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 “Neighborhood Organizations” box and scroll through the alphabetized list.
This year, 16 volunteers in Emerson Heights walked door-to-door in their near eastside neighborhood, distributing quarterly newsletters from the Emerson Heights Community Organization. They tied the rolled-up papers to door handles with rubber bands.
Inside the year-in-review newsletter, you can see a peek into what 2025 in Emerson Heights looked like.
There were seasonal house decorating contests and a list of events at the nearby Ellenberger Park or Irvington library branch. Neighbors handed out 72 hot dogs at the annual Emerson Heights Day celebration in September. And residents from different streets competed to pick up the most trash during cleanups.
Mariam Alam, an at-large officer for the neighborhood organization’s executive committee, writes every newsletter.
She moved to Emerson Heights in the early 2000s. Before that, she spent time working for the city in a role that’s now called a mayor’s neighborhood advocate, sharing resources with neighbors all across Center Township.
Recently, while chatting with EHCO’s president Joe Tucker at his home, Alam chimed in every now and then to add context about the historic neighborhood’s past — such as the fun fact that the homes are different sizes because they were built before zoning laws existed.
Over the decades she’s lived in Emerson Heights, she’s watched the neighborhood change. More young families like the Tuckers have moved in lately. And leadership styles change, too.
“When I first started going to the neighborhood meetings, back in 2000-ish, there were older folks who had a network of relationships because they grew up in the neighborhood,” Alam said. “And, you know, slowly those people retire, or just, you know, don’t continue with the neighborhood volunteering as much.”
Since Tucker has taken on his role as president of the EHCO, he runs things pretty democratically. At their December meeting in the basement of Living Faith Church, everyone gets a chance to share what they’re up to.
Each member of the executive committee introduced themselves the same way: name, role and a description of what their house looks like, whether it’s a “small bungalow” or “the one with all the lights.” The neighbors who were visiting for the first time nodded knowingly and introduced themselves with their houses, too.
It’s a small neighborhood, with about 1,000 homes built in the early 1900s and a few streets with boulevards. Technically, there’s nothing but houses in Emerson Heights, but residents said they love to walk their dogs to Ellenberger Park or head to Irvington for its shops and restaurants.
“I love the neighborliness,” Alam said. “You see your neighbors, you talk to your neighbors, you say, ‘Hi.’ I like my porch because I can say hi as people walk up and down the street.”
What 2026 will bring to Emerson Heights
The neighborhood organization’s December meeting was a month to drink milk and eat cookies and celebrate accomplishments. But next year, Tucker and other Emerson Heights residents have goals.
They have a few ideas so far: having food at their monthly meetings, putting up poop bag dispensers for people walking their dogs and starting a community engagement event with the police department.
But there’s one goal they’ve been working on since 2023 that will come to fruition in 2026. The EHCO applied through the Indy Arts Council to paint artwork on a traffic signal box on Linwood Avenue and Michigan Street — something that represents the story of the neighborhood. But the Michigan Street two-way conversion delayed the process, and they ran out of grant money for the project.
They’re now finding a new artist and finishing the process of adding some public art to Emerson Heights.
Live in Emerson Heights? Here’s how to get involved.
Join the community organization’s meetings at 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of every month in the basement of Living Faith Church, 4717 E. Michigan St.
At every meeting, a speaker talks about topics that interest the neighbors. Here’s a few examples of what neighbors learned this year: The city’s public works department shared updates about the Michigan Street two-way conversion; FACE Low-Cost Animal Clinic told neighbors about their affordable spay and neuter program; and Westminster Neighborhood Services talked about their soup kitchen.
The EHCO doesn’t meet during the coldest months of the year — January, February or March — so they will be back at it in the spring.
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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
Which neighborhood should we write about next? Email Sophie Young at sophie.young@mirrorindy.org and let her know.
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