Volunteer Office for Community Accessibility, Resource, and Training

09/28/2026

More details about our Community at Fest in the First Gary coming soon!

🎉 SAVE THE DATE! 🎉

The 23rd Annual Fest in the First is coming to Lake Street! Join us for an afternoon and evening of live music, community, food, fun, and more. 🎶

📅 Saturday, October 17, 2026
⏰ 3–8 PM
🚧 Street Closure: 12–9 PM
📍 Lake Street — between Miller Avenue and 5th Place

🎸 LIVE MUSIC | Nelson Algren 616 Sound Stage | 4–8 PM

Get ready to rock with:

🎶Keith Jackson and Triple Dose

🎶The Fabulous Kings

🎶Nick DangerTrio

There’s something for everyone at Fest in the First, and we’d love to have you be part of it!

🛍️ Interested in being a vendor?
🤝 Want to host a nonprofit table?
🙌 Interested in volunteering?

Visit fetsinthefirst.com for more information and to get involved!

📣 Mark your calendars and bring your friends — we’ll see you at Fest in the First!







ID: Fest in the First poster, orange background with fall leaves floating across it and the info listed above in bold letters along with the bands’ logos.

08/06/2026

Great day of community collaboration! Hope to see you at our next Ken Part Build a Bike + SRTS workshop on Saturday 8/8/26 from 10am-noon ✌️🚲

07/25/2026

is about transformation and so is community.

How can a simple cement pad hold a story?

This one was poured in 2016 with grant funding and the hard work of Gary’s Miller Spotlight volunteers as we prepared to pilot a bike share program. Over the next 18 months, the data we gathered with Zagster helped shape our recommendations for a regional dockless bike share system, recommendations that became reality when GPTC
launched the program in 2024.

That same community vision sparked even more. Gary’s Miller Spotlight community plan goals led to the formation of VOCART, and from that same plan came Take Bike the Streets, including the Ken Parr Build a Bike program, Together, these initiatives have focused on creating greater equity and access to bicycles, transportation, recreation, and opportunity across Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland. It’s a reminder that one idea, supported by committed people, can grow into something much bigger than anyone imagined.

Fast forward to this week, and that same corner is beginning another chapter. Thanks to Love Your Block funding, amazing community partners, and local artist Jennifer Taylor of the The Sparkle House Art Project, we’re bringing new life to the space once again.

Join us today (Saturday 7/25/26) from 10 a.m.–12 p.m. at 6th & Lake Street, aka the farmers market, as we add some sparkle to the Ken Parr Build a Bike, partner with the Miller Beach Water Safety crew , and repair bikes for new riders.

Big thanks to Jennie Rudderham for helping make it happen. Change doesn’t happen overnight, it grows one project, one partnership, and one volunteer at a time. ✌️🚲🌱💜

07/11/2026

Awesome 3rd workshop! Anyone have a bike we can pick up? Our volunteers will come and get them 🚲✌️🌱

06/20/2026

Great 2nd Ken Parr Build a Bike + SRTS Workshop ✌️🚲🌱

06/15/2026

🚲✨ BIG NEWS…VOCART is officially a 2026 Safe Routes to School grantee!

This week, we launched our three-part strategy designed to help make walking, biking, and rolling safer while empowering youth through education, creativity, and community engagement across Northwest Indiana.

Thanks to support from Safe Routes to School and Health by Design, we’re excited to expand our work through:

🔧 The 11th Season of the Ken Parr Build a Bike Program

🚸 School-Based Safety Workshops & Campus Audits

📍 Community Outreach Pop-Ups

🎥 A new digital storytelling initiative that will amplify youth voices and experiences

We’ve already kicked off the season with our first Build a Bike Workshop and completed our first student-led Safe Routes to School Campus Audit. The energy, ideas, and enthusiasm we’ve seen from young people and community members have been incredible.

📅 Our calendar is filling up quickly, but we’re still looking for a few additional school partners interested in bringing Safe Routes to School programming to their students this fall. (Send us a message if you’re interested!)

Whether you’re a school administrator, educator, community organization, volunteer, or supporter, we’d love to connect.

