Securing a legacy of servant leadership

Posted on January 27, 2020 by Leslie Wells

Reece Thompson stands with Jerry Baker holding a large check for the Jason Baker Scholarship. — O’Neill Public Safety major Reece Thompson stands with Jerry Baker at the Beyond the Badge 5k after receiving the Jason Baker Legacy Scholarship in 2019.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Heroes of Public Safety Memorial in Crown Hill Cemetery in mid-September. Among the crowd stood groups of first responders in uniform, students, families with small children, and other community members. They were there for the annual Beyond the Badge 5k Run/Walk, an event honoring public servants who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

The cause is personal for the event’s organizers, Jerry and Sharon Baker. Their son, Jason, was murdered in 2001 while on duty as a Marion County Sheriff’s deputy. Now, the Bakers not only work to ensure sacrifices like Jason’s are not forgotten; they also use the event to help those who want to follow in Jason’s footsteps.

Ingrid Ortega stands at a podium delivering a speech during the Beyond the Badge 5K, with Jerry Baker at her side. — Ingrid Ortega stands at a podium delivering a speech during the Beyond the Badge 5k, with Jerry Baker at her side. Ortega received the Jason Baker Legacy Scholarship, created by Jerry and Sharon Baker.

Each year, the Beyond the Badge event raises money for the Jason Baker Legacy Scholarship, which provides financial support to O’Neill students pursuing a career in public safety. Since the first Beyond the Badge event in 2002, the scholarship has helped nearly two dozen students become first responders. Each of those students has fulfilled one special request from the Bakers.

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Three questions about O’Neill’s Washington Leadership Program

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Leslie Wells

Jadah Cunningham stands in front of the Indiana and Indianapolis flags outside Congressman André Carson's office in Washington, D.C. — Jadah Cunningham served in Congressman André Carson’s office during her term in the Washington Leadership Program.

Few students get the chance to participate in a program that places them in the middle of the action in Washington, D.C. Yet the O’Neill School provides this opportunity to its students through the Washington Leadership Program. Each fall and spring semester, O’Neill sponsors the semester-long program that provides a unique opportunity for junior and senior undergraduate students of all majors to gain first-hand knowledge of how Washington works.

The deadline to apply for fall 2020 and spring 2021 cohorts is February 1, 2020. Students who have been through WLP often provide a first-hand view of the experience through takeovers on O’Neill’s Instagram account. One year ago, Jadah Cunningham, an O’Neill media and public affairs major, spent time working in Congressman André Carson’s office. We asked her three questions about her experience:

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Mentor Collective matches O’Neill students with alumni

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Leslie Wells

Elizabeth Cornejo and Sara Hindi sit at a table talking — Elizabeth Cornejo and Sara Hindi were paired through O’Neill’s Mentor Collective program.

• To become a mentor to O’Neill students, visit this link.

• To sign up to be matched with a mentor, visit this link.

O’Neill alumna Sara Hindi (BSPA’15) knew she wanted to connect with students at O’Neill IUPUI, but she didn’t quite know how.

“As a young professional who recently graduated, I knew I could relate to students,” she says. “I had such a positive experience at O’Neill. I wanted to help students as they were trying to figure out their journeys.”

Little did Hindi know her opportunity was on its way.

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O’Neill student wins national LGBTQ+ scholarship

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Leslie Wells

Kyle Casteel smiles, wearing a white button-up shirt, blue blazer and dark glasses.

The fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Indiana is one of Kyle Casteel’s passions. The O’Neill Policy Studies major has worked in political activism for nearly five years, contributing to efforts that seek more civil rights protections for the LGBTQ+ community.

The push is personal for Casteel because it’s his community. Thanks to his courses in O’Neill and a scholarship from the Point Foundation, he is preparing to be better equipped to lead the fight in the future.

The Point Foundation is a national organization that empowers promising lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students to achieve their full academic and leadership potential. Every year, they offer dozens of scholarships to students across the nation.

The January 27 deadline for the 2020 Point Scholarship is rapidly approaching. If students make it through the initial round, they can expect several additional interviews before final selections in early to mid-summer.

For the 2019–2020 academic year, Point Foundation received 2,100 applications from students vying to become a Point Scholar. They selected just 16 of those 2,100 students for the honor. Casteel was one of them.

This was not his first connection to the Point Foundation. He had received a community college scholarship from Point that allowed him to transfer from Ivy Tech to IUPUI. After he transferred, he says he was in a better position to compete for the full scholarship.

“When I learned I had been selected as a Point Scholar, I immediately felt so seen and validated for my efforts,” Casteel says. “I was really at a point where I had achieved a lot professionally and wanted someone to say my academic pursuits have value. Winning meant my hard work was worthwhile and, because of it, I will finally be afforded the opportunity to focus on my studies.”

Like many students, Casteel faced an uphill battle when it came to balancing work and covering the cost of education. The scholarship amount varies based on a student’s need, but Casteel says his meant he would no longer have to choose between attending classes and working.

Point Scholars must meet certain academic requirements, check in regularly with their Point mentors, and design and execute a volunteer service project benefiting their local LGBTQ+ community.

In addition to the scholarship, Point also offers recipients a network of support and resources to guide them through their academic careers and beyond.

“With the support system that my mentor and the Point staff, my fellow scholars, and alumni represent, the Point Scholarship has made an absolutely seismic shift in how I am able to pursue my education,” he says.

As a future alum, Casteel says he looks forward to serving as a mentor for a future scholar and he hopes more Hoosier students will apply for the program.

“Point Foundation wants and needs more Point Scholars from places like Indiana,” he says. “I’m not the first, but there aren’t that many. I know from experience how important it is for LGBTQ+ people in our state, especially young people, to tell our stories and make people listen. Point will listen to you.”

Analysis examined gun violence in Indianapolis

Posted on December 16, 2019 by Leslie Wells

Map showing concentrations of shootings in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS – Analysis of fatal and nonfatal gun violence in Indianapolis from 2014 through 2016 provides a better understanding of where shootings happened in the city and the social factors that contributed to high rates of neighborhood gun violence.

The policy brief from the Center for Health and Justice Research at the IU Public Policy Institute examined data on Indianapolis’ shootings and community factors. By looking at gun violence at the neighborhood and street segment levels, officials can better target their approaches to fit the needs of those areas.

The data showed that 98 percent of Indianapolis’ 53,922 street segments did not experience a shooting from 2014 through 2016. Of the 929 street segments that did, only 45—0.09 percent—experienced three or more shootings.

Table showing the number of street segments in Indianapolis and how many shootings each segment experienced. Fourteen street segments had 4+ shootings, 31 had 3 shootings, 109 had 2 shootings, 775 had 1 shooting, and 52,993 had no shootings.

While data showed the majority of gun violence happened within certain neighborhoods, there were street segments with high levels of shootings that were spread out across the city and not concentrated in neighborhoods with high levels of gun violence. Results also indicated a strong association between shootings and community-level factors, such as certain types of police calls and whether residents took action to improve the condition of their community.

“We saw that community engagement on individual street segments can mediate the effects of neighborhood concentrated disadvantage on gun violence,” says Lauren Magee, Ph.D., the report’s author and postdoctoral fellow at the IU School of Medicine. “This shows that strategies focused on community-building activities on individual street segments could prevent future violence by reducing disorder, eliminating abandoned homes, and increasing informal social control.”

The research also showed that shootings in so-called “hot spot” neighborhoods appeared to be driven mostly by concentrated disadvantage, which highlights larger social issues requiring coordinated action from social organizations.

Read the full CHJR policy brief on gun violence in Indianapolis at this link on the IU Public Policy Institute website.