The Home Repair Crisis Facing Thousands of Hoosiers

So part of that mission does drive a lot of what we look at even for innovation. We are here to help individuals age and play safely and with dignity. [music] One fancy tool. Totally could have done that. Then you show up and it's like someone has like [music] a backed up toilet and I'm like ah totally could not be a plumber. And for us, this is huge.

[music] This runs all year long. This is taking care of a lot of those smaller repairs. Setting out to [music] make the biggest impact possible. How much did that help with y'all's growth? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between, this is Get In, the show focused on the Hooser State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation.

My guest today is Rachel [music] Nelson. He is the executive director of Home Repairs for Good, an Indianapolis nonprofit [music] helping older adults and people with disabilities stay safely in the homes they love through crucial free critical home repairs. Rachel has a background in marketing, [music] communications, and nonprofit leadership. She has helped grow the organization into one of Indiana's most human- [music] centered community impact orgs, combining housing stability, volunteerism, [music] workforce development, and neighborhood revitalization, all into one missiondriven model. I'm [music] so excited to dive into the incredible work y'all are doing at Home Repairs for Good. Rachel, welcome to the show.

Thanks. I'm excited. Come on. All right. So, I think one, we got to give a shout out to our friends at Elements Financial. They helped make the all these introductions happen.

Um, and they are the uh the proud partner of our nonprofit spotlight episodes. And what I want to start with on this episode is identifying the problem. We're going to start with the problem and then we can go through the history and the evolution of the solutions that you guys have been presenting. So, when it comes to the problem that Home Repairs for Good is solving, where does it all start? It starts pretty simply. So, um, older adults in the community on average that we work with have been there for 29 years.

So, think of your grandparents. Think of people that you know who are an older adult and they have loved and lived in their home for decades. You know, maybe they've raised their kids there, maybe their grandparents live there and pass the home to them. So, there's a lot of history involved in these houses, in these structures that people are living in. Um, and for the individuals that we're serving, the issue is they live on an incredibly low income. So, they can't just call someone to come and fix a repair.

They can't call someone to help them put up a gut gutter. Um, they can't call someone to help get a handrail in their bathroom, something simple. You know, maybe their family doesn't have the ability to go ahead and and help them either. Um, and they themselves are losing mobility and losing the the capability of doing some of this themselves. And so, for them to stay in their home, they need help. They just need help.

And so the need basically becomes these individuals are living in the space that is absolutely the most affordable space they could live in. Most don't have a mortgage. You know, where else could they live at that rate? Um and so this is an ability for them to stay in the home they love in the home they've built memories and also the most affordable home they could possibly be in. Yeah. Okay.

Wait, that's super interesting. So if you think of like generational family homes like this large asset gets passed down and you know your grandparents house uh then you start to grow old in this and yeah a gutter falls down you know you're elderly you're on a fixed income especially you know if you get past what is it 65 or what I don't know enough about you know retirement age type stuff but you start to get a fixed amount of money yeah right and then you know you have these things come up whether it be handrails or gutters or whatever That might be getting that fixed is crucial. Yeah. And and so how did you guys start to like you know go down this pathway? Where did home where did home repairs for good come into the mix? Sure.

And how did you identify that problem? Like it's kind of a it's a problem that is so prevalent when you think about it. But I don't I wouldn't ever think about it if that's you know that's fair to say. So let me go to the founder history because that sort of gives the the lay of the land and how it even came to be. So the organization was founded by a gentleman ma named Dave Wy um who is still actively involved today. And so Dave uh had retired relatively early and um he had had a very active career at Lily um and decided okay finally I'm retired.

I am going to relax for once and I just got to figure out what to do with myself. He ended up just doing some home repairs for neighbors and the neighbors had a friend and that friend had a friend and you know you know how it goes. And so he goes out and he just winds up doing a bunch of these just free home repairs. And it kind of gets to a list that he needs to pull in some more people. So he brings in another friend, Tom. And then they have another friend, Janette, who says, "I see what you're doing and I think I think I can help."

And so this little band of people are going out and just doing home repairs for free for people they don't know. They're like vigilante home repair. Like that's wild. So how are they getting requests? Like how are people literally word of mouth? So the need is so great that as soon as a resource is identified, they're like, "Oh my gosh, these people, you got to call them, you know, just call them.

They're going to come help." And so this need was so great and there was really no resource in the city that was providing this. Okay, give me like let's put it into a concrete example. Like give me an example of someone, especially in the early days, who would have told someone the problem, whatever the problem that they have is, and that this crew would have came out and fixed it. An example would be someone who we'll give the full lay of the land. So they worked their entire life.

They now are living on social security. They get a check of maybe 1,200 a month. So that's what they're living on. Um they have this home. They live there for 30 years. And let's say that Where is the home?

Oh, the home is in True City. So 46218. That would be a prime example. 46218. What? Martindell Brightwood.

Um yes. These are like This is like This is Indianapolis. Indianapolis. This is like, you know, these homes that are in Yeah. Okay. Martindale, Brightwood.

That makes sense. I got you. These are not new builds. I can visualize it. Okay. These are old homes in that area in true Marian County, in true Indianapolis.

Correct. Correct. They've had a heyday. This is not their heyday. Yes. All right.

So, you have a homeowner who then has uh no excess money. Uh they are older and they have a gutter that has fallen off of their home. So then there's some developers that drive around and they say, "Oh, you know, I think there's some potential with this street in this area. I see that they have a gutter down." And I'm not saying this happens, but I'm saying it could potentially happen. They might call the health department and say, "Hey, there is this house that has a gutter that's falling off."

Well, that is a health violation. And so the health department has to go out and they say, "Oh, yep. All right. That is a health violation. All right." And so I'll get into this.

So the the citations then come to the homeowner. the homeowner is alerted that, hey, you've got an ordinance violation on your home. You need to repair your gutter. It needs to be taken care of, otherwise we will send you to court and put fines on your home and you'll have leans on your property as well. And it can get exacerbated. And so, at that point in time, the homeowner is like desperate.

They can't afford someone to come out and and repair or replace their gutters. They don't have family members who can do this. This is not something that they can just ask their neighbor for. Their church doesn't really have resources. So, this little band of people that are going out and doing home repairs and words getting around, let's say they've done something for a neighbor who goes to the same church, that person says, "Oh, hey, you need to call these people." They call these people, they come out and they say, "Yeah, no, we can totally fix these gutters."

And you know what? We're actually really friends with the the inspectors. We've gotten to know them over the years. And so, we'll let them know that we're working on your project. They'll give us some extra time. And true true to form, they call the inspector and say, "Hey, at that time it was Neighborlink.

