Five organizations in Columbus have received over $3 million in grant funding from Lilly Endowment.
These are among 187 recipients of Lilly’s Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana (SYPI) grants. The initiative aims to help youth-serving organizations throughout the state “improve their abilities to promote the academic, physical and social well-being of young people,” Lilly said in a release.
The local awards are as follows:
Advocates for Children — $999,947
Children, Inc. — $829,689
Family Service of Bartholomew County — $95,629
Foundation for Youth of Bartholomew County (FFY) — $497,800
George Junior Republic in Indiana — $866,104
Jill Hammer, executive director of Children, Inc., said that the grant will “improve our school-age services.”
For George Junior Republic, the funding will support the creation and implementation of the Independent Living Preparation Program, said development assistant Miley Trang Duong. The program will target foster youth, ages 14 and 15, who reside in 34 Indiana counties and are involved with the Department of Child Services or juvenile probation.
“Youth participants are those who (1) experienced more than one removal from home; (2) require assistance beyond what the parent, kinship, or placement is able to provide; (3) have at least one guardian/parent in jail; and/or (4) have experienced more than once placement disruption,” Duong said. “The program seeks to equip these disadvantaged youth with the training and education needed to develop healthy interpersonal skills.”
Charlotte Barton Coombs, executive director of Family Service, said that the SYPI grant has enabled the organization to hire a bilingual preventionist, which will improve their ability to reach Hispanic and Latino residents through their education programs for anti-bullying and child abuse prevention.
“By having a Spanish speaking or bilingual preventionist, what we’re able to do is be able to address questions that youth and/or parents might have after a presentation,” Coombs said. “And we are anticipating that this impact of bringing this bilingual individual onboard for prevention education work will be able to touch 3,000 youth in and around Bartholomew County.”
The funding will also help reduce the costs associated with presenting their education programming, she said.
Advocates for Children’s grant will allow increased advocacy through legal consultation with attorneys and strengthen capacity and infrastructure.
FFY officials have said that its SYPI funding will support emotional health and substance abuse prevention efforts with the Bartholomew County School Corp. by providing camp experiences for every fifth grade class.
In addition, Lilly Endowment’s investment will promote equitable access and summer educational supports for children in partnership with Su Casa.
Foundation For Youth will also focus increased efforts on families learning to address childhood trauma. This work will include Trust Based Relational Intervention Camps.
“Indiana’s youth-serving organizations are crucial to the healthy development of children and youth across the state,” said Ted Maple, Lily Endowment’s vice president for education. “The challenges these organizations have faced in meeting the needs of young people in recent years have made their work increasingly difficult. The Endowment is pleased to support their efforts to strengthen programs and serve more youth more effectively.”
