Fund Seeks to Help Youth Serving Organizations in Indiana Face COVID-19 Challenges
Lilly Endowment is launching a fund of up to $20 million to help youth serving organizations in Indiana address some of the challenges they face because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Youth Program Resilience Fund (YPRF) is designed to offer support to a variety of organizations so they can better serve the needs of school-age children and youth (ages five to 18).
The fund is part of more than $156 million in funds the Endowment has dedicated since March 2020 to help organizations in Indiana and nationwide respond to the effects of the pandemic. Learn more here.
Youth-serving organizations from throughout the state are encouraged to apply for funding that will help them cover a range of expenses they will incur or have incurred because of the pandemic. Expenses could include, among other things, the purchasing of sanitation supplies, personal protective equipment and materials needed to promote social distancing; the cost of modest site modifications so organizations can deliver safe programs and services during the pandemic; or the costs related to improved technology, increasing staff and engaging consultants to strengthen support for youth and their families.
For many years, the Endowment’s grantmaking has supported youth-serving organizations focused on education success, social development, leadership and character development and child protection, among other aims. Although the Endowment is interested in the positive development of all youth, it has a special interest in helping fund COVID-19-related costs of youth-serving organizations that serve a significant number of youth who 1) are members of low-income families or communities of color or immigrant populations that are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and other health and social challenges or 2) face other compelling challenges that adversely impact healthy development.
“Indiana’s youth-serving organizations are critical to the development and well-being of our young people, who need safe places to stay, play, learn and socialize and caring people to attend to those needs, especially in these challenging times” said Ted Maple, the Endowment’s vice president for education. “We hope that this fund will help to strengthen and stabilize many of these organizations for the benefit of the youth they serve and also for their parents who need assurance that their youth are well cared for as they return to more normal working conditions when the pandemic restrictions lessen.”
Eligible organizations are being invited to submit applications detailing the impact of COVID-19 on their operations. In their applications, organizations will need to describe their programs and services and explain the additional expenses they have incurred or will incur to reopen or increase their capacity to serve youth in accordance with public health guidelines. Organizations can learn about the application process here. The deadline to submit applications is Aug. 10, 2020.
Indiana Youth Institute is working with the Endowment to offer online information sessions for interested youth-serving organizations during the week of July 20, 2020. Details will be forthcoming and available on the Endowment’s website.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J. K. Lilly and his sons, Eli and J.K. Jr., through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with its founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education, and religion, and it maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.