Meet the new City-County Councilor for the far east side
INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — A group of Democratic Party insiders selected Rena Allen in a private caucus May 16 to represent the far east side on the City-County Council.
Allen, a compliance program analyst at Eskenazi Health and a community liaison for Faith in Indiana, replaces La Keisha Jackson, who was selected in a caucus last month to replace the late Sen. Jean Breaux in Senate District 34. Jackson, who endorsed Allen prior to Thursday’s vote, had represented the district since 2014.
Allen, 51, received nine votes. Derris “Dee” Ross, a far eastside native who created the Ross Foundation in 2014 to address racial inequality, received two votes. Both candidates ran against Jackson in the 2019 Democratic primary.
After the votes were read out, Allen burst into tears and thanked her supporters.
As a community advocate, Allen worked with the city to develop a gun violence reduction strategy that resulted in the creation of the Indy Peace Fellowship. She said she plans to continue that work and build on Jackson’s efforts to address economic issues, food insecurity, and housing challenges in the far east side.
“The community wants more sidewalks and streetlights, they want more elected officials present, so that will be one of my other goals,” Allen told Mirror Indy. “I want to make sure the community knows who I am at every community event, and I want to make sure I’m there whenever something happens.”
When asked whether she supported Mayor Joe Hogsett’s effort to build a soccer stadium downtown to court a Major League Soccer team, a plan facing pushback from councilors who support Keystone Group’s Eleven Park project, Jackson declined to comment.
Mirror Indy reporter Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.