Legacy Foundation awards summer grants totaling $261,000

Legacy Foundation, Lake County’s community foundation, announces it will award grants totaling $261,264 to 27 not-for-profit agencies providing services to Lake County, Ind. residents.

The cumulative summer awards come from three grant opportunities: Transform Lake County, Informed & Engaged Communities, and the Legacy Women’s Philanthropy Fund. Transform Lake County grants are supported by local donors who give to the Lake County Community Fund. Informed and Engaged Urban Communities grants are supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Donor Advised Fund. Grants from the Legacy Women’s Philanthropy Fund are supported by membership contributions of Legacy Foundation’s Women in Philanthropy group.

The following organizations received Transform Lake County grants:

Association for the Wolf Lake Initiative; Beachfront Dance School; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago; Cedar Lake Historical Association; Dunes Dog Training; Fair Haven Center for Women; Hammond Education Foundation; Hoosier Environmental Council; Hoosiers Feeding the Hungry; Humane Society Calumet Area; IN Women in Need Foundation; Lakeshore Public Media; Meals on Wheels of Northwest Indiana; Porter Starke Services; SAWs; School City of Hobart’s Building Brickies; South Shore Arts; The Growing Place

Fair Haven Center for Women received $20,000 to pilot the Think First & Stay Safe™ Child Lures Prevention program in NWI elementary schools during the 2017-2018 school year.

The following organizations received Informed & Engaged Communities grants:

• Accion, Civic Engagement Bootcamp, Fractured Atlas, Fresh Coast Communities, Gary Common Council, Gary Redevelopment Commission; Hoosier Environmental Council
• Fresh Coast Communities received $20,000 for a phytoremediation project to clean up the former Bear Brands Hosiery Factory site, a historic brownfield in Gary, IN, using urban tree farm and garden.

The following organizations received Legacy Women’s Philanthropy Fund grants:

• Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, On My Way Pre-K, Pathway to Adventure Council-Boy Scouts of America
• With a $10,000 grant, the Pathway to Adventure Council - Boy Scouts of America will implement the STEM Scouts program at Frankie McCullough Girls Academy that provides hands-on activities and lessons in science, technology, engineering, and math.
• Legacy Foundation’s grants committees review submitted applications and recommend grant awards for approval by the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
• Legacy Foundation accepts applications for Transform Lake County grants three times per year. The next deadline to submit will be November 1, 2017. Applications will open on October 1, 2017. For more information, visit http://legacyfdn.org/grants.php

About Legacy Foundation

Legacy Foundation is a community foundation and the leading philanthropic partner serving Lake County, Indiana since 1992. Today, it manages more than 300 donor funds representing over $50 million in assets. Legacy Foundation is a nonprofit 501c(3) organization operating under the leadership of a volunteer board of directors. The board represents a diverse spectrum of the business, education, nonprofit and public sectors throughout Lake County.