The Summer Youth Program Fund, supported by the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) and Lilly Endowment, Inc., aims to provide free or low-cost enrichment programs for youth in Marion County, Indiana. This aligns with a collaborative philanthropic process that simplifies the application process for youth-serving groups and ensures funders can make a positive impact. The fund's mission is to support a wide range of programs that enhance the lives of young people, reflecting a commitment to community development and youth empowerment.
The target beneficiaries are Marion County youth aged 4 to 24, with approximately 50,000 individuals served annually, representing about 19% of all Marion County residents in this age range. The impact goal is to collectively improve outcomes for these youth through enriching summer experiences. The fund prioritizes programs that support costs such as staffing, materials, healthy meals/snacks, and scholarships to reduce registration barriers, ensuring accessibility for a broad spectrum of the community.
Expected outcomes include increased participation in enrichment activities for youth, improved access to quality summer programs, and a positive impact on the lives of participants as evidenced by the Final Report prepared by each awardee. Measurable results are demonstrated by the scale of the program, with $60 million in funds granted since 1995 and 240 programs funded in 2024, collectively known as Indy Summer Youth Programs.
The foundation's strategic priority is to foster a collaborative philanthropic ecosystem where youth-serving groups can access funding from multiple sources through a single application. This approach, which can be seen as a theory of change, assumes that by streamlining the grant-seeking process and encouraging funder collaboration, more qualified applicants will receive support, leading to a greater positive impact on the community's youth. The inclusion of special grants for modest capital equipment purchases and projects from Lilly Endowment, Inc. further illustrates a commitment to enhancing the capacity of these youth-serving organizations.
