The Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment has announced grants totaling nearly $25 million in support of youth-serving organizations facing challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Awarded through the foundation’s Youth Program Resilience Fund (YPRF), which was launched in July with a $20 million commitment from the endowment, the grants will support nearly three hundred nonprofits in fifty-seven counties across the state of Indiana. Grants ranging from $5,000 to $800,000 will help underwrite the purchase of sanitation supplies, personal protective equipment, and materials needed to promote social distancing; modest site modifications needed to deliver programs and services safely; technology upgrades in support of remote learning, engagement, and information sharing; general operating expenses, including the hiring of additional staff; and the cost of consultants.
Grant recipients — many of which serve youth from low-income families, communities of color, and/or immigrant groups disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and other challenges that adversely impact their healthy development — include 100 Black Men of Indianapolis, Arc of Northeast Indiana, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monroe County, Carmel Youth Assistance, the Center for Community Justice, the Center for the Homeless, Girl Scouts of Southwest Indiana, Lutheran Child & Family Services of Indiana, United Way of Howard County, Wayne County Historical Museum, and the YMCA of Indianapolis.
“Youth-serving organizations are vital to the well-being of Indiana’s youth, their families, and their communities,” said Lilly Endowment vice president for education Ted Maple. “We are inspired by ways in which the leaders of these organizations have responded to the tremendous challenges brought on by the pandemic. Although these grants cannot fully address all of the challenges these organizations face, we hope that the funds will help them continue to fulfill their missions and enhance the lives of Indiana’s youth.”
Since March, the foundation has allocated more than $170 million to help organizations in Indiana and nationally manage the impacts of the pandemic. For a complete list of grant recipients, see the Lilly Endowment website.
Source :PND
