedding connection into institutional practice, not treating it as an afterthought Supporting place-based efforts that build belonging and trust At the policy level, this has prompted resolutions, local initiatives, and cross-sector strategies focused on reducing social isolation through community engagement, civic participation, and relational approaches to service delivery. Increasingly, governments and institutions recognize that social cohesion cannot be mandated through programs alone. It must be cultivated through proximity, trust, and shared ownership. Alignment with Community Ambassador Work The Community Ambassador Approach directly responds to this moment. By centering trusted relationships, listening-first engagement, and embedded neighborhood leadership, ambassadors strengthen the connective tissue that social cohesion depends on. This work addresses isolation not by prescribing solutions to communities, but by activating existing social capital and ensuring community voice is present in systems that shape daily life. Community Ambassadors are embedded in neighborhoods as neighbors first. They are trusted because they are known, present, and accountable to the people around them. Their work strengthens social cohesion by responding to real needs through relationship, not representation. They do not wait for permission to care, and they do not speak over community voice. They work alongside it. That work looks different in every neighborhood. For some, it means making sure shut-in seniors are not forgotten during the holidays, delivering meals, conversation, and dignity when isolation is highest. For others, it means standing with tenants navigating housing insecurity, advocating for fair treatment, and translating lived experience into action that systems can understand. These efforts are not isolated acts of charity. They are examples of how social capital moves when trusted relationships are activated. They show what is possible when advocacy is grounded in proximity and when community members are supported to lead from where they are.
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LIVED EXPERIENCE LEADS TO COMBATTING SOCIAL ISOLATION
Valerie Davis knows spending holidays alone. In consideration of her own lived experience she reflected on how the holidays can deepen social isolation for neighbors who are already carrying so much alone. Working alongside her neighbors on the near Eastside, she helps lead an annual tradition of delivering meals to isolated seniors, turning care into a shared act of community. Using Joy Funds, they choose to provide meals they themselves would want to sit down and enjoy, rooted in dignity, warmth, and quality. Partnering with Kountry Kitchen, the food is familiar and comforting. To Valerie it’s important that people feel genuine consideration as people not a charity checkbox mentioning that some don’t even have the option to cook the donations they are given by traditional leaning sources. This serves as reminder that nourishment, especially during the holidays, is as much about connection as it is about food.
reflect:
REFLECTIONS ON ADDRESSING SOCIAL ISOLATION WITH VALERIE DAVIS AND NEIGHBORS
HOW CAN YOU USE YOUR LIVED EXPERIENCE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?
SCAN TO HEAR VALERIE TALK ABOUT HER LIVED EXPERIENCE AND SUPPORTING HER NEIGHBORS ON THE LEARNING TREE ’ S AMBASSADOR PLAYLIST
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COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR
WILDSTYLE PASCHALL The Culture Keeping Documentarian Archetype: Storyteller and Citizen Journalist
NEIGHBORHOOD: RIVERSIDE
“My work is about telling the truth and making sure our people are seen. When we document ourselves, we protect our culture.” Wildstyle Paschall is a culture bearer, documentarian, and community commentator whose work amplifies stories rooted in everyday life. His path is shaped by journalism, advocacy, art, and decades of engagement with local neighborhoods, especially Riverside and the Near Westside. Wildstyle is also a music producer and founder of All317HipHop. He is known for making the invisible visible. His passion is to help residents understand the systems shaping their lives, while also lifting up the creativity, resilience, and brilliance that often go overlooked. Wildstyle uses media, commentary, and storytelling to support communities navigating redevelopment, safety concerns, cultural change, and generational transition. His purpose is to tell the truth, preserve history, and document the people who keep Indianapolis moving forward. Wildstyle’s work is inseparable from his identity as an artist, journalist, and community member. His lived experience has shaped his commitment to telling the truth and preserving the culture of neighborhoods undergoing rapid change.
His passions include:
documenting Black history and community memory uplifting resident voices skating as a cultural practice and mental wellness tool advocating for thoughtful redevelopment teaching youth about the power of media and storytelling supporting grassroots art and creative expression He uses his voice to ensure that the community’s story is told with accuracy, dignity, and depth.
CREATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LEARNING TREE COMMUNITY AND MIDWEST LEA K MAGAZINE
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RETURN ON COMMUNITY GROUNDWORKS INDY
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AS COMMUNITY CARE
Advocacy, Environmental Care, and Aging With Dignity in Riverside In Riverside, community advocacy is deeply tied to care for people and place. Groundworks Indy works alongside residents to protect neighborhood health, strengthen civic voice, and ensure that long time neighbors, especially seniors, can remain in the community they helped build. Located in the Riverside area of Indianapolis, the organization centers advocacy that responds to lived conditions versus abstract policy goals. Their work reflects a belief that safety, stability, and belonging are foundational to community well being. Riverside is a neighborhood with deep history and strong social ties, as well as ongoing environmental and development pressures. For many senior residents, these pressures are felt most acutely. Changes to infrastructure, environmental conditions, and housing can quickly become barriers to remaining safely at home. Groundworks Indy approaches this reality through proximity and trust. By listening to residents, especially elders who have lived in Riverside for decades, the organization helps surface concerns that may otherwise go unaddressed. A central focus of Groundworks Indy’s work has been supporting conditions that allow senior residents to age at home with dignity. This includes advocacy around housing stability, environmental safety, and neighborhood conditions that directly affect daily life. Rather than relocating elders away from their community networks, the work prioritizes keeping people connected to familiar places, neighbors, and support systems. Environmental safety is inseparable from this work. By supporting residents in organizing around environmental safety, the organization reinforces that clean air, safe land, and healthy surroundings are not luxuries. They are essential to sustaining life and well being in the neighborhood. Through long standing relationships in Riverside, Wildstyle has helped amplify resident voices, support organizing efforts, and reinforce the importance of community led advocacy that centers elders and environmental justice. In fact, advocacy on behalf of Wildstyle and The Learning Tree helped create the opportunity for the organization to move into the pictured new location, a fire house in the heart of Riverside. This support reflects a shared commitment to protecting both people and place, recognizing that culture, history, and health are interconnected. This supports efforts that strengthen connection, reduce isolation, and affirm dignity. This is a return on community.
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COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR
The Wellness Centered Organizer Archetype: Healer and Host
BEATRICE BEVERLY NEIGHBORHOOD: MARTINDALE-BRIGHTWOOD
“My joy is found in my relationship with God, community, and seeing others prosper and being blessed."
Beatrice Beverly is a wellness centered leader whose work blends care, movement, and mental health support for her community which includes Martindale Brightwood in addition to Near/Far Eastside and transient community members. Her path has always involved nurturing others. Whether she is organizing lived experience storytelling events, skating events, supporting families as they navigate healing from trauma and trauma memories or guiding youth toward healthier emotional space, her purpose is to uplift her community through joy, physical expression, and connection. She believes healing should feel accessible and relatable opening up the possibilities for dreams and hopefulness. Beatrice creates environments where people can breathe, move, laugh, and feel seen. Her passion lies in supporting others reclaim joy and stability through community. Beatrice’s lived experience is central to her calling. She understands the emotional weight that many families carry and sees wellness as a community effort. Her passion is to make mental health support to be normalized in a manner where culturally accessible support is given without stipulations. Her personal life and experiences have shaped her belief that healing should not feel clinical. It should feel like community.
CREATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LEARNING TREE COMMUNITY AND MIDWEST LEA K MAGAZINE
JOY FUNDS IN ACTION SKATING FOR SELF MENTAL HEALTH rooted. | issue 1
AMBASSADOR COLLABORATION: TOGETHER FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Together for the Holidays was born from a shared belief that celebration can be a bridge. Through collaboration, Beatrice, Cynthia, Luna, and Sayra brought their relationships, cultural knowledge, and organizing strengths together to create a holiday experience rooted in dignity, joy, and belonging. The event centered an international approach to the season. Families were welcomed into a space where cultures met with care, from cross cultural cuisine to multi cultural photos with Santa that reflected the diversity of the community. Rather than a one size fits all holiday moment, the experience honored many traditions at once and made room for people to see themselves fully represented. A defining feature of the gathering was the opportunity for families to shop for donated items with dignity. Participants selected gifts thoughtfully for their loved ones, then left with those items beautifully gift wrapped. This approach respected choice and agency while restoring the feeling of preparing something special for family, not simply receiving a handout. Together for the Holidays also demonstrated the return on community that becomes possible when ambassadors work together. Each collaborator brought distinct networks and lived experience. When those assets were combined, the impact multiplied. More families were served. More cultures were honored. More trust was built across lines that often remain separate. This collaboration stands as a reminder that when community leaders align their gifts around a shared purpose, the outcome reaches beyond a single event. It strengthens relationships, expands access, and models what is possible when partnership is grounded in respect, care, and collective responsibility.
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COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR
The Faith Rooted Strategist Archetype: Executive Spirit
ANNIE SMITH
NEIGHBORHOOD: FAR EASTSIDE
“My joy is found in making a cross generational impact while being of service and mentorship to the next generation of change makers.” Annie L. Smith is a trusted voice on the Far Eastside, known for her ability to gather people, interpret complex systems, and move communities toward solutions. Her leadership comes from years of listening to residents, supporting churches, and navigating the realities of neighborhood change. Annie sees gifts in congregations, families, and seniors, and she weaves them into partnerships that strengthen hope and belonging across the corridor. Annie L. Smith is a steady source of care, clarity, and faith rooted leadership on the Far Eastside. Her path has been shaped by years of church involvement, community listening, and supporting families through change. Annie’s passion is helping people recognize their own strength and guiding them toward resources that support safety, wellness, and belonging. Her purpose shows up in how she gathers neighbors, interprets information, and protects the spirit of her community. Her work reflects a steady belief that every community already has the wisdom and talent it needs. Annie helps bring that wisdom forward.
CREATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LEARNING TREE COMMUNITY AND MIDWEST LEA K MAGAZINE
JOY FUNDS IN ACTION MICRO-GRANTS RAISE VISIBLITY OF COMMUNITY MEMBERS’ WORK rooted. | issue 1
Annie honored neighbors who are doing the work daily by placing resources directly in their hands through micro grants. The gathering centered care, recognition, and trust, acknowledging that meaningful change is already happening in kitchens, classrooms, blocks, and living rooms across the city. Rather than spotlighting large programs, the moment focused on people whose consistent presence and commitment often go unseen. The micro grants served both as practical support and as affirmation that their labor, relationships, and leadership matter. The celebration reflected a shared belief that investment does not have to be large to be impactful. When communities are resourced with intention and respect, the ripple effects extend far beyond a single day.
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COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR
The Community Story and Culture Keeper Archetype: Storykeeper, Culture Connector, and Archivist
LE’DEANA NEIGHBORHOOD: CROOKED CREEK “I find joy in using my gift of seeing the light in people and reflecting it back through story. I tell the stories that help our community feel seen, valued, and connected to one another.” Le’Deana Brown is a community storyteller and culture keeper who amplifies joy and connection through the voices of Indianapolis residents. She is the founder of Midwest Leak Magazine, where she has spent nearly two decades documenting the people, places, and creative power shaping the region as a whole and neighborhoods in Indianapolis specifically. As a lead storyteller with The Learning Tree, she continues this work by uplifting community ambassadors and highlighting the everyday acts of abundance that strengthen neighborhood life. Her approach centers on listening, relationship building, and helping residents feel seen, valued, and celebrated. She is also a mother taking pride in family, love and the spiritual connections that bind beyond biological kinship to impact the communities we build for generations to come. Le’Deana believes that joy is evidence of power. Her mission is to tell the stories that honor community wisdom, amplify local leadership, and remind people that their gifts are shaping the culture around them.
Le’Deana’s passions include:
documenting culture inspiring gift discovery supporting the creative economy working with youth convening community peace and joy centered placemaking
connecting with family celebrating neighbors
CREATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LEARNING TREE COMMUNITY AND MIDWEST LEA K MAGAZINE
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DOCUMENTING OUR COMMUNITY DOING THE WORK INDEPENDENTLY MIDWEST LEAK LADY ALUMNI DEANDREA RAYNER ON COMBATING FOOD INSECURITY BY FOUNDING INDY COMMUNITY PANTRY
The Indy Community Pantry, created by DeAndrea Rayner, is a neighborhood-rooted city-wide effort grounded in care, dignity, and shared responsibility. Based in Indianapolis, the pantry operates on a simple principle: take what you need, give what you can. More than a food resource, the pantry serves as a point of connection and trust. It reflects a belief that communities are strongest when neighbors look out for one another and meet immediate needs without barriers or judgment. Rayner, an alum of the Midwest Leak Magazine team, carries forward a legacy of community-centered storytelling and action through this work. Through consistency and visibility, the Indy Community Pantry continues to model how grassroots leadership can create access to nourishment while reinforcing belonging and mutual care.
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COMMUNITY AMBASSADOR
The Bridge Builder Archetype: Connector and Community Care Advocate
SAYRA CAMPOS
LATIN X COMMUNITY
“My joy is art, food, family and justice work for my community.”
Sayra’s lived experience is rooted in supporting Latinx families across Indianapolis who often navigate language barriers, unfamiliar systems, and cultural transitions. Having walked many of these paths herself, she understands the stress families feel when they are trying to access resources, communicate with schools, manage appointments, or advocate for their children in spaces where their voices are not always fully heard. Her personal journey gives her a deep awareness of the courage it takes to ask for help and the relief that comes when someone patient and compassionate stands beside you. Because she has translated for loved ones, guided friends through complex information, and witnessed the challenges families face, Sayra leads with empathy and clarity. She represents the Latinx community not by geography but by relationship. She meets people where they are, supports them across neighborhoods, and helps them feel a sense of home throughout the city. Her lived experience allows her to move between cultures with ease, giving families comfort, confidence, and connection during important moments. Sayra believes every family deserves dignity, understanding, and access. Her leadership is shaped by the experiences that taught her how powerful it is to have someone in your corner who truly sees you.
CREATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LEARNING TREE COMMUNITY AND MIDWEST LEA K MAGAZINE
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