Vermillion County Community Foundation 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 work closely with RJL Solutions, a Terre Haute-based consulting firm, and the Vermillion County Redevelopment Commission to conduct a Vermillion County Needs Assessment to learn more about the need for additional childcare resources, which could be utilized in the former Ernie Pyle Elementary School. These resources could include but are not limited to, before and after-school care, early learning initiatives, summer learning programs, and adult education learning opportunities. The closure of Ernie Pyle Elementary School at the end of the 2022-2023 school year, due to declining enrollment and its impact on state funding, has prompted the Redevelopment Commission’s commitment to preserving the facility. In Vermillion County, an estimated 345 children under the age of six and 257 school-aged children are in need of childcare services.
The Vermillion County Community Foundation 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, Vermillion County Community Foundation will have the opportunity to request funding to implement strategic initiatives and activities developed during the planning period that address especially compelling needs in Vermillion County.
“Great communities work tirelessly to identify strategic ways to support employers, families, and childcare providers in a community as well as to labor vigorously to advance childcare, early learning initiatives, and provide local opportunities for advancing adult education. Through our partnerships with the Vermillion County Redevelopment Commission and RJL Solutions we are looking to understand the unique needs of Vermillion County and help turn vision into reality,” said Dale White, CEO of the Vermillion County Community Foundation.
Residents are encouraged to keep an eye out for public meetings and both online and in-person surveys as part of collaborative efforts concerning additional childcare resources needed in Vermillion County. This work will take place over the next four months.
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.
Vermillion County Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Western Indiana Community Foundation, is a not-for-profit public charity established in 1996 to serve donors, award grants and scholarships, and provide leadership to improve all of Vermillion County.
About Lilly Endowment Inc.
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 significant programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion. However, it maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.