Football Legend Touts Indy's Community Efforts

Jul 17, 2010
News

Sagamore Institute hosted its inaugural event at its new headquarters in the historic Levey Mansion on July 15^th, bringing together community leaders from Indianapolis and beyond to celebrate how citizens can transform their communities, one neighborhood at a time.

Featured guest Danny Wuerffel, Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL player, shared how his journey has taken him far from the football field to the scrappy streets of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward.

Nearer to home, James Taylor, CEO of Indianapolis’ John H. Boner Community Center, outlined a grassroots effort that has funneled $11.3 million toward housing and real estate development in the Near Eastside, a neighborhood with one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation. Here community leaders have taken it upon themselves to develop, refine, and launch the Near Eastside Quality of Life/Super Bowl Legacy Project. He explained how the 2012 Super Bowl will leverage with a “spotlight and a bullhorn,” an effort that began years ago when community leaders took hold of their own destiny. The hype from the Legacy Project magnifies stories of personal triumph, like that of Valerie Davis, who spoke at the event about her tumultuous journey from homelessness and poverty to homeownership on the Near Eastside, thanks to capital from the Legacy Project.

Immediately following the reception, residents of the Indianapolis Re-Entry Educational Facility (IREF), a correctional facility that helps prisoners re-enter free society, met and heard from Danny as well. Complementing Danny’s account, Indianapolis locals Tim Streett and Don Cox shared the story of their unlikely friendship in the wake a murder that should have made them enemies.

Both events illustrated how proximate our lives truly are, how often our lives collide in the most unusual ways, and how we can leverage resources to transform our communities, one citizen and neighborhood at a time.