Mayor Tucker announces Collected Neighborhoods Initiative winners

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (ADAMS) – On Thursday, Fort Wayne Mayor Sharon Tucker announced that the Northwest Central Collaborative and East State Village Neighborhood Group submitted the two winning Connected Neighborhoods Initiative proposals.

“My heart continues to be with neighborhoods, and I’m so encouraged to see the Connected Neighborhoods initiative take shape and is now ready to see projects get started with our selected winning groups,” said Mayor Tucker. “We’re a stronger and more resilient city when we work together and engage with residents and neighborhoods on meaningful and lasting efforts to enhance the quality of life for everyone as a fun, family-friendly, and safe community.”

The City released the following:

The Connected Neighborhoods initiative is one of Mayor Tucker’s priorities for 2025 and was unveiled in her first State of the City address earlier this year. It supports collaborative efforts that act as catalysts for neighborhood revitalization. It will fund a total of $2 million for projects proposed by neighborhoods working collaboratively in 2025 and the same amount in 2027 for another round of applicants. The main source of funding is the land sale proceeds from the Google data center. Community Development’s Neighborhoods Department is leading the initiative.

The East State Village Neighborhood proposal was submitted by the Beacon Woods (formerly Frances Slocum, Brentwood, Hazelwood and Bellair Civic), Forest Park, North Anthony and Northside neighborhoods and focuses on improvements to the East State Village commercial corridor from Kentucky Avenue to Florida Drive. Proposed projects include streetscape enhancement, sidewalk repairs, streetlights, commercial facade improvements, crosswalks, landscaping, branding and signage.

“We are excited to collaborate with our nearby neighborhoods to help revitalize the East State Village commercial corridor,” said Lori Stombaugh, president of the Northside Neighborhood. “Our goal is to encourage economic investment and growth for the businesses along East State and make the corridor a source of pride and place of connection for our residents.”

The Northwest Central Neighborhoods Collaborative is comprised of the Bloomingdale, Hamilton, Nebraska, North Highlands, and West Central neighborhoods and focuses on connectivity and safety.

“In the short term, we envision better neighborhood-to-neighborhood connectivity through improved pedestrian and bike infrastructure. Enhanced safety measures such as crosswalk improvements, traffic calming, and signage can encourage walking and biking, reduce car dependency, and prevent injuries, said Lindsey Keller, president of North Highlands Neighborhood. “As a result, residents will be more physically active, and our neighborhoods will feel more accessible and livable.”

Now that the winning proposals have been selected, the City’s Department of Neighborhoods will work with the neighborhood coalitions to finalize projects and ensure they have community support. Construction of funded projects is expected to take place in 2026 and will be coordinated by city government. Neighborhood groups whose proposals were not selected will be encouraged to apply again next year for the final award of $2 million to be shared by two groups.