WHY DISTRICT 9?

The communities that shaped my decision to run.

When I think about District 9, I don’t first think about boundaries on a map.

I think about Sunday afternoons when my mom would stop at the IGA at the corner of 38th and Shadeland after church to pick up dinner and groceries for our lunchboxes. I remember the 25-cent candy near the checkout at Safeway off of 46th and Shadeland Ave., riding my bike to Kmart on Pendleton Pike, celebrating birthday parties at Hindel Bowl, summers at Ransburg YMCA, and learning to love basketball from my first coach.

I think about my grandmother’s house near 38th and Hawthorne. Thanksgiving at Aunt Bettye’s near 42nd and Arlington. George Buck Middle School. Arlington High School, where I graduated as a proud Arlington Knight. One of my first jobs was working at the Kroger fuel center near 38th and Post Road.

District 9 wasn’t just where I went to school or where my family lived. It was where I began learning what it meant to work, contribute, grow up, and become part of a community.

We lived our lives here.

There wasn’t much we couldn’t find or do close to home. We had places to shop, eat, play, learn and gather. We knew our neighbors. Family was nearby. As children, we had room to explore while still feeling connected to a community that knew us. We were never too far from home. Over time, I watched some of that change.

Businesses disappeared. Storefronts became vacant. Infrastructure aged. Families who remained sometimes had to travel farther for services, recreation and everyday conveniences that had once been nearby.

But the people didn’t disappear. Families stayed. Neighborhood leaders kept organizing. Churches kept serving. Small businesses kept opening their doors. Residents kept caring for their blocks and advocating for something better.

My own family is part of that story. My mother still lives in the same home. My mother-in-law still lives in the Brendon Park home where my husband grew up and today, we are raising our boys just down the street. There is something incredibly meaningful about that. Our children are growing up in the same part of Indianapolis that shaped their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. But I don’t want them to simply inherit our memories of what District 9 used to be. I want them to create memories of their own.

I want them to know what it feels like to walk to a friend’s house, know the people who live around them, play safely outside, discover a favorite local business, and grow up surrounded by people who know their names. I want them to witness vacant spaces become vibrant again. I want them to grow up in a District 9 where investment is visible, infrastructure supports everyday life, neighborhoods are connected, and families can thrive close to home.

And someday, when they are deciding where to build their own lives, I want staying here to feel like an opportunity, not a sacrifice.

That is one of the reasons I am running for Indianapolis City-County Council.

District 9 is not simply the district I am asking to represent. It is the community that raised me. It is where my family chose to stay. It is where we are raising the next generation. And I believe the people who have continued to invest their lives here deserve leadership equally invested in its future.

As I officially begin this campaign, I’m inviting you to join me at The People’s Table, not simply to hear what I have to say, but to help shape the conversation about what District 9 can become. Because its next chapter should be written with the people who call it home.

A MESSAGE TO LEAVE WITH YOU

“I don’t want the next generation to only hear stories about what District 9 used to be. I want them to experience what it can become, and someday choose to stay, just as generations of our families have chosen to do.”

— Stephanie Marshall