One of our partners, the Indianapolis chapter of Architecture for Humanity, is redefining parking this September.

AFH Indy had such a fun time bringing PARK(ing) Day to the Circle City for the first time last fall, that it will be doing it again on Sept. 17. And this time AFH Indy is calling on others to make the celebration bigger… much bigger.

Established by San Francisco art and design studio Rebar in 2005, PARK(ing) Day challenges urban dwellers and visitors to rethink infrastructure by transforming, temporarily, metered parking spaces into public parks.

“In urban centers around the world, inexpensive curbside parking results in increased traffic, wasted fuel and more pollution,” said Rebar’s Matthew Passmore. “The strategies that generated these conditions are not sustainable, nor do they promote a healthy, vibrant urban human habitat. PARK(ing) Day is about re-imagining the possibilities of the metropolitan landscape.”

Last year, AFH Indy took up the challenge by transforming two parking spaces into a 9′ x 40′ park — complete with sod, paving stones, flowers, trees and benches — in front of the Borders Bookstore on Meridian Street near the Washington Street intersection. This year, at the same location, the hope is to transform as many as 10 spaces typically reserved for cars.

“We are actively recruiting organizations to join AFH Indy in its PARK(ing) Day celebration,” said chapter founder ChunSheh Teo. “We are excited about establishing partnerships and collaborations that will have an impact on those who experience PARK(ing) Day in the shadow of Monument Circle in September and beyond. Everyone is invited to join us on September 17.”

In fact, those interested in partnering, sponsoring or volunteering can find out how to do just that by visiting the chapter’s blog. In the coming weeks that will be the best place to learn about the participating organizations as they commit to PARK(ing) Day 2010 in Indianapolis.

Architecture for Humanity is an international nonprofit organization, founded in 1999, which promotes architectural and design solutions to global, social and humanitarian crises. The Indianapolis Chapter was founded in 2008.

BDU is holding its first graduation, as 79 students will walk as education pioneers. This is the first class of graduates through Vincennes early college network, which now extends to five schools, and it will be the largest group of graduates ever from an early college high school in the state of Indiana.

More to come as festivities get underway at 2 pm.

This program will connect students attending Indianapolis-area early college high schools with a “new breed” of urban educator at a one-of-a-kind summer initiative at Vincennes University in June. And Melton has been extremely pleased with the class of candidates to date.

“I believe that people will be surprised with the amount of talent, desire and innovative thought that we have identified and will be bringing to Vincennes for this program,” she said.

With the unique experience of serving multiple roles as teacher, curriculum designer, leadership coach, tutor, college advisor, mentor and residential advisor, the Fellows will gain valuable insight into urban education reform and earn a leg up in applying for selective graduate schools and teacher training programs such as Teach for America and New Leaders for New Schools.

As the program approaches (June 5), we will be launching a series of profiles about the Fellows. And you still have time to become one of them! Please visit x-mester.com for more.

As part of the Development Implementation Plan, DCI determined that private investors would not jump aboard until neighborhood perceptions improved. The DCI Team — which included Storrow Kinsella Associates, Domain Architecture, and Shrewsberry & Associates — recommended enhancement to the MLK Corridor, which serves as the front door to the United Northwest neighborhood.

The mile-long stretch of roadway will receive $2 million in improvements, including on-street parking, bus shelters and a boulevard. The corridor will highlight the achievements of influential African-American men and women with ties to the Circle City. The Indianapolis Star noted that “engraved steel plates at each bus stop will feature quotes from King’s speeches and writings. Students who attend school in the area will select the quotes.”

“[Local businesses and the neighborhood] want to make this the best MLK Street in the country,” said John Bartholomew, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Metropolitan Development. “They want to make it a destination.”

Hats — including those white hardhats — off to everyone involved.

As a result, the profession suffers. According to Richard Ingersoll, of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, every day about 1,000 teachers transfer from their school while another 1,000 quit the field altogether.

So we were pleased to see that National Public Radio spent time covering the Boston Teacher Residency, a first-of-its-kind program when it was established in 2003. Boston Public Schools were desperate to attract and retain talented teachers, so superintendent Tom Payzant had an idea. NPR’s Claudio Sanchez reported:

“Most teacher training institutions focus more on content and less on practice and how people teach,” Payzant says.

So, he wondered, why can’t schools be more like teaching hospitals with seasoned teachers, just like seasoned doctors, responsible for the induction and training of the next generation of teachers?

Providing support, giving insight, tapping into a network of practioners. That isn’t just how teachers can best learn and prepare, it is also the best way to keep them in the profession.

There are also innovative methods afoot to attract the best and brightest to the profession, including one that strikes home here at Schools Building Communities where Chief Community Builder Patricia Melton is serving as the program director for X-Mester. X-Mester is a summer residency program designed to give Fellows, college students and recent graduates, a hands-on experience teaching, advising and mentoring Indianapolis early college high school students on the campus of Vincennes University.

“Aspiring teachers who make it in the profession are often the survivors of a leaky recruitment and induction system,” said Melton. “We need to change this unfortunate reality. Programs like the X-Mester Fellowship and the Boston Teacher Residency make that shift and help that next generation of teachers to choose wisely the conditions and environment necessary for success and longevity. Teachers should never teach alone.”

But we need all hands on deck to help spread the word to potential Fellows. The positions, which will likely number between 12 and 15, will last from June 2 to June 19 and will pay a $1,500 stipend plus room, board and a travel stipend if necessary.

