The Women’s Foundation of Indiana recently hosted and facilitated a Women’s Listening Circle. The event brought together local women business owners and community leaders to share their experiences, discuss challenges, and build connections. Among those in attendance was Shavouya Terry, owner of Legacy Living Training Center. Terry’s efforts to expand access to healthcare training and […]
Money
Posted inBusiness, Environmental Justice
Environmental Group Threatens to Sue U.S. Steel
A local environmental group is threatening to sue U.S. Steel for allegedly violating federal environmental laws in connection with the Gary Works renovations. On Tuesday, Gary Advocates for Responsible Development sent a notice of intent to sue to Gary Works’ parent company, alleging it violated fundamental Clean Air Act requirements. The notice states that the […]
Posted inBusiness, Community, Extreme Weather
How Gary Businesses Kept the Community Going Without Power
For James Hendricks, owner of Koney King and Cut Time Barbershop, two businesses in the Midtown area of Gary, Aug. 11 began like a typical business day. He opened both businesses and welcomed clients and customers. But within hours, the weather would take a turn and bring one of the worst days that Gary has […]
Posted inCommunity, Economy
The Black Families Who Built Gary’s Middle Class
This story first appeared on For the Record: A Black Oral History Archive. The archive is a collection of over 100 firsthand stories of Black life in America. Ernest Mosley planned to stay three years. Fresh out of high school in 1975, he walked three blocks from his East Chicago home to Inland Steel looking for […]
Posted inEconomy, Environmental Justice
Gary Residents Want a Say in the Future of Steel
Environmental advocates from Northwest Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Japan gathered online this week ahead of Nippon Steel’s annual shareholders’ meeting to urge the company to invest in newer, cleaner steelmaking technology in communities they fear are being left behind. “The people of the Mon Valley [in western Pennsylvania] and Gary have given steel their labor, their […]
Posted inBusiness, Education
A Free IUN Program Helps Entrepreneurs Turn Their Dreams Into Reality
When Natè Billingsley got the idea for a dumping business, she wanted to do two things: help clean up her hometown and find work for formerly incarcerated individuals. “What I was finding is when they come home, they can’t find steady employment, and if they do have steady employment, the salary isn’t ‘cutting the mustard’ […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Environmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Residents Demand Cleaner Future for Steel in Northwest Indiana
More than 100 residents gathered Thursday evening at the Gary Public Library to discuss the future of one of Northwest Indiana’s most important industries: steel. The town hall, titled “Our Mill, Our Future,” brought together residents, advocates, and elected officials concerned about the future of U.S. Steel’s Gary Works and whether the region will receive […]
Posted inBusiness
How One Gary Restaurant Preserved a Century of Chili, Community, and Tradition
The gospel music hums overhead while the fryer crackles behind the counter. Customers drift in and out of the narrow diner on Broadway, a place that seems stuck in time. At one end of the grill, Elisha Evans flips hamburgers with one hand while dropping fries into hot oil with the other. A few stools […]
Posted inHousing, Money
Affordable Housing Tour Stops in Gary With Push to Close Homeownership Gap
Music flowed through the hallway at Indiana University Northwest’s Savannah Center as residents walked in with folders in hand and questions on their minds. As the Thea Bowman Leadership Academy Drumline played classic hits to introduce the evening’s speakers, Gary welcomed a program with a clear objective: to bridge the housing gap in the Black […]
Posted inBusiness, Community Spotlight
Biscuits and Breaking Barriers: How J’s Breakfast Club Brings People Together
This story originally published Oct. 31, 2025 The restaurant was still. Midday light slipped through the windows of J’s Breakfast Club on 26th Avenue and Broadway Avenue. In the back office, Joslyn Kelly sat at her desk, as the soft rustle of her staff moving in and out of the kitchen carried through the restaurant. […]
