Debbie Parish has seen the transformation of Shelton Heights, her westside neighborhood, since she got a grant from Keep Indianapolis Beautiful to turn the site of a trailer park across the street from dozens of homes into a green space.
The trailer park fell into disrepair in 2011 when one of the owners died, and crime ramped up. Her final straw was when her 6-year-old son was attacked in 2014.
With the $10,000 grant, Shelton Heights came together to create a park with a walking trail, picnic tables and a blessing box with food and toiletries for their neighbors. Every year since, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, a nonprofit, has offered mulch or other community support. Parish is working with KIB to do the same thing in other places.
“They helped us turn a property where we were sleeping with knives in the door into a beautiful nature park,” she said.
But on Monday, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful’s CEO Jeremy Kranowitz got an email that a $400,000 federal grant he planned to use for similar projects to serve disadvantaged communities was terminated, effective immediately.
Without that money, the plans KIB had for planting trees in neighborhoods like Mars Hill and the Far Eastside could be delayed at least a year, while Kranowitz tries to raise more money. Parish is worried that the projects may not happen at all.
USDA says Trump executive orders caused the funding cut
The $400,000 was coming from the Arbor Day Foundation, which got the money through the U.S. Forest Service and the USDA.
The grant, officially called the “National Pass-through Partnership for Strategic Urban Forestry Investment in Disadvantaged Communities-Inflation Reduction Act” was terminated by the U.S. Forest Service. The funding cut is part of a government-wide review launched by President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
Trump’s executive orders include one that was issued on Jan. 20 calling for the “the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
Another executive order pulled the U.S. out of international climate agreements, and environmental organizations are still waiting for funding to resume after the funding freeze.
It’s unclear which executive order led to the grant’s termination, but in a LinkedIn post, Kranowitz said he believes the funding was cut because the grant and application mention “biodiversity” and “tree equity.”
“This sort of broad based, unthinking slashing of federal funding is impacting people and local communities across the country in real ways. It’s economic harm, it’s health harm, it’s quality of life harm, and the dollars saved don’t equal the amount of harm that is being created.”
Jeremy Kranowitz, president and CEO of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful
Biodiversity refers to having a variety of plants and animals in an ecosystem. And tree equity means planting more trees in areas of cities that historically have less tree cover.
Having more trees in urban neighborhoods leads to lower utility costs and cleaner air and water.
Agencies like the National Science Foundation have frozen funding for programs with similar words, although they have specific scientific definitions.
A USDA spokesperson sent Mirror Indy a statement via email which reads, in part:
“The Forest Service is following direction provided by USDA with regards to the President’s Executive Orders to ensure full compliance. We are working through this review, and Secretary (Brooke) Rollins will make appropriate determinations.”
KIB hopes to find funding to keep projects going
Kranowitz was planning to spend money from the grant in Mars Hill and the far east side, to plant trees and create green spaces like the one in Shelton Heights.
Parish said the loss of funding is also a lost opportunity to make peoples’ lives better.
“That project got neighbors together that had been living in the same neighborhood for 30 years and didn’t know each other,” Parish said of the park in Shelton Heights. “It’s brought us all together and it angers me that these places aren’t getting the support.”
Keep Indianapolis Beautiful has an annual budget of about $6 million, so this grant made up over 5% of their budget. About $1.8 million came from the city’s Department of Public Works for neighborhood cleanups, tree planting, public education and other programs.
Kranowitz doesn’t expect to lose any staff, and hopes to raise the $400,000 back with fundraising campaigns related to the organization’s 50th anniversary.
“I think that may be a positive outcome ahead of this, is that there will be folks that will try to step up and help fill the void,” Kranowitz said. “I don’t think the void’s going to get filled completely.”
Mirror Indy reporter Sophie Young covers services and resources. Contact her at sophie.young@mirrorindy.org.
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on Bluesky at @enriquesaenz.bsky.social.
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