LCCF Awards $50,000 in Community Grants

The Board of the Lawrence County Community Foundation awarded $50,000 in Community Grants to six Lawrence County nonprofit organizations. The grant recipients address a wide range of community needs – health, education, food security, homelessness, and animal welfare – and include:

•  Lawrence County Cancer Patient Services

• Lawrence County Head Start

• L.I.F.E. Food Pantry

• Men’s Warming Shelter

• Raptors Rise Rehabilitation Center

• White River Humane Society

  “We are grateful for the many dedicated nonprofits making a real difference in our community,” Hope Flores, CFP CEO, stated. “These recipients reflect the breadth of meaningful work being done and we’re happy to help them start the new year strong.”

 As a Community Foundation, we strive to make a positive impact by building a sustainable pool of resources which enables us to support local nonprofits and address community needs. To learn more about what we do and how you can become a partner in our mission, contact us as 812-279-2215 or LCCF@CFPartner.org or visit our website, www.cfpartner.org.

Lilly Endowment grant to help strengthen early childhood education in the Indiana Uplands region

We are excited to be two of 10 counties in the Indiana Uplands region working collaboratively to strengthen early childhood education through a $7.8 million grant from Lilly Endowment! This funding, part of the GIFT VIII initiative, will help increase the availability of childcare, improve provider sustainability, and enhance the quality and affordability of early care and education across the region.

We look forward to seeing the positive impact this will have on families in Lawrence and Martin Counties and throughout the region.

This effort is being spearheaded by the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County (CFBMC). Following is a press release issued by CFBMC:

BLOOMINGTON, Ind – Lilly Endowment Inc., through the eighth phase of its Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT VIII) initiative, has awarded a $7,834,000 Community Leadership Implementation Grant to the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County (CFBMC) on behalf of the Indiana Uplands region. GIFT VIII is a statewide Lilly Endowment initiative designed to support the efforts of community foundations and their partners to strengthen quality of life for the people in the towns, cities, counties, and regions they serve.

This implementation grant, one of two that CFBMC received through the GIFT VIII initiative, will strengthen the quality and capacity of early childhood education programs in 10 counties of the Indiana Uplands region. Counties served by this grant include Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, and Owen.

In 2021, Indiana Uplands counties began examining how they might improve their child care landscape and early learning outcomes in collaboration with Regional Opportunity Initiatives (ROI) and Monroe Smart Start (an early learning leadership initiative of CFBMC). In the years since, each Indiana Uplands county has established or expanded early learning coalitions comprised of local community foundations, early education providers, school systems, community economic and development organizations, employers, and other organizations. These county coalitions have conducted research, identified best practices, and developed locally specific early care and education strategic plans in collaboration with ROI, defining proposed activities to increase access to high quality early care and education opportunities.

“Thanks to this funding from Lilly Endowment, communities in the Indiana Uplands region will be able to begin activating strategies they have developed in collaboration with local stakeholders and regional partners with the intent of improving outcomes for thousands of children, families, employers, and communities,” said Community Foundation President and CEO Tina Peterson.

In collaboration with community foundations and each county’s early care coalition, CFBMC will launch Indiana Uplands Smart Start. With the support of a regional team of Smart Start coordinators, each county will receive funding and ongoing support through the grant to begin implementing initiatives outlined in their early care and education strategic plans. While specific 2 activities will vary in each county, funding will be used to create and expand the capacity of childcare centers to serve more children, create efficiencies through shared services, strengthen provider sustainability, and deliver resources to improve the quality of educational experiences children receive before kindergarten.

To advance these efforts, the Indiana Uplands Smart Start team will coordinate activities and provide project leadership, facilitation, and connectivity to subject matter experts and business mentors. A new regional Employer Resource Network will also provide innovative services to support employer and childcare provider partnerships in the Indiana Uplands.

“Not only is early care and education critical for young children, but it also impacts our region’s institutions, employers, and prosperity,” said Jennifer Myers, director of Monroe Smart Start. “Our region has united around a shared commitment to improving early learning, and county coalitions are excited to continue our momentum in the region and begin translating the work into measurable impact for the benefit of all Indiana Uplanders.”

