Community Foundation of Pulaski County Receives Planning Grant
The Community Foundation of Pulaski County has received a $50,000 planning grant as part of the eighth phase of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s initiative, Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT VIII). With the grant, the Community Foundation will partner with Indiana University’s Prevention Insights team to complete a community needs assessment around the issue of substance misuse in Pulaski County. Additionally, the grant will bring Ball State University’s Indiana Communities Institute to engage residents in conversation on the specific needs of the community.
The Community Foundation of Pulaski County is one of 92 community foundations and affiliate funds in Indiana receiving planning grants through GIFT VIII. These grants are designed to help community foundations collaborate with local partners to engage broad and diverse stakeholders in their communities and deepen their understanding of their communities’ highest-priority challenges and opportunities. In 2024, Community Foundation of Pulaski County will have the opportunity to request funding to implement strategic initiatives and activities developed during the planning period that address especially compelling needs in Pulaski County.
“This opportunity aligns with the Community Foundation’s strategic plan. Our focus for the next few years centers on addressing substance misuse and the childcare desert in Pulaski County,” said Kaye Beall, Board President of the Community Foundation. Leeann Wright, Executive Director, added, “The grant will lay the necessary foundational work for the positive changes to come. I am excited to partner with the experts at Indiana University and Ball State and learn from them through this process.”
The planning grant activities with IU Prevention Insights will provide training, technical assistance, and evaluation for Pulaski County. Residents may expect the opportunity to share their ideas and opinions through community conversations and collaborative planning sessions facilitated by IU. Planning grant activities with the Indiana Communities Institute include facilitated group work around strategic visioning for the community, which will be done in a series of focus groups over a short period of time. The Community Foundation is particularly interested to hear from community members who have not participated in past community conversations and will be sending out more information on how to participate in these sessions in early 2024.
Lilly Endowment created the GIFT initiative in 1990 to help local communities in Indiana develop the philanthropic capacity to identify local needs and challenges and work with other organizations to help their communities thrive. Through GIFT VIII, Lilly Endowment has allocated up to $210 million to support Indiana’s community foundations in growing their financial resources and further strengthening their ability to address their community’s highest-priority challenges and opportunities.