Extreme Home Makeover 2.0 - Neighborhood Edition

Extreme Home Makeover 2.0 - Neighborhood Edition

Monday, April 27, 2009, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

This spring, the Emmy-winning TV program "Extreme Makeover-Home Edition" selected Bernard McFarland, an employee of the Indianapolis Public Schools and a single father of three sons, to receive a new house and adjacent library/mentoring center. Local builder Paul Estridge Jr. agreed to lead the construction, but only if he could add to the quality of McFarland's Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood. The result? Thousands of volunteers, contributions from 200 companies, more than a thousand trees planted around the neighborhood, free wireless Internet, computers donated to a hundred local kids, and vacant IPS School #37 turned into a community center. When the ABC program aired on May 17, there were cheers and tears.

But the TV program did not ask the essential question: What next? Can and will the wave of volunteerism and community engagement be sustained after the cameras have left? Who will maintain new facilities, who will water the trees? Can this example be replicated in other neighborhoods? Were the businesses that donated motivated only by a one-time opportunity for national publicity, or did this occasion reveal new possibilities for partnerships between corporations, nonprofit organizations, and neighborhood groups?

Discussing these and other issues at Sagamore Institute on April 27 were Paul Estridge, Jr. (President and Chief Servant of Estridge Companies), Doug Wilson (Sagamore Institute board members and Senior Vice President of Hillenbrand Industries), Lamont Hulse (Executive Director of Making Connections Indianapolis), and community leaders from Martindale-Brightwood. Leading the conversation was Jay Hein, President of the Sagamore Institute and former Director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives.

martindale brightwood homes

Martindale-Brightwood

Estridge/McFar

Extreme Citizenship

Neighborhood Resources

Neighborhood Resources

Latest News

Sports as Community Catalyst

We the Voters Have Obligations, Too

Building Houses As If They Mattered

The Economy's Unsung Hero

Hand Out or Hand Up?

  • Find us on Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Subscribe via RSS

Sagamore Institute

2902 N. Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN 46208 | 317.472.2050 |  | 501 (c)(3)

© All rights reserved.  |  Library  |  Contact  |  Donate