Empowering Indy's Youth: Community Leaders Take Kids Beyond Their Environment for Positive Change

INDIANAPOLIS — . The Indiana Youth Institute's Annual State of the Child Address aims to find solutions to help kids in the Hoosier state succeed.

"Some of our youth-serving organizations they take this information back. They have a picture of the exact kid that they have in mind for some. They use the information for their grant reports or grant proposals so they can get more support," Ashley Haynes with Indiana Youth Institute told WRTV.

The address pulls data from the 2025 Indiana Kids Count Data Book, which shows that nearly two in ten Indiana Children struggled with food insecurity in 2022. Additionally, there was a 19% increase in juvenile delinquency cases from 2022 to 2023, with Marion County seeing an increase of 304 more cases.

Community leaders Brandon Randall and Aaron Green took a group of kids on a trip to Memphis and Baltimore, where they learned about the solutions these cities use to combat youth violence. "I wanted our students to see what we are doing here – other people are doing in a different way, and how can we bring it back here," said Randall, Director of TRU Generations Leadership Development Program.

The goal is simple: to empower young people to have their voices heard and be part of the change. "How can we stay consistently engaged with them and provide them opportunities – and see what they can really do to make a change in this city," Randall concluded.