Neighborlink Indianapolis here. We're going to go ahead and help this homeowner. They've got a citation. We see we're going to go ahead and take care of the gutter. We can't get to it for a couple of months because we got to recruit the volunteers. Um, can you give them a little timeline?"

And they do. It's great. They're like, "Yeah, you're a proven record. You guys have been helping people. Sure. We'll give you the time."

They go out then and they repair the gutter. They replace the gutter. Uh, take care of that. let the inspector know, hey, the citation should be cleared. Go ahead and cover that for that person. And that inspector goes out and says, "Yep, that gutter's up.

Looks great." Not only is that gutter up, that citation is cleared. That stress is alleviated, but that home is actually helped in the in the long run because there isn't the fear of water infiltration due to that gutter pulling down on the roof, pulling some uh away from the sophets and the the fascia board that is on that home. Yeah. So, yeah, that would be an example. Wow.

Okay, that just put it into great context. of one. No accus no accusations are made, but it could happen as as to though how uh the health department is alerted. The health department isn't going out and finding people to site like their their goal is not to go out and be like, "Ah, gotcha." Like that's not their thing. Wow.

Okay. Wait. And so there this is an interesting piece too like what are the repercussions of not maintaining your house? Yeah. So if it is something that becomes a health hazard and truly is a is a um detraction from your home, your house, your property and your own health and safety and anyone around you, they will cite you to say, "Hey, you need to fix this." Now, in some cases, if that home is abandoned or if that property is uh not owner occupied, perhaps it is a rental and they can't get a hold of the landlord or there's not enough repercussions for the landlord to really be motivated, the house can still fall in disrepair.

And we certainly see that all across Indiana. If the house, like let's say you if you didn't exist, Yeah. and they get a citation, what is the pathway that sends them down? Yeah. So that would then send them down and and for individuals who don't reach out to us who say, "No, no, no, I'm not going to bother with this." They do go the path of having a court date, having to go to court, getting fines.

Those fines are continuous. They don't end. Um there are leans put on the property and eventually that home could be bought out under that person because someone else says, "Well, you know what? I'll pay those leans. I'll pay that taxes." And they just work their way into purchasing that property out from under the homeowner.

Does the homeowner get anything? No. What? [laughter] What? This is this is like a wild. Okay.

Wait. And then give us the scale of volume today in 2026. How many of these citations are there outstanding total? And then how many of that is a subsection of the elderly population that you're serving? So I only focus on those citations that come our way. So a person has to selfidentify that they want help.

We're not just going to go out and knock on doors. So uh my focus then on those individuals who have said, "Hey, I need help." or inspectors who have said, "Hey, you know, this person, we've let them know about you." In general, we're doing about 69ish 70 citation related projects a year. Um, and that can be boiled down to about 30 individuals. Usually, an individual has multiple citation projects.

It's not just one thing. Um, and so we will do our best to remediate all of those uh as best as we can. Okay, that that's good for the scale of it. And like how what's the average price tag to fix a citation? It depends. It totally depends.

And like what are the types of like like if a tree falls on the roof and it's like you need a whole new roof, is that like under the umbrella or is it more like smaller things? It can run the gamut. So for instance, think about things that you are are you a homeowner? I am a homeowner. Okay. So you as a homeowner, if you have a nextdoor neighbor and they never mow their lawn, they throw trash everywhere.

There's like five junky cars parked in the in the yard. Gosh, I'm probably the one that the neighbors are looking at. [laughter] Don't mean to call you out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

No, it's okay. Yeah. So, that's the kind of uh home that as new neighbors may move in, instead of going and talking to that individual and saying, "Hey, do you need some help?" Or understanding that maybe they do just need a little helping hand. Um instead, they'll call the health department and say, "Hey, there's this problem property near me. I think you need to fix this."

And so, that's generally how the ball gets rolling. How long ago did NeighborLink Indianapolis start? So in 2013 it officially launched. Okay. It launched as Neighborlink Indianapolis. The founder had worked with a group up in Fort Wayne um called Neighborlink.

And they had a software and this software allowed anyone to put on a volunteer project and then any volunteer to go on and claim that project. And at the time uh Dave just wanted some some implementation of a software that would work for project management. He didn't have any money to work with. He just knew this was a thing and it was growing way out of his control in the current iteration. So he was able to sign on with Neighborlink. NeighborLink then said, "Oh, hey, you know what?

We'll just give you branding. We'll give you a name. We'll do all the 501c3 paperwork. We'll get this going for you." So 2013 launches launches under Neighborlink in Indianapolis using the software. Still with this band of Dave, Tom, and Janette for the founders.

Um, and they were just recruiting other recent retirees and other church members and other volunteers and literally stayed volunteer uh up until about 2018. No way. Yes. Yes. Wow. Wow.

They got to a point in 2018, 2019 where they were realizing as volunteers they kind of had hit their ceiling, you know, and so they had pushed on um and I think they were doing about 270 repairs a year, which is pretty solid. Um if you think about it, when they first started it was just three of them. 270 repairs a year. Yes. Holy. Yes.

Entirely volunteer run, entirely donations. I think at that point they may have gotten a small grant or two. Um but for the most part entirely volunteer and very much on their backs financially. Yeah. Um so they I mean the problem was so prevalent that they just they knew it needed to grow and they knew they needed to build capacity. Um and so in 2020 they began to hire leadership.

In 21 they switched over. I took the executive director role at that point. um and and they had realized they had met the sort of ceiling of what they could accomplish as volunteers. The first year that we actually had people in staff positions, uh we had reached 500 and some odd pairs. Five. Wait, wait.

And it was 270. And then you talk about like this is volunteer. You hit the ceiling there. And then you start to bring in you bring in, you know, actual full-time employees that work on this and you guys surpass 500. What? Okay.

So, and that's a different number. 500 repairs is different than the citations. Yes, correct. So, how many what's like the amount of repairs that you do today in 2026? So, well, uh, the last I looked, which was last week, we had completed 200 repairs. 200 repairs.

And, you know, you still have a lot of time left this year. Yes. Wow. Yes. That's incredible. Okay.

So, people then reach out and they're like, "Hey, I have these issues happening at my house." Maybe they're being pree uh preemptive instead of waiting for a citation to come. They're like, "Oh, absolutely. I got you." So, there's only a specific amount of that come from citations. Small citations.

Citations are a small section. I got it. Okay. I thought that was like a big component of it, but it could just be someone who is elderly on a fixed income. I mean, I had to get my gutters done past year. Like I like one stretch of them and it was like $750 or something like that for like a very small section of gutter.

Mhm. And it's just like man that stuff especially if you're living on 1,200 bucks. Yeah. Oh yeah, by the way, we don't have any money for food. We just in took a woman who she lives on $936 a month. What was wrong?

