Sharon Clark has a vision for transforming her neighborhood one block at a time.
The nonprofit director can see the refurbished firehouse she opened last year from the porch of her colorful Northwest Landing bungalow.
The stately, three-story brick firehouse towers over Frank Young Park, inviting neighbors through its front garage doors on a hot, summer day.
In the harsh winter months, students and their mentors seek refuge in the warm, commercial kitchen nestled in the back of the building.
It’s all part of an effort to build community and make food more accessible in Northwest Landing, where the closest full-service grocery store is more than three miles away.
“Most of these folks have to go all the way up to the Walmart Neighborhood store up on Michigan Road or you can go to the Kroger all the way over on 16th Street,” Clark said. “Everyone deserves good food options where they live.”
Aspire House grows out of community need
The transformed 1897 firehouse, now called Aspire House, grew out of conversations with neighbors.
Clark said she heard a call for more food options and housing. In 2018, she launched the nonprofit Aspire Higher Foundation to raise funds to renovate the old firehouse.
The project took time, she said. The inside was completely gutted and refitted with new electrical and plumbing. New insulation and drywall were added throughout the first floor to create a new community room.
In the back, a community kitchen took shape, complete with commercial grade ovens and sinks. Two outdoor gardens supply food for homegrown recipes.
A rotating schedule now brings in adults for classes, such as Sassy Senior Sizzle with the Marion County Public Health Department. The foundation also partners with eight local schools to provide afterschool junior chef and pastry programs.
“We kind of just listen to whatever the neighborhood asks for and then see if it’s something we can accommodate,” Clark said.
In the construction, upper floor bunkrooms were also sectioned off and turned into apartments.
The Aspire Higher Foundation rents out two third-floor apartments to local teachers. Another two units on the firehouse’s second floor are dedicated to short-term stays.
Three visiting teachers from Mexico recently stayed in the units for three weeks. In February, visiting artists working with a local African American dance company will stay for six weeks.
“It’s open to anybody, but we wanted to make sure that not-for-profits in particular had good space for the things they need,” Clark said.
Cooking lessons inspire generational change
Elizabeth Curet, who teaches this winter’s eight-week junior chef class, says the center provides an opportunity to help kids explore their creativity. She teaches students cooking techniques they can use at home as well as life lessons.
“I wanted to teach the kids really about working together and being able to make decisions,” Curet said. “In the first class, I recall telling them: ‘Even if you don’t go on to become a chef or cook, this is an adult skill. You need to learn how to cook in a kitchen because one day, you’ll live on your own.’”
Analicia Bussey, a fourth grader at nearby Holy Angels Catholic School, has learned to make taco salad, yogurt bites and parmesan zucchini chips.
That’s OK for now, she says, but what she’s really looking forward to is someday teaching her own kids how to cook — or at least how to make fluffier pancakes than her older sister.
“Out of all my generations of my family, she makes the fluffiest pancake, but wait until the new generation comes,” Bussey said with a grin, “then we’ll see.”
Whether she realizes it or not, Bussey is an example of the generational change Clark says she hopes to bring to the neighborhood.
But the Aspire House kitchen is small and spaces are filling up. So, Clark has her eye on land across the intersection of Rader and Udell streets.
Supporting the next project in Northwest Landing
The Aspire Higher Foundation has already started rehabbing an empty brick house for use as a neighborhood studio and art therapy space. Next to it, Clark envisions a newly built market.
Aspire’s Bloom + Brew Community Marketplace would allow the nonprofit to close the loop on its cooking education. Not only would the foundation and its students grow and prepare food but also sell it.
Clark foresees a space where neighbors can sell ready-to-go meals and baked goods prepared in the kitchen across the street. She also hopes to add an in-ground gas grill as part of a new outdoor learning space.
“We’re not a restaurant. That’s not really our thing,” Clark said from the second floor of Aspire House. “But, we would like to be able to cook food here and sell it over there, so people have options they can walk to.”
The Aspire Higher Foundation is raising money to build the marketplace.
The nonprofit is participating in the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority’s CreatINg Places initiative, a matching program that allows local nonprofits to double the funds raised from their community if a certain goal is met.
That means if the Aspire Higher Foundation meets its $50,000 community fundraising goal by Feb. 7, the state agency will add an additional $50,000 to the project.
Clark says that would be enough to cover initial planning and design, but more support will be needed.
“That’ll help us get started,” Clark said. “We’re just actively fundraising for the rest.”
Visit the Aspire Higher Foundation’s crowdfunding website to learn more about its plans to support the Northwest Landing neighborhood.
Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.
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