Elizabeth Friedland, Founder

Elizabeth founded Safe Park Indy in 2024 after years of researching safe parking programs across the country. Inspired by the model’s ability to meet an urgent need in a low-cost, community-centered way, she began asking a simple question: Why didn’t Indiana have a program like this? After waiting for someone else to take the lead, Elizabeth eventually decided to do it herself.

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With no formal background in nonprofit management or social services, Elizabeth immersed herself in learning the local homelessness services ecosystem and studying best practices from established safe parking programs nationwide. During Safe Park Indy’s pilot year, she led the development of partnerships and program operations for Indiana’s first and only formal safe parking program. The lessons from that inaugural year now guide Safe Park Indy’s relaunch with a stronger, more sustainable, and more collaborative model.

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Elizabeth is deeply committed to living her values of radical generosity and disruptive hospitality. She is a foster and adoptive mother, a host family with Safe Families for Children, and actively involved in the Jewish community, including interfaith engagement and dialogue. She lives in Indianapolis with her son, Jack. Professionally, Elizabeth is a corporate communications leader at a multi-billion-dollar public company.