“We are looking for select applicants who exhibit relentlessness, perseverance, and a deep understanding of what it takes to work effectively in racially and ethnically diverse, low-income communities,” said program director Patricia Melton.

“Successful candidates will be energetic, reflective, curious and hard working,” she continued. “They will have multiple talents to offer, the ability to connect with adolescents and a passion for social justice. We certainly value the necessary characteristics of any successful teacher — zest, grit, hope, gratitude and enthusiasm — but we also are looking to attract those who are drawn to the education reform movement and the ground-breaking early college model.”

With the unique experience of serving multiple roles as teacher, curriculum designer, leadership coach, tutor, college advisor, mentor and residential advisor, the Fellows will gain valuable insight into urban education reform and earn a leg up in applying for selective graduate schools and teacher training programs such as Teach for America and New Leaders for New Schools.

X-Mester will be searching for applicants, of all majors, who are either recent college graduates or will be college seniors in 2010-11. For much more about the Fellowship and to download the application, please click here.

There is also more to learn about the program, including its highlights, its participating early college high schools, Vincennes University and beyond at http://www.x-mester.com.

That will be a huge free outdoor festival — with more than 100 exhibits, food, live music and youth activities — from 11 am to 4 pm on Saturday, April 24.

You might recall that the Architects brought some good ol’ Earth to Center City last September when they built their own urban park on the corner of Meridian and Washington Streets, complete with grass, benches, flowers and landscaping stones. A celebration of Park(ing) Day, the group is looking to take over even more parking spaces this summer.

That initiative, as well as others, will be on display at the AFH Indy exhibit booth, No. 85, in Tent C. If you are there, stop by and say hello to Teo & friends.

A little background on Earth Day. This will be the 40th anniversary of Earth Day celebrations, which was first organized by U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson to bring attention to conservation issues.

Among the purposes of Earth Day now are the promotion of civic engagement, the broadening of the meaning of environment, the mobilization of communities, the implementation of educational programs and the inspiration and engagement of college-aged citizens.

We were at Martin University on a cold night in December when Judge Marilyn Moores, developer Paul Estridge and Rosemary Dorsa of the Central Indiana Community Foundation first publicly spoke of the plans for the facility.

We were at the City Council meeting when the council unanimously agreed to hand the 83-year-old building to the CICF for the purpose of turning it into a community center.

We were recently at an open house at the school as CICF held a party in the gymnasium, providing an update to community members about the progress that was being made and asking for committee volunteers on the project.

Now John Tuohy of the Indianapolis Star has provided an update after chatting with Michael Richardson (pictured), who oversees the project for CICF, and Estridge. The latest is that neighborhood leaders have secured an oral commitment of $1 million from the United Way of Central Indiana, if they can raise matching funds.

Wrote Tuohy:

Planners envision the center as a regional downtown, [Richardson] said.

“It could be a place that people can go for services instead of trudging all the way Downtown,” Richardson said. “It takes away many of the transportation issues people here have.”

The anchor of the center would be Edna Martin Christian Center, which provides senior services and after-school programming for children. But other tenants could include the YMCA, a Police Athletic League, the Marion County juvenile court, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Marion County prosecutor’s office, Boy Scouts and a child development center.

“We’d like to create some synergy,” Estridge said.

Just about a year ago Estridge Homes built a new house in Martindale-Brightwood for ABC Television’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and he pledged to remain active in supporting the community. The commitment to the School 37 project shows that it wasn’t simply a ‘made-for-TV’ promise.

[In the photo above, Mayor Ballard is seated in the middle of the front row with Dandridge to the immediate right. Carson is on the far left of the back row.]

One of the interesting pieces of news to come from that meeting is that the Mayor’s Office, one of the few in the nation which can authorize charters, has expanded that department in an effort to strategically position Indianapolis to attract new business. A strong and thriving educational system is essential to any city’s economy.

The Office of Education and Innovation will focus its efforts on addressing the needs of both charter schools and the 11 school systems within Marion County. That office has already laid the groundwork for the expansion. “Last year, we spoke to every high school in the city in some form or fashion and received a lot of different feedback,” said Mayor Ballard.

In those visits, Mayor Ballard witnessed creative practices which he felt needed to be shared on a city-wide level, certainly beyond monthly superintendent meetings. That was actually the very reason that charter schools, which Ballard clearly supports, were established in the first place.

“Charter schools have a lot of freedom to do what they need to do to make it work,” said the Mayor. “They can bring a student who is behind two or three years and bring them up because they have the flexibility to do so.”

“We need to help bridge that gap — bring people together to help fill it — that’s what the Office of Education & Innovation is all about.”

In today’s Indianapolis Star, Andy Gammill reports that Gov. Mitch Daniels and Tony Bennett of the Indiana Department of Education are encouraging Indiana lawmakers to adopt aggressive education reform similar to New York City. In fact, they have invited NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to an education roundtable.

Change is afoot in Indianapolis.

Realizing that a school cannot experience a true and lasting transformation without confronting community needs, the initiative looked to address not just education, but also health, safety, housing and employment. And deal with those issues would require partnerships and innovation.

“We have to engage our community-based organizations,” said Blair Taylor, head of the L.A. Urban League. “We have to engage our residents and our neighborhoods. Frankly, I think in the 21st century, more answers will come from that than the top-down approach we’ve taken in the past.”

Looking at the broader picture and engage those local assets has paid off… big time. The graduation rate at Crenshaw has improved by nearly one-third. And residents report a safer, more vibrant, atmosphere for children.

Please take a look at the seven-minute piece:

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