Indy's south side recruits black families

INDIANAPOLIS -- School leaders and housing officials are trying to recruit black families to move to Indianapolis' south side, which remains predominantly white despite decades of racial integration efforts.\nThe recruitment effort has been introduced at a time when the city phases out forced busing of school children as a result of a 1998 agreement. U.S. District Judge S. Hugh Dillin ordered forced busing in 1981 to encourage racial integration in schools.\nIn many areas -- including Indianapolis' south side, integration has failed to catch on outside the classroom. Thousands of black families have joined whites moving out from the central city since 1940, with many moving into communities on the city's north side.\nBut few have bought homes in Marion County's southern tier of townships. The 2000 U.S. Census showed just 35 black home owners in Decatur Township; 56 in Franklin Township; and 68 in Perry Township. Those numbers represent less than 1 percent of the townships' home owners.\nThe area's reputation as being unfriendly to blacks may have hampered integration efforts.\n"Even when I came here in 1986, there was some perception that black folks just don't live on the southside," Mark Russell of the Indianapolis Urban League, told The Indianapolis Star for a story Sunday. "There was the impression that it was hostile. And some of that still lingers today."\nTownship schools and the Indianapolis Housing Agency are leading the effort to recruit blacks to the south side.\nEarlier this month, letters were sent to more than 340 families who live on the city's north side in an area where students are bused south to Franklin Township. The letters offered tours and other information about Franklin Township to those wanting to relocate.\nPatrick E. Chavis, deputy executive director of the Indianapolis Housing Agency, said the goal is to reach 20 percent black enrollment in the township schools. \nEncouraging blacks to purchase homes in the townships is one part of the solution.\n"A lot of it is just a matter of comfort," Chavis said. "And the fact is, people -- regardless of their color -- feel comfortable around other people like them"