This grant is one of 30 implementation grants being awarded through GIFT VIII. CFBMC was also awarded a second Community Leadership Implementation GIFT VIII Grant from Lilly Endowment to deploy evidence-based strategies focused on reducing Monroe County’s unsheltered homeless population.

In 1990, Lilly Endowment launched the Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT) initiative to help establish and further develop community foundations throughout Indiana. Lilly Endowment hoped that Indiana’s community foundations could enhance the quality of life in their communities by convening conversations among people of diverse ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, occupations, races, and cultural traditions about their communities’ most compelling needs and opportunities, as well as the best ways to address them.

About Lilly Endowment

Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly, Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff, and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education, and religion. The Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, and maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.

About Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County

Created by individuals, families, and businesses who share a passion for Monroe County and a vision for its future, the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County has granted $50 million to more than 400 local nonprofit organizations since its incorporation in 1990. With a growing $45 million endowment, the Foundation makes a difference by connecting caring people, important causes, and community resources.

About Monroe Smart Start

A leadership initiative of the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, Monroe Smart Start promotes local and regional early childhood education through high-quality early learning experiences, professional development for educators, family engagement, community partnerships, and advocacy.

About Regional Opportunity Initiatives (ROI)

Regional Opportunity Initiatives (ROI) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to advance economic and community prosperity in the 11 counties of the Indiana Uplands (Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen, and Washington counties). ROI is growing potential and possibility through a focus on advanced industry sectors, regionalism, transformative school and workforce redesign, and placemaking strategies.

LCCF Announces the 2022 Classroom Grant Recipients

The Lawrence County Community Foundation Board of Directors awarded just under $9,000 to twenty-four Lawrence County teachers through the 2022 LCCF Classroom Grant Cycle.

The Classroom Grant program is designed to fund small, in-class projects that might not have a typical funding source. The goal is to help teachers provide additional educational projects that are creative, innovative, and stimulate student learning.

The Lawrence County Community Foundation, a public charity recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3), accepts and manages individual and business contributions made to permanent endowments, including the Great Grants Fund for K-12 education grants, LCCF Education Fund, and the Paris P. and Lottie (Collins) Porter Education Fund, which help fund the annual Classroom Grants. LCCF uses the income earned by these endowments to improve the quality of life in Lawrence County for this generation and generations to come. Enhancing educational opportunities is a natural fit for this goal.

If you would like to help support our teachers through the classroom grant program, please contact Hope Flores at (812) 279-2215 or hope@cfpartner.org to learn how you can contribute to the endowment for Classroom Grants.

 Grant recipients and project names follow:

Francesca  Baglivi, Star Stitchers Knitting and Crochet ClubRobin Bennett, Engagement, Sensory, Affirmations, Extra Needs, Attention and Love. I Can Do This!!!
Allison Brown, Super Start with S.T.E.A.M Bins
Jamie Day, Multi-Sensory Letter Formation and Identification
Beth Felts, Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn Through Puppetry
Danielle Fish, Resource ReDo
Thea Frank, Project Booster for All-STAR Rocket Scientists
Sarah Johnson, 5th Grade Store Project
Kylee Jones, Life Skill Lessons
Sharon Kittaka, Build it and They Will Learn
Lucretia Kuehn, On Top with Vex Go Robotics!
Joachim Ladwig, KB9BNL The All-STAR HAM Radio Club
Melissa Lambrecht, Regulation Stations
Cassie Leonard, Meaningful Media
Rebecca Long, Making Math Fun
Jeanette Martin, Greenhouse
Kirsten Martin, Going Mobile
Jamie Norman, Fostering Scientific Minds
Amanda Ochs, Morning Bin Friends
Whitney Reed, 3Doodler Stations
Amy Spence, Counting our Spring Chickens
Amy  Voris, Theme Park Design
Spencer Wardlow, Color Craze: Cooperation and Competition
Hilary Whitaker, Creativity in Microeconomics