What what like she had she had a some some plumbing issues that had gone unresolved that were becoming extremely problematic. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And it's like, you know, you could get your 24 months same as cash 0% APR. What? It's like on $960 like you you're toasted.

Well, see, and that's that's kind of the thing. So one of the reasons that we sort of segmented down to the population that we serve. So we serve 62 and older or people with disabilities who are living on an extremely low income. So we say 30% AMI or below. Um AMI AMI so area media income. So roughly 21 $22,000 a year for a single family home or below.

Um just to give perspective. And like what's the total size of that population in in Indianapolis? Like if you had to guess like the total market of 62 and older at 30% of the average no area median income. Yeah. Yeah. How many people?

So in in 2020 that was the last time I sort of pulled those numbers as much as I could and it was close to 17,000 people that would have qualified. There are 17,000 60 There's roughly 17,000 62 and older people that are making that live off of 20some,000 a year. That was as 2020. So you can you can imagine now as the population is aging at such an increasing rate that yes, there are even more now. Yeah. And cons considering the economy and the current conditions of things like incomes certainly are not growing for many of them either.

And so there are a lot of challenges being thrown their way. Yeah. And it's like if you think of I don't know what the scale of which like social security or something like that grows every year but you think about like maybe you know if the average median like I think that there can be a larger disparity too there to get to you to 30%. I don't know if that like math makes sense if it helps. So I do look at the average household income for each of our homeowners annually and so we have not grown much within the last two to three years. The average has remained right at about 1,500 a month.

Okay. For people that you're helping, correct? Wow. [sighs] Yeah. I mean, this is like Yeah. And you talk about like AES or you talk about, you know, different utility companies.

You talk about the price of internet or like groceries. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's no money for plumbing repairs. There's no money for gutter fixes.

No, absolutely not. And we will do anything from a simple grab bar all the way up to a new roof. Wow. So if it is not structural, we likely will be able to do something about it if it's not structural. Correct. Wow.

Okay. So you took over in 2020 2021. You took over in 2021. And how much did having the increased focus on like this is the thing. It's not just volunteerism. if this is the this is like a nonprofit where we're setting out to make the biggest impact possible.

How much did that help with y'all's growth? I think it helped tremendously. I mean, you're you're basically taking a group of individuals who, man, their heart is in it. Their passion is in it. They're they have built this. They have driven it.

Um, and they get to a point where they're like, well, I do also kind of want vacation and I do have grandkids and I do want to go travel. And so, there isn't that dedicated, you know, 40 hours a week kind of mentality towards it. And there shouldn't be. not for them like they have definitely done an enormous amount as they have. So they realize if we put people in positions that are in leadership positions able to organize structure build efficiencies um build processes and go out and do this thing and that is their job then there should be an increase and they were right. Yeah.

Wow. Okay. Right. I'm I'm I'm following now. But the interesting piece is that the the whole model gets even more interesting. So we have identified the problem.

The problem is in these specific and well I mean a lot of zip codes but the the zip codes that you guys serve this is Indianapolis proper correct Marian County. This is Marian County. Our focus is in the 465 loop. Okay. Marian County in the 465 loop 62 and older. Correct.

30% of AMI or below. 30% or lower. Um there are lots of home repairs to make. Yes. Now how do you find funding? Yeah.

And then so here's what I want to get the life cycle of. How do you find funding to do the projects and how do you find people and labor to use the funding to fix the houses? Yep. Great question. Um, and this is also where a little bit of differentiation comes in. And so it gets a little into the difference of other repair programs that are in the city.

We wanted we wanted to be a gap filler, not a duplication of services. Yes, there are some home repair programs within the city and they eb and flow depending on their own funding. Many of them are driven by federal funds and federal funds will have certain caveats and certain uh requirements um hoops things reporting that kind of limit their scope and abilities. Um we when we started it was very much all right we're not going to tap into federal funds because we want to respond to the problem quickly. We want to go out we want to do the thing we want to get the job done. Yeah.

Um it's harder because you don't get this massive lump sum that you're working with. you really do have to scrape, but you also then have to figure out, all right, if this homeowner is living on $936 a month, surely I can figure out how to make the most out of the $5 that someone donated to me. And so, we very much have, we have been built essentially on the local foundations, the private foundations, um, uh, different donors and churches and volunteer groups that contribute to their projects. Cuz here's the thing. If you don't have a ton of overhead, it's all volunteer driven. And it's like someone gives you $1,000.

It's like, well, hey, you know, I had to pay a contractor to do a gutter repair. It was, you know, $764 or whatever it was, but if I was just buying gutter materials, I had the like I had the machine, I could probably do it on raw. If the if the labor was free, it probably would only been $100 or something like that. And so with $1,000, you could do 10 of those. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, I'm following where speed to get it done and efficiency of cap like use of capital.

Yeah, correct. Yep. And so as much as possible, we have maintained that. Um we do have staff now. So we do have overhead. Yeah.

But that staff is also the majority of the staff going out and doing repairs. I have gone out and done different repairs. Like this is not this no one here can say that they haven't gone out to do something. There's nothing wrong with a hard hat and a hammer. Come on. For sure.

Yep. You know, anybody can clean. No one has to be gifted or talented. This is the interesting piece where I'm curious to get into like the volunteer side of it. Yeah. Because there are lots of great organizations that have a great um you know, you go out and you build something or repair something, but it's like what what am I actually like?

I spend, you know, 6 hours or eight hours on a job site. I'm like I don't have any skills to like build a house or replace a roof. I'm kind of just like sitting there sweeping something up or like doing some very basic stuff. And it's like, but then I we paid a fee to be there. And that's really it is like a uh it's kind of a paytoplay model. It's a paytoplay.

It's like you take your team out, you do the whole thing. It was $1,000 to bring five people out. Yep. You sweep around, you nail something in, and you know, you go get drinks afterwards or whatever. Totally great because it's a funding source. We love that.

And it's awesome. But for you all, there's like a whole piece of you got to have to be able to show up and like swing a hammer and fix something. Not necessarily. So we we do have low points of entry. So we have a multitude of ways that you could volunteer. We do start out with that uh low skill, no skill.

So we have shout out to the low skill, no skill. Come on. So we definitely have those projects that are built for team building for groups to come out, you know, like an especially in 2020 when a lot of people had remote work and they didn't have someone to to bring people together. We realized pretty quickly that, oh, we do a lot of exterior projects. We can keep you six feet apart. You can wear a mask.

That's cool. And so we absolutely built this to where team building, we make it easy. We take care of the logistics. We show up with all of the proper safety equipment. We do a quick little training and then you go out and you clean. You clean a yard.

