Fort Wayne’s very own Executive Director of our Metro Human Relations Commission receives award

On October 11 at the Downtown Indianapolis JW Marriott, Nikki Quintana, Esq received the inaugural Indiana Latinos Under 40 Award along with five others in the state. The award recognized her achievements in her work in the community of Fort Wayne with the Metro Human Relations Commission.

She also recently announced a coming press conference on Monday, October 31 at the Grand Wayne Center where they will be sharing the findings of a recent study.

Over the last ten years, Fort Wayne has been recognized as an All-America City, while also collecting countless “top-ten list” spots as a great place to live, work and play. During this time, the Fort Wayne Metropolitan Human Relations Commission (Fort Wayne Metro) received more than 10,000 inquiries and filed and investigated more than 4,000 complaints of discrimination.

Recognizing the importance of equity for all to a community’s success, Fort Wayne Metro conducted the Fort Wayne Employment, Housing and Public Accommodation Study to gain a deeper understanding of the unfair experiences our residents face. We commissioned Purdue University Fort Wayne Community Research Institute (CRI) and the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics to formulate the survey questions. SurveyUSA was commissioned to administer the survey. The goal was to achieve a better understanding of citizens’ perceptions of their unfair experiences with employment, housing, and public accommodations.

Homeownership Event held by RANI

The Realtist Association of Northeast Indiana held a Black homeownership event, Black Homeownership "Everybody Wins" 2.0, on Thursday, October 20 at the Impact Center in which hosted a good crowd of over 125 community members as well as a room full of vendors including bankers, realtors and more. This organization is led by President, Linda Golden, CEO of LegacyONE Real Estate & Contracting and Vice President, Dawn Clopton, Vice President of Community Development at Premier Bank. The topics included but we’re not limited to establishing credit, bank loan products, definitions of terms in the housing market and more. The presenters included JJ Foster of Lake City Bank, Larry White of 1st Source Bank, Tiffany Holmes of House to Holmes-Keller Williams, Heather Cowen of the Housing Resource Hub, Diveeta Kinchen of Old National Bank and Kaye Kleinschmidt of Union Savings Bank. They all shared a great deal of information along with other vendors and raffle prizes were given out.

By the attendance, questions, and the fact that there was no rush to leave these are evidence that this subject matter resonates with the community. Attendees were eager to learn about homeownership and have a "safe" place with professionals who look like them where they can ask any questions they have and more importantly get the answers they need. Realtist Association of Northeast Indiana membership has the expertise in-house that is poised and ready to assist in increasing black homeownership, thereby building generational wealth in our community. Be on the lookout for 3.0!

9th Annual Pumpkin Patch Party

The Renaissance Pointe YMCA hosted its 9th Annual Pumpkin Patch Party on Saturday, October 22, from 1–4, led by Community Outreach Director, Melisa McCann. The event featured various performances, over 30 vendors and was well attended!

Featured performances were K Monique’s Studio Of Dance, Tanzer German Dancers, Amaneceres de Mexico, Tanzer German dancers, The Mad Ants dancers, and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic “West Central woodwinds'' ensemble. Activities included crafts from Christ Church Fort Wayne, a Bounce House, balloon animals from Balloon Above, face painting ( K Monique’s Studio of Dance), Live drumming, Toros motorcycles, Live petting zoo, clowns, a prayer tent, free hotdogs and popcorn. Hundreds of attendees came out this year to enjoy a beautiful 76° fall Saturday afternoon. Title sponsors included The Fort Wayne Mad Ants and MHS. Other sponsors included: Golden Corral, Uncle Bills Pet Centers, Big‘s Property Management, Liberty Tax Service, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and Papa John’s.