Together, we’re building bikes, building confidence, building safer streets, and building stronger communities.

🔗 Read the full story and follow along as this exciting new chapter unfolds.

https://www.vocart.org/post/building-safer-routes-stronger-communities-and-youth-voices-vocart-launches-2026-safe-routes-to-s

🚲♿️🚸✨

Following our selection as a 2026 Safe Routes to School grantee, we have officially launched a three-part implementation strategy designed to make walking, biking, and rolling safer while creating opportunities for youth engagement, community connection, and creative expression.

06/02/2026

Take Bike The Streets is a comprehensive program that involves community engagement, economic development and intergenerational environmental education. Our volunteers have committed to organize, decide and act upon projects that will profoundly change our community’s future.The goal of Take Bike ...

06/01/2026

🎬 Bridging the Digital Divide, Building Independence

We’re honored that VOCART’s Silver Screen Filmmakers Club was selected as one of just four programs featured in a Creative Aging case study developed by the Indiana Arts Commission, representing innovative work among more than 165 programs across Indiana.

Presented at the Indiana Creative Aging Summit in March 2026, the case study highlights something at the heart of everything we do: empowering people of all ages and abilities with the tools, skills, and confidence to participate fully in today’s world.

Through filmmaking, older adults aren’t just learning to use cameras, edit videos, and tell stories, they’re gaining digital literacy, building social connections, and strengthening their independence. That’s what bridging the digital divide looks like in practice.

As we celebrate this recognition, we’re also excited to announce our newest partnership with Nexus Strategy & Implementation to bring a comprehensive Safe Routes to Schools + Build a Bike curriculum to Northwest Indiana.

While the audiences may be different, the mission is the same: helping people gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to navigate their world independently. Whether it’s an older adult learning digital storytelling or a student learning about accessible infrastructure, and bicycle safety/mechanics, we’re creating pathways to greater self-sufficiency, mobility, and connection.

At VOCART, we believe access to learning, technology, and creative expression should be available to everyone.

📖 Read the Indiana Arts Commission case study at the link below.



https://www.in.gov/arts/files/IAC_2026-Lifelong-Toolkit.pdf?fbclid=PAVERFWASKhJFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAadmDCy2Ul6HWwor1dKimtl4Rnl_79K_tBbkAn_VREWcAovFwjF-dlfTH4Pk7g_aem_yU3-FNQri6wxAJTkMIIbWg

05/30/2026

🌿✨ Community, creativity, and collaboration make lasting change possible.

VOCART is thrilled to celebrate the incredible recognition received by the “Launching the Lagoon” documentary and the Lagoon Outlook Garden + UD Kayak Launch project across the globe, most recently at this year’s Hoosier Planning Awards, presented by the American Planning Association Indiana Chapter at Ball State University.

The project was honored with:
🏆 Outstanding Outreach & Communication for the *Launching the Lagoon* documentary

🏆 Outstanding Grassroots Initiative for the collaborative effort behind the Lagoon Outlook Garden and Indiana’s first universally designed kayak launch

These awards reflect the power of community-driven storytelling and placemaking. We are deeply grateful to every partner, artist, advocate, volunteer, and resident who helped bring this vision to life.

A special thank you to Gary Public Transportation Corporation (GPTC), the Miller Beach Arts & Creative District, Causes for Change International, and Indiana Humanities for investing in creativity, accessibility, and community-centered transformation.

This recognition belongs to all of you. Together, we demonstrated what is possible when residents, organizations, and creatives work side by side to reimagine public spaces that welcome everyone.

Thank you for believing in the vision, contributing your talents, and helping create a lasting legacy along the lagoon. We are honored to celebrate this achievement with our entire community.

Read more about the Hoosier Planning Awards journey by clicking the link in our bio or visiting the NSI blog.

You can visit the LOG and enjoy a free sunset paddle with the rangers from the Indiana Dunes National Park this summer. Call the Douglas Center for more info!

Both the APA IN conference and the Hoosier Planning Awards were held this year at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Being present not only as award recipients but also as exhibitors was a wonderful opportunity to engage with the planning community and amplifying the impact of projects we adv...