Exploring your neighborhoods
Each month, we introduce you to a neighborhood association and its president. Our goal? To make it easier to get involved in your neighborhood. Use this map to find your neighborhood association. Check the âNeighborhood Organizationsâ box and scroll through the alphabetized list.
Debbie Conway chokes up when she mentions the name of her friend, Bernie. For eight years, Bernie Price was the president of the Bean Creek Neighborhood Association. She built partnerships with the mayorâs office, IMPD and IU Indianapolis students, trying to make her southside neighborhood better.
Price was in hospice when she told Conway, âDo not let this neighborhood association go away because one person is no longer here.â
âAnd, because I loved her so much. I’m not going to let it,â Conway said. Itâs been almost a year since Price died, and Conway has taken on Priceâs role leading the neighborhood association as president.
Bean Creek is a neighborhood on the south side, next to Garfield Park. It has three schools, and the neighborhood association also works closely with three churches in the area. In front of one church, St. Andrew United Methodist, thereâs a sign welcoming you to Bean Creek.
The creek runs through the mostly-residential area. Although the Tube Factory Artspace is technically in the Garfield Park neighborhood, Conway is proud to show off a circle of benches on the property there that overlooks the creek. She calls it their version of a âpocket park.â
She has lived in Bean Creek since 2001. She lived in Greenwood her whole life, until she met her husband, Keith, in 1995 and joined him in Indianapolis. She worked in insurance before she retired in 2024.
âWhen I moved in, it was kind of like a shock,â she said. She knew all of her neighbors in Greenwood, but she didnât have the same connections in Bean Creek at first. As she got to know people, she grew to love Bean Creek.
âThat’s the big thing with this neighborhood â developing real, face-to-face relationships with people, and then when there is something that happens, either good or bad, the outcome is always much better,â she said.
Before an interview in mid-October, she talked to a neighbor about his dog, who had climbed a fence and injured another dog. She said she was unsure how the conversation would go, but after they spoke, he started working on his fence the same day.
Conwayâs starting to find her own groove leading the neighborhood association. Sheâs planning the Christmas party, hosting quarterly meetings and helping finish a mural on the Safeway on the corner of Shelby Street and Raymond Street with the help of Big Car Collaborative, the organization that oversees Tube Factory Artspace.
âWatch out for us, because weâre up-and-coming,â she said. â I think we’re a neighborhood that will continue to improve and get more diverse.â
‘Building and building on her legacy’
Conway, her husband and a neighbor named Julie Ward have been learning more about community building through classes at the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center. They graduated from the program Oct. 29, and now, they will submit an idea for a $1,500 grant they can use to help the neighborhood.
Pulling off the project is one of the neighborhood associationâs biggest goals for 2026.
RT Stringer, the pastor of Villa Baptist Church, helped brainstorm ideas. He thought about starting an annual 5K race and fundraiser or a large-scale neighborhood cleanup.
The Bean Creek Neighborhood Association and Villa Baptistâs decided to instead create a recreational sports league for the neighborhood. Volleyball will start in December.
Making Bean Creek better was one of Priceâs big goals. A quote from her â âDonât abandon, stay and make it betterâ â is written at the top of papers Conway uses for neighborhood meetings.
âFor 2026 we’re just going to just keep building on her legacy and continue to make this neighborhood better for everybody,â Conway said.
Live in Bean Creek? Hereâs how to get involved.
The neighborhood association meets quarterly, and it rotates the location among Villa Baptist Church, St. Andrew United Methodist and Garfield Christian Church. At the meetings, neighbors hear about community resources such as the food pantry at St. Andrew or free energy assessments from AES Indiana and get updates from speakers from organizations such as IMPD and the Marion County Public Health Department.
At the end of every meeting, they hand out tickets and then draw for 10 winners who getlottery tickets.
Their next get-together is a Christmas party Dec. 1 at Garfield Christian Church. Itâs a family-friendly event with treats for kids and a visit from Santa.
To keep up with the Bean Creek Neighborhood Association, follow its Facebook page.
See more of Bean Creek
Photos: Take a fall walk through Bean Creek
See colorful scenes captured Oct. 23 around the small south side neighborhood.
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Mirror Indy reporter Sophie Young covers services and resources. Contact her at sophie.young@mirrorindy.org.
Get to know Indy’s neighborhoods
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