You remove debris. You throw things into a dumpster. Um if you if you want to help uh remove and haul parts of a a dilapitated garage, you know, you can you can use a chainsaw. We'll teach you. You can use a sledgehammer. Things like that.

Again, we're going to give you the safety and the the protocol around it. And we only use those individuals for that type of work if they're wanting to. Same thing with ladders. Are you comfortable with ladders? We'll go ahead and use you for a ladder. Only six foot.

We don't take you up 8 foot. And so we six foot only, six foot, six foot only. Okay. So we do make sure that we are fitting the project to the people who are interested in volunteering. The unique factor even about that first entry point that that one time most people will just come out and try this once. Um, you're on someone's property, someone's property that they have been there for decades.

Like, it's not a new build. This is a home that has memories. There's an essence there. And more often than not, that homeowner is around, whether they're peeking through the window or they actually come out and hang out with you because they no longer can do the work. And they're so appreciative of you being there that the most they can do or the least they can do is stand out there and say, "Oh my gosh, thank you so much." or tell you of whatever memories or just chat with you because they're so glad to have people around to chat with.

And so it does something to you when you're on these projects and doing that work with these pre people side by side with you. Um it's impactful. It's different. And so um so that is that the majority of projects that you're doing or the major and do you have how many staff members do you have that like know I hate to say like this but like are like high skill know what they're doing when it comes to fixing something? Yeah, I have I have 17 people. So I would say that all but two people are actually able to go out on projects and like orchestrate it like could like run a job site.

Oh, totally. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, so 15 individuals could be like you could plug them into like, you know, a construction company and they could like make stuff happen. I wouldn't say full-blown construction company.

Okay. But as far as like home repairs Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Many of us have had experiences on our own homes. And so most of the work that we're doing in a home, outside of a home, around a home are all things that you as a homeowner could technically do.

Yeah. Technically, technically with Tik Tok and YouTube, I could probably figure it out. It's true. Let's figure which That's the piece. One, there's two things I know about home repairs. One, it is never as easy as you think or as quick.

It's like, oh, it'll be easy. Like, this video is only 5 minutes long. I can easily fix this thing in No, it will never be as quick. But a lot of times it's it's not as complex. Yeah. as you like I think a lot of times home repairs are seen as like oh my gosh I I could never ever figure that out and it's like it's not necessarily that it's complex some of it's just like challenging or like you need the right detail or the right tool it's the right tool half the time like a lot of it and it's like like I just had um some plumbing work done and they had to like replace like the shut off valve for the house and I was like oh man that seems like a huge undertaking.

He did it. No joke. 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Yeah. And I was like, "What the It was just lit. L literally crazy."

Like the where the water comes into the house. So it's in there. I open this closet. He goes, "Oh yeah, we shut off. We shut it all off outside. We drained out the ho or like the sinks."

Blah, blah, blah. There's no water. It's literally like one fancy tool, cuts it out. Puts a new one on. One fancy tool. You watch and you think, I totally could have done that.

I was like, I could totally be a plumber. Yeah. And then it's like then you you show up and it's like someone has like a backed up toilet and I'm like ah totally could not be a plumber. [laughter] That's wild. Okay. Wait.

So you have 15 project managers or let's let's go back to the volunteers right quick. All right. So we have that first first group the low skill no skill. Yes. So we might have some people that are like oh I kind of enjoy this. I want to do this some more.

Well then we have a gutter team. So we have a group of people that go out two times a month and they will actually use we have a seamless gutter machine. So they will go out and they will hang gutters. Hang, replace, repair gutters. And this is groups of volunteers that will go out. It is led by volunteers.

It's still very true to how how we have been. We put them through training. We've had people who are professionally gutter hangers come out and show how to use the machine, how to do safety, how to do certain corner cuts. Um and yeah, so they go out and do this massive amount of work um for different homeowners two times a a month from the months of April through October, November. This is like these are the gutter specialists. This is like gutter team twice a month.

But what we love is some of our oldest running volunteers, some of the people that helped basically donate and fund the organization are on this. They are old, wonderful, fantastic volunteers that have that old DIYer kind of gruffness to them. They're the best people to learn from. And then we pair them with people who are saying, "I want to learn how to use tools. Like, I want to be able to use this on my own home. I want to do stuff."

Um, and so we pair them together and the amount of things that those individuals learn grow them to being to where they're like, you know what, I think I could do plumbing. I think I could do that little job. And so then we'll move them to the next group which are handy volunteers. And these are handy volunteers. They cross into the threshold. So they're actually going through background checks.

So we work with a pretty vulnerable population. We're making sure that everyone's going into the home has gone through a background check. So our volunteers in our handy volunteer program go out in groups of like two, maybe three. They're paired with someone who knows what they're doing, whether they're a retired trades person or just a very active DIYer, have basically rebuilt their whole house and are ready to take this on and they help teach and train that individual who wants to learn. And for us, this is huge. This runs all year long.

This is taking care of a lot of those smaller repairs that would be incredibly costly if we paid a subcontractor to do it or if we go out and do it because it does take time. you know, one repair always leads to another repair that always lead I mean, we can tell stories for sure. Um, and so they go out and do that work and it's incredibly beneficial for us. Yeah. So, that's sort of our scope of volunteers. That makes sense.

Uh, and you kind of like stair step them up from like the basic, you know, come out, hang out, be on a job site, paint something or clean something up. Yep. The basic. Yep. To the middle, which is gutters. Gutters.

Is there like is that like one of the main requests is like Yes. Oh my gosh, dude. I didn't realize the number one way to keep your gutter not keep it on your house is to clean it. Yeah, cuz it gets the weight. It gets so heavy. Yes.

I So, shout out to my neighbor. I'm not sure if they watched the podcast or not, but on the second floor of my house, I can see right into their gutter. And it rained the other day and I can just see that they have a clog Yeah. on one of their like on their back gutter and that that water just sits in there and I'm like that's and that's how I know I'm an old soul. Like that's how I know I've gotten old, dude. I think so what I want to do is get like a high school kid and I think that I need to like secretly like take a drone picture or something and like, hey, I just was doing a surveillance of the neighborhood cuz I don't want them to think that I'm like checking out their house while I'm looking out the window, but I was doing some surveillance of the neighborhood and I noticed that your gutters are I know.

Is that more or less creepy than just saying, "Hey, I looked out my window and I saw this clog." I don't know. I don't know what the right answer to do. I This is the predicament that I'm in. Like, do I tell them? Do I not tell them?

