How do you rebuild trust, spark civic engagement, and make neighborhood planning actually work? Dan Baisden, Director of Fort Wayne’s Department of Neighborhoods, shares the city’s “embedded planning” approach—meeting residents on front porches, at coffee shops, and in grocery aisles to co-create small wins that add up. We talk civic vs. HOA associations, recruiting local champions, funding projects, public art’s real economic impact, and why social capital is the engine of workforce and community development.

Guest: Dan Baisden, Director, Department of Neighborhoods, City of Fort Wayne

Host: Rick Farrant, The Midwest Flourish

Highlighted Topics

- “Embedded planning” (front-porch conversations over top-down plans)

- Re-launching and sustaining neighborhood associations

- Trust-building: show up, listen first, deliver small wins - Funding beyond city grants (grants, donors, self-sufficiency)

- Public art & placemaking: measuring foot traffic and linger time

- Social capital as a bridge to jobs, safety, and quality of life 

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#EconomicDevelopment #CommunityDevelopment #Neighborhoods #FortWayne #Placemaking #ABCD #CivicEngagement #MidwestFlourish #podcast #midwest