Strategic Initiative Grants

Strategic Initiative Grants align with the Foundation's Education Impact Strategy to break the cycle of poverty by advancing educational attainment from early childhood to adulthood.

Funding Focus

Primary Goal: Break the cycle of poverty by advancing educational attainment

Early Childhood Education

While most children don't go to school until kindergarten, they are actively learning from birth as their brains are building millions of neural connections, more than at any other time of life. Children who receive high quality education before the age of five are more likely to:

• Do better in school
• Finish high school
• Go on to higher education
• Earn a good income
• Buy a house
• Contribute to the local economy
• Pay taxes at a higher rate

Also, children with a preschool education can usually avoid overuse of public healthcare, public aid, and criminal justice dollars.

Strategic initiatives in early education seek to:

• Increase capacity to serve more children
• Improve affordability for families
• Achieve high quality ratings
• Increase accessibility
• Support professionalization of the early education workforce
• Provide scholarships for credentials
• Encourage increases in compensation to retain educators and improve the quality of teaching

Past Funding Examples: Curriculum and classroom modifications for early child care centers

Adult Education

Strategic initiatives focus on raising the number of adults who have a college degree or industry recognized certification after high school. This is a priority not only for the Community Foundation but for the eleven-county Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership for Economic Development.

The eleven counties in the region are all working on initiatives to attract, develop, and retain the talent in the region and meet workforce needs. In the near future, 60% of jobs will require some education beyond a high school diploma. Jobs requiring credentials and certifications beyond high school are called middle skills jobs, and they command higher wages.

Regional Goal: Increase the number of adults who have post-secondary degrees or high quality industry certifications in high demand jobs from 32% to 60% by 2025.

Past Funding Examples:

• Summer learning loss prevention
• Dual credit courses for adult learning
• Workforce investment training
• Entrepreneurship training

Eligibility

Not explicitly detailed in provided content, but aligned with Community Foundation's focus on organizations serving Wabash County

Contact Information

Sam McFadden

• Phone: 260-982-4824
• Email: sam@cfwabash.org

Address: 220 East Main Street, North Manchester, IN 46962