Like, am I am I a dick if they're freaking No, no, no. You say, "Hey, I was just talking to this person from Home Repairs for Good." And they really got me thinking about gutters and I couldn't help but notice. Ah, yes. And we lead it to Home Repairs to There we go. Now we're talking.

All right. I I think I've built up the courage to go talk to my neighbor now. [laughter] Hopefully, the neighbor just listens and it's like That would be the ideal scenario. Are you talking about my gutter? Oh, amazing. Okay, so now I want to talk about how you guys are getting the next generation plugged into volunteerism, plugged into trades because there's a whole like, you know, another component to what you all are doing.

So, workforce development is a really big hot topic. The the hottest topic like I've talked with Indie Chamber, I've talked with so many different people, apprenticeship model, like internship model, like all these things like people don't want to necessarily go to college anymore. like the new degrees in the state of Indiana. Like workforce development is a hot button topic. Absolutely. Well, and think of all the construction that is happening downtown and around Indiana.

Like there is a ton out there. Where are they finding the workers? There are so many people that are basically either not in the trades, have not been encouraged to go into the trades, have never thought this was a career path for them. Um and it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity that AI is not replacing anytime soon. um you need people to be out there to build things whether they are on the ground level bare bones just assembling things all the way up to the people who can manage and lead and say this is what you need to do now.

Um and so we recognized a need for us was getting some of these more complex projects done. So especially with citations they could be a whole bunch of small large random kind of things that need to be done that may not be most appropriate for volunteers. They may not be appropriate for hiring a bunch of subcontractors. that would be costly. Um, but they're great learning opportunities. And so we kind of paired that with this idea, [clears throat] excuse me, of workforce development.

We could take a group of people who want to learn, who want to be better in the trades to go out and do some of these repairs. So a little over 5 years ago, we partnered with um the BY+ program. Okay. So, uh, Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation who are paired with Indiana Construction Roundtable who work with a lot of the construction partners within the city and these construction partners are saying, "Hey, we need people to come work for us um entry level and beyond." And so, the foundation was saying, "Okay, we need to build some workforce development programs." They created um the BY program, build yourself, um is what it's called.

Uh they provided the NCCER certification. All right, we're getting into a lot of acronyms. I know. So, we have BY+ by Plus. So, build yourself BY. Yep.

That was the original class and it was through the Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation. Yep. Okay. Which is like a conglomerate of construction adjacent, you know, organizations, businesses, things like that in Indiana. Yes. So what you learn in this classroom experience under the BY label was this generalist construction introduction course.

Yeah. So it's not it's not union it's not um like in a in a college setting. It's basics, you know. Um so it is called the NCCER and I wish I could remember what that acronym is but I don't. And it's like a curriculum. It is a curriculum that you learn over the course of how long?

So I believe their course is eight weeks. Okay. So eight weeks you come in and like hey you're going to at least have a leg up against someone who has never doesn't know anything about construction. Correct. You know you know what the tools are. You know how to read a tape measure which is important.

Yeah. Um you know how to um begin that problem solving process. And I think some people take this for granted. I actually have had a lot of different interesting guests and this is not like a generalization of I grew up in small rural northern Indiana. So, like, you know, we would build stuff and like my dad or my mom would like take me through this. This is how you read a tape measure and like this is how we nail stuff into the wall.

They'll put And I think that some people throughout the state or anywhere can take those parental lessons for granted. Like not everyone who grows up in the state of Indiana or grows up anywhere has access to a mother or father figure that knows when it comes to building like you know I remember being 7 years old and my family like my dad and his brother put on a deck on our house in the weekend and it's like that's just not a common thing that people do anymore and it's not something that every one might have access to. Right. Right. So, like you're talking about like the basic 8week course where you're reading a tape measure. Like I feel like some people might listen and be like, "You don't know how to read."

It's like, "Hey, hold on. There's a lot of different people out there that we that we need to get exposed to the trades, exposed to construction." A lot of the people that come through this course are individuals who have lived in very urban settings who have um not been given a lot of vision for what a career could look like. So, you know, they they see only what's in front of them. you you can't you can't build a dream if you don't have a dream beyond what you know. Um and so for many of them the idea of construction has never been something in front of them.

It has never been an option for them. And so yes, this course super basic, but at the same time it does that. It does what we would learn, you know, just out there building a deck, building a, you know, um, a shed or what we may need to build when we have that person who's got the tools, who has enough experience for us to figure it out. And when you know what, you can look at YouTube and say, "All right, that's a pretty legit video or versus the YouTube videos where you're like, that's going to get a finger cut off." So, you kind of got to know the difference. Yeah.

So, for individuals who have no experience whatsoever, this is definitely that introductory course. Yeah. And it's like you go through like the whole thing where you know you're talking about urban areas. You might be thinking you graduate high school and you know maybe the people the adult role models in your life work at CVS or work at like as a clerk or or a waitress or a waiter or a bartender. Like you they're thinking about like things that are typically maybe saw as jobs versus like a career in the trades or a career in that would be a good route. Yeah, there's also a lot of people who have not had figures in their life because of justice involvement and so they truly do not have examples.

Maybe they've been shifted from foster home to foster home. Maybe they have uh bounced around different schools. Maybe they have lost loved ones and all they really know is tragedy. And so they really they don't have an example of what a job looks like. They don't have an example of what a career looks like. A lot of what we're doing in this program.

So we as Home Repairs for Good, we provide the paid work experience. So we are the ones that are saying all right for this job site you will arrive at this time. The expectation is that you will do this work in conjunction with your classroom experience putting that sort of like muscle knowledge to that classroom knowledge. You are also gaining your OSHA 30 certification. So we are going to put that safety information into practice as well um and call you out if you're doing unsafe practices. We also want to make sure that you are um abiding by expectations that any job site would expect such as not being on your phone, paying attention, um being cognizant of the person next to you so that you can keep them safe as well.

And so very much um trying to instill that initial expectation that someone may have on a jump site. Wow. Okay. So that this was instituted five years ago. Yes. A little over five years ago.

We are now in year six. Year six. How many individuals have come through? It's for you guys is a program called BY Plus. Um yeah. So we're part of the plus.

Okay. So by that's Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation. The plus part is that paid work experience which we provide. Y it also includes the Indianapolis um um legal aid society. Gotcha. And so they actually provide legal services for someone who maybe needs help with their driver's license getting that reinstated or maybe they've got some child support that they need to figure out the the legalities of that.

U maybe they've gone through an eviction and they need to figure out how to go ahead and get that taken care of so they can find housing. Um that legal component helps them in the long run be able to maintain employment. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Wait, I'm following now.

