Civic Infrastructure: Central Indiana’s Biggest Competitive Advantage for Broader Prosperity
By CICF Chief Innovation Officer Jeff Bennett
Civic infrastructure is the connective tissue that brings together government, business, philanthropy, and nonprofits. It includes the relationships, habits, and leadership culture necessary to achieve big goals. For Central Indiana, it’s the “secret sauce” that has consistently allowed us to over-achieve and outperform expectations – and something that other regions of the country have long-sought to replicate.
We’ll see a great example of our civic infrastructure in action this spring as Central Indiana plays host to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four for the ninth time. Without Indy’s pivot to a sports strategy in the late 1970s, that event, and the bulk of our region’s present-day tourism and convention landscape, not to mention our local workforce, would look much, much different.
What we’ve learned over the past 50 years holds critical lessons for our nonprofit sector today as we embark on our region’s next great era.
Why the nonprofit sector? Because nonprofits are closest to our neighbors and communities. They stand in a unique position to revolutionize and improve the concept of civic infrastructure for broader prosperity in Central Indiana.
Historically, our civic infrastructure has been excellent at convening political and business leaders, which is essential. But if we fail to engage residents, achieving long-lasting positive impact becomes challenging. That ought to shift how we talk about Central Indiana’s civic future. If we want a stronger and more equitable civic infrastructure, we don’t have to invent the bridge between residents and decision-makers.
In many cases, nonprofits already are that bridge.
Six degrees of civic participation
One of our region’s defining civic traits is what I’ll call “proximity.” People have long joked that in Central Indiana, you’re only a couple of relationships away from meeting a mayor or CEO. While that may not quite be true for everybody, it’s truer than many realize.
We saw that with the creation of Goodwill Commercial Services and Indy Fresh Market on Indy’s northeast side. When Cook Medical’s president, Pete Yonkman, joined forces with the Goodwill Foundation to bring 100 entry-level medical manufacturing jobs to East 38th Street, they met directly with neighbors. Those meetings led to an expansion of the development to include Indy Fresh Market, a full-service grocery store in what had been one of the city’s largest food deserts. Additionally, coordination with City officials on federal infrastructure funding produced all-new sidewalks, pedestrian access, and bus lanes for the development; that physical infrastructure was critical for access to these new jobs, as the area is home to Central Indiana’s highest concentration of residents without a car.
In our best moments, our region’s proximity between neighbors and decision-makers can meaningfully inform effective, durable solutions. As our civic infrastructure evolves, the goal will be to strategically widen the circle so that it isn’t powered primarily by a few elite personalities and closed networks.
The internet and a more accessible civic life
In earlier eras, one’s direct participation in the civic process relied on specialized knowledge: how local government worked, whom to call, which meeting to attend, how to get in the room, and what language to speak once you got there.
Today, we have tools that can make civic life more accessible and legible. Through a website or social media account, your nonprofit can engage residents on civic matters that directly impact them. Residents empowered with that information can more easily find their way into the decision-making process and do so with more confidence.
Obviously, technology alone doesn’t build relationships or create trust. But it can reduce distance. Your nonprofit is well-positioned to turn that reduced distance into more active civic participation among residents. Why? Because you have the relationships and credibility that private businesses and public systems often lack.
Five moves that nonprofits can make right now
If your goal is a more meaningful connection to decision-makers and a stronger voice for the residents you serve, here are practical steps that strengthen civic infrastructure:
- Treat civic participation as mission-aligned, not “extra.”
If your mission involves housing, health, education, workforce, safety, food, or mobility, then civic participation is key. Policy will shape your clients’ lives. Designing pathways into civic life is not mission drift. It’s a critical strategy. - Make the civic process understandable.
Start with just one policy area tied to your mission and publish a simple explainer: what’s changing, who decides, and how residents can weigh in. The goal is not to tell people what to think. It’s to help them participate wherever possible. - Create easy opportunities for those you serve to get more engaged.
That includes listening sessions, collecting resident testimony to help inform policymakers, and follow-up briefings where residents can learn what eventually happened on a given issue or policy. - Help develop the next generation of local leaders.
Civic infrastructure is partly a leadership pipeline. Identify staff, board members, volunteers, and young community leaders with potential and invest in them! - Make equity a design requirement.
Our past has shown that major civic moves can be both transformative and exclusionary. That’s why, in the coming decades, our region’s success will be measured not only by the ambition of our civic infrastructure but also by the breadth of our .
Better than ever
Fifty years ago, our region’s civic infrastructure developed an innovative strategy around amateur sports that we still live with and benefit from today.
Now, we’re at a crossroads: As long-time leaders retire or pass on, does our civic infrastructure whither, becoming more fragmented and exclusive? Or do we treat it as the essential system it is and upgrade it with our renowned nonprofit sector, using what we’ve learned from the past to broaden its impact?
If we want a civic life that is effective and more equitable than earlier generations achieved, the nonprofit sector has a central role to play. You are already trusted connectors. The next step is to make opportunities more visible and navigable for the residents you serve so that participation is not reserved for those who already know the rules.
That’s how we can preserve what works, learn from what didn’t, and build a civic infrastructure that works for everyone in Central Indiana.
