Indy’s fast-rising chief of community outreach on potholes, curbside recycling, rural roots

Natalie van Dongen grew up in a small farming community outside a modest city in central Illinois. She spent most of her youth either in school or in the woods by her home. Approaching high school graduation, she wanted to study theater in college and definitely didn’t want to go to Butler University, where both of her parents graduated. But that’s where she eventually chose to go. Two weeks ago, she became the Hogsett administration’s point person for addressing the concerns and complaints of nearly 1 million Indianapolis residents. In eight years, she had risen from an internship with the mayor’s office to the city’s director of community outreach. Along the way, her positions included liaison to the City-County Council and then deputy director of policy and planning for the Department of Public Works. She was a key figure in the city’s push for universal curbside recycling that’s now expected to begin in 2028. In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, host Mason King asks Van Dongen about the principles of effective communication with an incredibly broad range of people and organizations. She also digs into the nitty-gritty of universal curbside recycling and the education campaign planned over the next two years. And she excavates her roots in the village of Towanda, Illinois, and how they led her to explore the power of community.