So there's workforce development. Yeah. there's the volunteer base of it and the financial component of like you know like how are you guys uh generating you know bring in donations to fund uh all the work that you're doing. Yes. So uh well when you come out as a team to build with us to do u uh clean up the low skill nokll projects um we do ask that you provide a donation for your project. Any excess beyond what that project needs goes right back into that home repair program and helps fund some other projects.

And so, uh, that is one way and that's been a great way for us to sort of get in front of businesses to say, "Hey, we can also do an employee match." So, if you have a really awesome experience coming on this job site doing this, maybe you really connected with that homeowner, you can give an individual donation. And if your workplace also does a match, fantastic. Yeah. Um, so that's one route. We also will go out um, we in in the back in the day when when I would volunteer and was on the board, we would go out and do presentations to different organizations.

We'd give presentations to churches. Um we do have several churches in the community that will help support with uh an occasional donation as well. Yeah. Um we do ask for individual donations. We try to make that easy on the website as well. So it's huge.

It's enormous because that money is basically able to immediately go and assist somebody in need because it's unrestricted. Well, and the cool part of this is okay, my donation goes in. It could potentially, and I'm not saying it works like this all the time, but it could potentially go to giving paid training and experience to a a developing trades person as they do a home repair for good. You know, like you talk about your dollar going in helping with workforce development and the philanthropic arm of, you know, helping someone get their house back into repair. Correct? Like is that am I like am I visualizing that the right way?

Possibly. So you you as a donor can designate it to wherever you wish within our programs for sure. Um the the work experience through BY+ is paid through a grant currently and so we are so fortunate for that grant and um that is what is funding that. Now if a homeowner has some needs beyond what that grant will pay for, yes, that your donation would absolutely go towards that. Um we do also have a secondary workforce development program and that one is not grant funded. That one is very much uh an effort for us to build our own sustainability and allows us to earn money from other organizations.

But for those techs and the individuals going through that program, yes, your donation could fund for that. What is that program? That program is called the growth program. It allows us as an organization to grow. It allows that individual to grow. what we're doing with that one.

Um, we take individuals who have graduated from BY+, but maybe they don't quite have quite what they need to either launch and be an entrepreneur or go on and work for someplace and truly rocket. You need Yeah, you definitely need like work experience. Yes. Correct. And so for those individuals who say, you know what, I just I don't know what I want, but I know I want to be in the trades or in construction somehow. We say, great.

we will certify you in some of these very specific areas, get you uh work experience in them, and in so doing, you're able to help us earn money. So, for example, um Community Action of Greater Indianapolis, they provide weatherization. Weatherization is insulation, um bathroom vents, um basically helping the air quality within your home and energy efficiency within your home. Big quick synopsis there. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So, with that program, they have funding that they can pay contractors to go and do that weatherization work. We are a contractor as well as a not for-p profofit. We can go and do that work. And so then we can be paid through that program. That then allows us to fund these particular technicians to continue to get work experience.

And any excess then can go into those free home repairs. Wow. So, you're like you could get subbed out on a project. Yes. So people could be like, "Hey, you know, you're bringing in the crew to do whatever work they need done. They're getting that work done.

Revenue comes in, pays for them to get their paid experience, and then any surplus goes to fund, you know, the neighbor down the street that needs a new gutter. Correct. Everybody needs a product to survive. Not for profits." I mean, that is really interesting like having a skill. Yeah.

And like something that there's a labor shortage. we're working on the workforce development side of things and everyone, you know, I'm I'm sure lots of people even in the construction space are like, "Oh, yeah, we need to find more people to do the work." And it's like, "Oh, we got people. We have we have, you know, developing trades people that can come in, get this work done." Yeah. And by the way, when you do that, yes, it's going to pay their bills, but then it's also going to do good in the community.

Correct. That's inc. That is We talked about it in the intro, the innovative model. Yeah. It is a very innovative model when you talk about workforce development. I mean, I think like the easiest route when I'm sure how we started was go out, raise $1,000, spend $1,000 fixing homes.

And now, like, as you start to put these more pieces in there, it's like, oh, wow. Like, if I stick $1 into the top of the machine, Yes. you make multiple dollars of impact. Yes. Right. Yes.

Is that like a is that like a crazy thing to say? No. No. That's good. And then we also look at opportunities. You know, I mentioned we don't directly go to federal funding because I don't I just don't have the capacity for that.

However, we are a general contractor and we know this system pretty well and we are focused on older adults. There are programs out there that have that funding. So, for example, the city of Indianapolis has a home repair program. Uh they receive federal dollars into their program and they need contractors to do the work. Yeah. Similar client, if not the same client, we will go and be a contractor for them for those particular projects.

You will be paid through those federal dollars as a pass through. I don't have to deal with the admin of that, but I am still able to go and do the work. Yep. Yep. Yep. Federal Yep.

pays, you know, say a million bucks or whatever. They got to go and actually execute that work. Correct. Wow. Cuz Yeah. You know, I don't know what the uh like the maintenance crew for the city of Indianapolis looks like in the parks department or whatever, but I'm sure they don't want to put up I'm sure they have like another stuff on their mind where they're like, "Oh gosh, like you know, finding a gutter to replace is probably not like high on the totem pole there."

Right. Right. Well, with their program, they actually specifically call out four contractors to do the work. It's run by uh uh Department of Metropolitan Works, I believe. Wow. Um and so they and it's actually a loan program.

So, someone getting into that program, they're signing up for a 30-year um mortgage or loan um forgivable, but for our clientele, many of them whom are in their 70s, 80s, the idea of a 30-year loan is terrifying. So, um it doesn't work for them, per se, but there are other individuals that it does work really well for, and for them, we could do the work, they can pay us, and this little cycle. Wow, that is so interesting. like you have just like uncovered so many interesting parts to the issue that I was just not thinking about that I've just like not really put myself in the shoes of someone and even from a nonprofit leader like the way that you have a model. Yeah. Again, not saying that other nonprofits don't, like everyone I feel like has some sort of model, but talking about in a perfect world, if you know, if the Grow program was maxed out and you were just running a, you know, a $10 million subcontracting crew there, you could pour $4 million back into funding the programming.

Correct. To help more people, correct? And you'd be developing this workforce. Yes. Like that I don't know. That seems to make sense to me, right?

Like that seems to make like again it's it is business and charity. Yeah. Like it's both. Social enterprise. Social enter. Is that a term?

It's a term. Social enterprise. Come on. Okay. So, what what's what's next? What do we see in the future?

What's coming down the pipeline for home repairs for good? What can we expect and how can people get involved? So, again, back to our mission. We are here to help individuals age and place safely and with dignity. So part of that mission does drive a lot of what we look at even for innovation. So one of the areas that we've looked at and have been pursuing is um being an FSSA provider, waiver provider to allow us to go in for insurance companies and do home modifications for people that are within this uh Indiana aging um population.

