All posts by Andrea Davis

Citizens State Bank returns as top Trivia Night sponsor

Current News,

HAND’s most popular event is scheduled for Dec. 1 with one big change: the location. This year’s team trivia competition will be held at the Delaware Township Community Center in Fishers.

But HAND Trivia Night will be the same big fun as past years.

Citizens State Bank is back as presenting sponsor (and defending champion), and Ryan from Indy’s Live Trivia will again put your wits to the test with five rounds of general-knowledge questions. There’s also a cash bar and a chance to win fabulous raffle prizes!

Registration is open, but there’s still time to put together your eight-person team. The highest-scoring trivia team will be rewarded, of course, and we have some fun surprises in store for everyone.

Interested in a sponsorship opportunity? Email Andrea Davis today.

Many thanks to our early sponsors:

Voucher waiting list opens Aug. 1 for Boone, Hamilton, Tipton, Hendricks counties

Current News, Housing Choice Vouchers

Community Action of Greater Indianapolis will open its Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers waiting list for Boone, Hamilton, Tipton, and Hendricks counties at 8 a.m. Aug. 1, 2023. Applications will only be accepted online.

Demand for Housing Choice Vouchers far exceeds the available supply, especially in suburban counties, so waiting lists are usually only open for short windows of time. Applicants are placed on the list in order of preference points, then by date and time of application.

CAGI administers the federally funded Housing Choice Voucher Program on behalf of the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority. The Noblesville Housing Authority also provides Housing Choice Vouchers, but its waiting list is not open.

Keep reading below for CAGI’s full public notice, which includes more information about preference points and links to the application websites for each county.

CAGI-waiting-list-opening-public-notice-2023Download

Wanted: 100 neighbors who support #housing4all

100 hands for HAND logo
Current News

HAND Inc. launched its annual 100 Hands for HAND fundraiser on June 28, inviting community members to donate $100 in support of the nonprofit’s housing programs.

The Noblesville organization is celebrating in 20th anniversary this year as it begins work on two new rental properties that will add 15 units to the 142 it already leases to low- and moderate-income residents.

Housing costs continue to rise faster than incomes, making the work HAND does more important than ever. The need just keeps growing.

So this summer, we’re asking 100 supporters to lend a hand by donating $100 to HAND.

Will you make a gift that will impact your community and help us pursue #housing4all?

To celebrate our anniversary, anyone who gives to the 100 Hands for HAND campaign will receive a free ticket to our 2023 Stay Home for HAND fundraiser on July 29. And that unlocks access to an awesome online silent auction!

Give now:

Construction set to begin in Fishers

HAND staff and board members
Current News, Fishers, ,

Almost two years after being awarded $2 million to build an 11-unit rental community in Fishers, HAND Inc. hosted a groundbreaking ceremony at the site June 15 to celebrate the start of construction.

The project had been on hold due rising construction costs, but HAND was able to proceed thanks to a $1.4 million low-interest loan from IMPACT Central Indiana, the impact-investing affiliate of Hamilton County Community Foundation and Central Indiana Community Foundation.

HCCF's Tom Kilian speaks at the Cumberland Cottages groundbreaking ceremony.

HCCF President Tom Kilian Jr. spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony, heralding the opportunity the project is creating for working families in Fishers. Inclusive economic growth is one of the foundation’s strategic priorities.

HAND Executive Director Andrea Davis also addressed the crowd, thanking construction and design team members Meyer Najem, David Rausch Studio, and Weihe Engineers for their commitment to the project despite the delays.

Fishers-based Meyer Najem is the general contractor on the $4.6 million project. Rausch, based in Zionsville, is the architect, and Carmel-based Weihe handled civil engineering.

In addition to IMPACT Central Indiana, funders include the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority, the Hamilton County Community Development Block Grant program, and the Crosser Family Foundation. Citizens State Bank provided initial project funding.

Six of the 11 units will be reserved for residents earning up to 60 percent of area median income, a population that is funding it increasingly difficult to afford to live in Hamilton County. The remainder will be available at market-rate rents.

Founded in 2003, HAND is based in Noblesville. It leases a total of 142 rental homes to low- and moderate-income residents in Hamilton, Boone, and Tipton counties. Cumberland Cottages will be HAND’s first property in Fishers.

Members of the Cumberland Cottages design and construction team are ready to get started.
From left, County Commissioner Steve Dillinger and State Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn joined HAND’s Andrea Davis, Fishers City Councilor Crystal Neumann, County Councilor Sue Maki, and Fishers City Councilor Jocelyn Vare at the groundbreaking ceremony on June 15.
Funding partners Peter Nelson from IHCDA, Tom Kilian from HCCF/Impact Central Indiana, and Aimee Jacobsen from the Noblesville Housing Authority joined the fun.
HAND staff and board members
HAND staffers Kelley Romweber and Rebekah Metzger joined board members Nick Surak, Brittany Heidenreich, ED Andrea Davis, and board members Lauren Guynn, ME Barwacz, and Kert Toler for a photo at the site.

200+ attend May ‘Housing our Workforce’ conference

Current News, Housing Conference,

More than 200 central Indiana community leaders gathered at the Embassy Suites Conference Center in Noblesville on May 3 to hear from experts working to address a growing need for suburban workforce housing.

HAND’s 2023 Suburban Housing Conference, presented by the Hamilton County Community Foundation, was the Noblesville-based nonprofit’s ninth annual event. It attracted elected officials, political candidates, municipal planners, housing developers, funding partners, nonprofit executives, community activists, and others concerned about the widening gap between household incomes and housing costs.

HCCF President & CEO Tim Kilian set the tone for the educational day, which began with a panel of local developers discussing how they navigate obstacles like high land costs and restrictive zoning ordinances. Invest Hamilton County CEO Mike Thibideau led the discussion among developers Marchelle Berry from Radiant CDC, Alison Birge from Village Capital Corp., Nate Harris from Buckingham Cos., and Bryan Stumpf from 11th Street Development.

“Quick Hits on Housing” included an update on how housing-related bills fared in the just-completed General Assembly, from Prosperity Indiana’s Andrew Bradley, as well as an overview of the regional housing study the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization is working on, from the MPO’s Andrea Miller. Hamilton County Commissioner Christine Altman provided a brief update on the county’s plans to invest $5 million in federal ARPA funds to acquire land and build infrastructure for an attainable housing development.

Over lunch, Chris Watts, Vice President of Public Policy at the Indiana Association of Realtors, provided a real-time report on state and local real estate trends as the market recovers from its 2022 slowdown. One fascinating data point: In 2023, Hamilton County has had more million-dollar home sales (58) than home sales under $200,000 (38).

After lunch, attendees dug into three breakout session topics: Community Land Trusts, Modular Construction, and Creative Partnerships.

The event would not have been possible without the support of its sponsors. In addition to the Hamilton County Community Foundation, sponsors included:

Keystone: Merchants Bank of Indiana and Noblesville Housing Authority

Supporting: Breathe Easy Hamilton County, Family Promise of Hamilton County, Intend Indiana, PNC Bank

Table: C&H Capital LLC, Church Church Hittle + Antrim, City of Carmel, City of Westfield, Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, Glick Philanthropies, Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity, Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority, Invest Hamilton County, Kittle Property Group, Lake City Bank, Multi-Family Construction Services, MIBOR REALTOR Association, Old Town, Stenz Construction, Woda Cooper Cos., Westfield-Washington Township

Half-Table: Brenner Design, Duke Energy, Meyer Najem Construction

Snack: Peterson Architecture