And so and there's no shortage of aging population. This is like the whole thing like I think people have called it the silver tsunami. Yes. Correct. Yes. So like the work is just getting started.

Yes. Yes, we want we want to get our our ducks in a row. We want to get the foundation set and be able to launch and grow and continue to meet that need. Absolutely. Okay. Uh and I'm sorry not to cut you off there, but I was like, you're talking about this aging population that continues to grow.

I've had so many different guests come on and talk about the silver tsunami of the baby boomers that are now hitting retirement age and yeah, there's going to be from like social security to all these different things. like there's a lot to figure out on the elderly side of things over the next 5 to 12 years. So even to continue your thought process, think of the homes, all the homes that we're seeing, even the new builds, how many of them are actually aging ready? How many have easy thresholds to walk into? How many of them have um same floor, main floor, bathroom, and bedroom? How many of them are ready for someone to come in with a wheelchair and be able to navigate their home?

Not a lot. Correct. Like cuz it's like what I'm thinking about now in my house as a 29year-old on like three different levels. Like there's steps to get into everything. Like it is not prime for me to age into. Correct.

Correct. So many homes within our country at this moment are not aging ready. Even the new builds that are happening are not always taking that into account. If you think of an older person who is currently living in their home, one that home is maybe not aging ready now. It's a good chance it's not. Where else are they going to go?

There there is really nowhere for them to go that is also aging ready, especially in the communities that they're in. Like that again, another topic, another like we could do a whole podcast on aging ready and like the whole nine yards there. That's Wow. Okay. How can individuals, how can groups, how can you know leaders throughout the state of Indiana get involved with what you're doing? Yes, absolutely.

So, one of course is donations. So, we do need funding. We need that funding to allow us to have fast action. Um, that funding we would like to grow. We want to be sustainable. We want to be here for decades to come so that we are a resource for Indiana.

Um, we also want to be able to have volunteers out in the city. If you are in a particular area and you want to serve that area, we want you to serve that area. We want to help support that. Let us know. Let's work together. Let's partner.

Let's volunteer together. Um, so yeah, the biggest thing is that is is that particular donation element, the volunteer element. Now, also if you have a trades person listening and they think, well, this is pretty cool. Um, you know, I'd be interested in providing some services, fantastic. We do work with 17 to 18 subcontractors currently. We are always looking for more subcontractors.

Yes, we pay our subcontractors. We do also work with some who say, I want to give some inind uh work and, you know, have that that tax write off and so we can provide that as well. Yeah, that makes a ton of sense, too. You're talking about Yeah. being able to because I feel like everyone wants to be philanthropic and this is a a way where if you have skills in the trade specifically it's like you know how many uh you know nonprofit organizations or locals like need podcasting exper like not a ton are like lined up they're [laughter] like oh yeah but it's like if you knew how to swing a hammer and it's like hey you can go make an impact five hours on a Saturday morning you know you could do a your employee give back day obviously you talk about paying your subcontractors but also So like the tax incentives there like yep you I you're sharp when it comes to the social enterprise part of things here.

I'm I'm like flabbergate. I'm impressed. This is awesome. Like cuz it makes sense where like the the business minding community that's going to listen to this are like oh my gosh like this this makes total sense. Yeah. You got to survive.

Like this is such an important mission that you have to apply business tactics to it to make sure it happens. Yeah. Now also for those trades people, I will say so many people have to get so many hours to go to the next level within their trade. We can provide those hours. You hear that? That's amazing.

So cool. From workforce development. Yeah. To, you know, the the philanthropic arm of helping, you know, individuals in these Marian County zip codes over 62 years that are 30% AMI. Yes. I have it now.

I know it. Or below. I got Oh, they have to own their home. They have to own your home. Yes. Okay.

Do you know talk about home ownership? You know, the easiest way to tell if someone owns their home specifically in the I would say like the baby boomer generation and above. Oh. Have you ever seen the eagles like the the like eagle that people put above their the like arms out like arms wide eagle? That was a symbol. when you paid off your house, you would put that eagle above your door or above like on your home somewhere to symbolize that you paid off your mortgage.

I 100% can see that eagle in several of the homes. And that is so cool. I did not know that. Known historically as the freedom flyer. Okay. This tradition um became popular in the postw World War II era to celebrate financial independence and deep patriotism.

A decorative eagle mounted above a front door or garage signifies that the homeowner has completely paid off their mortgage. That's phenomenal. I had no idea. And so if you look around your neighborhood, you'll definitely see like, you know, like this type of thing. Yes. Like I feel like they're usually like iron.

It's like boom. And it's I mean I feel like it's a grandparent thing. Totally. But it's like when you pay off your mortgage, I don't know. You then great. Congrats.

They had to go buy one of these. But I want that would have been a really good tactic too for uh like a mortgage company to like mail you that with your title or your deed to your house. Yes. So super cool, right? So cool. So that's what you you just tell your people that are looking to know they own their house.

You just got to go out and look for the eagle. That's like completely own though, you know, [laughter] the more you know. Yeah. Amazing. Okay. So volunteering, helping out from the trade side of thing and donations.

Donations. Come on. I love it. Well, we've come to the end of the show where we get to talk all things Indiana. Where in Indianapolis are your favorite houses? Like, what neighborhoods have the most unique, interesting, your favorite, the best, the biggest, the smallest, the coziest, whatever you love about houses?

What neighborhood in Indianapolis has the best houses? Okay. So, I'm going to say Meridian Kesler. Yeah. I mean, so from smaller homes to larger homes, they all have such character. They have a multitude of different styles.

It's not all just one. Um, you even have some mid-century ones that are sprinkled in there that are phenomenal. Um, they've been kept up for the most part. Uh, yeah, just phenomenal architecture, but that's also very taste driven. Like, if you want Victorian, you're going to go to Wood Woodruff Place. Amazing homes.

Or Heron Morton, also the ones that haven't been modified too much. Yeah. Yeah. My favorite house, one of them is in Meridian Kesler. It's at like 54th in Meridian. Okay.

It's like literally a mansion palace. Like it looks like a It looks like a castle. It looks like a castle. There's a game. This is also one of my favorites. Oh, it's so good.

Just watch this video 1 billion times and then I'll be able to afford the mansion on Meridian here in Indianapolis. Please. Thank you. There's also one on Washington Boulevard like around in the 40 range. It also has this very castle-like structure off the beaten path. Like I want to say it even has like those square elements on it.

So cool. I'm a sucker for a good like balcony. I just want to observe my like my estate, you know, like oh what's going on this morning. Yes. Uh I love it. Okay.

What's your favorite and least favorite home repair to do? [laughter] Anything with a toilet is my least favorite. That's fair. You know, my favorite though is uh so we have a ton of woodwork in our home. Um and I I'll get into the nitty-gritty of detail. Like I love to strip the woodwork and like get all the paint off of there and then take it to the um the sanding part and then uh the staining and then varnish.

Like that end result is so good. Takes forever. This will be a lifetime project for me. I I love it. Totally worth it. Okay, this question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart.

They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homejart. com. My question for you, why do you call Indiana home? It's a hub. It's the community.

It is the possibility and the potential that's here. Um my husband and I when we moved to Indianapolis, we had been in Fort Wayne and we were looking for where we wanted to go. um in Indianapolis seemed attainable. And then we found our home and it was uh an old um kind of dilapitated home, but we bought it and we bought this house and it was the potential of this house. And this house is basically represented like everything [snorts] that Indie could be like be here forever, make it your own. Um build a balcony, which we did.

Oh yes. [laughter] Um have parties, have community for 10 years. We did something called a harvest party where we would bring neighbors and we would bring community people. We'd be bring um uh local business owners all together and just had this massive party where we cooked the food, had it outside and just communed like got to know people. People got to know people and being able to do something like that is just incredible to me. And I don't know how replicable that is in other places as easily as, you know, two 25-year-olds going and buying this massive home and like figuring out how to do it.

Okay. Now, thinking through other ones of your your Indiana memories, moments that are just innately hooer, moments that just make you so pumped to be in Indiana, to be from Indiana, to be a Hooser. What is your favorite Indiana memory? As a mom, one of my favorite Indiana memories is the fact that I've had both of my children here. Yeah, I mean that's a great one. [laughter] I mean, we've had we've had the gambit of answers here from, you know, like when IU football won the national championship to the fly over of the Indy500 to a relaxing day on Brown County like down in hanging out down there.

So, I mean, yeah, having your children in Indiana, I mean, that's that's pretty top-notch. I will also say so I worked for Goodwill for a long time and um one of my jobs included driving around the state of Indiana um particularly central and southern Indiana um to document the stores, do the photographs and so I really got to explore a lot of Indiana in that process. Um and yeah, discovering some of the small towns, discovering the pedestrian bridge from Jefferson over to Kentucky, like stuff like that was I'm going down there literally tomorrow. Are you? Have you done that bridge? No.

Oh, so it was an old uh rail line. Uh I think it's in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Um and you you can walk from Indiana to Kentucky on this bridge across the Ohio River. That's crazy. All right, I'm going to do that. You should I'm going to like slowly tiptoe to the Kentucky side and then sprint back to the Indiana side.

[laughter] Go halfway. Be like, "Yeah, no. Not going. Coming home." Amazing. Okay.

This is your opportunity in your travels across the state as you uncovered small towns and pedestrian bridges. I need to know what is a hidden gem in Indiana. I mean, I'm going to throw it back to the thrift stores because I do love thrifting, but um Floyd's Knobs has a solid thrift store. Are you Floyd's I am familiar. I know Floyd's Knobs. So, it's a little it's a little outside of New Albany.

Yeah. Okay. So, Floyd's Knobs Knobs, by the way, are the hills because there's a little bit of hills. Um the hills uh in the Riverlands, right? It's like kind of separates the river from the rest. Yeah.

Like the knobs. The knobs. Yeah. Um so one, they have a phenomenal uh Goodwill store. The people are great. Uh little coffee shops, little restaurants and all that were there.

They also have Mount St. Francis in that area which is a retreat. Um again, throwback to University of St. Francis, very Franciscan elements. Um so I definitely appreciated that. But it's a beautiful facility as well.

Yeah. So yeah, that was sort of a hidden gem. The the thrift is it the mustard seed? No, it's Goodwill. Oh, it's Goodwill. Goodwill of of uh Goodwill of Floyd's Knobs.

Yeah. Is a heck of a thrift store. Yes. For any thrifter out there. Oh, head to Floyd's [clears throat] Knobs. The Goodwill of Floyd's Knobs.

I'm here for that. Okay, last question for you. This is where we identify new podcast guests and we learn about other Hoosiers that people need to know about. Who's a Hooser we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things. So, if you have not checked out the Southside United States Colored Troops Coalition, uh you need to.

So Kayla Austin, she is a visual artist, historian, um, advocate, and she has begun down this path of creating this coalition because she started to discover this group of descendants of Civil War veterans, black Civil War veterans, of the only Indiana regiment from the Civil War who were black, um, who settled in this southern Indiana or southern, uh, Indianapolis area. And those descendants are still living in those properties today. They're in their 100s. And so she's doing her best to gather information and history. And it is phenomenal. What is it called?

Southside United States Colored Troops Coalition. And then Kayla Austin is tied to much that has been written and she is driving the discovery of this um and hopefully putting together some really phenomenal exhibits for people to learn from. Wow. Wow, it is so cool. Wow. Both from that historical side, the Indiana side, like getting this history before uh individuals have passed is crucial and they're so cool.

Miss Fenora Frasier is a catalyst uh that started this the whole thing. So, her grandfather is Reverend Sydney Pennock, and he was a US Colored Troop veteran who purchased his land in Norwood in 1872. He migrated to the neighborhood during reconstruction to start a church that was located less than one mile from Fountain Square was Camp Fremont, which was home to Indiana's only colored troop division. The neighborhood became Southeast Indianapolis's Black Wall Street on Prospect Street until the mid 1960s. Yeah. Okay.

I need to meet I need to meet It's Kayla. Kayla. I need to meet Kayla. This looks right up my alley of things that I would be interested in. Amazing. Uh Rachel, thank you so much for coming on the show and telling us about Home Repairs for Good.

The how this journey started back in 2013 as a side project from a guy who was just a little bit handy to now making over 600 repairs on track for 600 repairs in 2026. Uh well, so our best year we did uh over 900 repairs. So we're way over 600. We're aiming for up in those numbers this year. So hopefully maybe a,000 repairs. But that'd be amazing.

We're hope we're shooting for it. But you're making hundreds of repairs to a population that is that that has need here in our community here inside of 465 Loop. The work you're doing there as well as on the workforce development side is incredible. I think the way you think through social enterprise, the business model, the product, the way you're, you know, again, developing the workforce in the trades as well as helping our neighbors. I love it. I think that's what makes Indiana Indianapolis so special.

So, if people want to learn more about you, if they want to learn more about your organization, where can they do that at? Home repairsforgood. org. There it is. Appreciate y'all and shout out to our friends at Elements Financial for helping put this whole thing together. We're grateful for your partnership and we will talk to you soon.

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