Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Indianapolis has received a grant of $6.5M from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its initiative, Enhancing Opportunity in Indianapolis. The grant will support LISC to enhance and expand the Bridges to Career Opportunities Network.
LISC is one of 28 organizations being supported through Enhancing Opportunity in Indianapolis, an initiative designed to improve the livelihoods of individuals and families facing complex and varied challenges associated with poverty and financial insecurity.
Bridges to Career Opportunities (Bridges) is an innovative program that successfully connects adults to the training, job opportunities, and services they need to not only build promising careers but thrive. Bridges sites help chronically unemployed and underemployed adults train for, get, and keep jobs in local growth industries—such as healthcare, transportation, technology, and construction—by working with them to overcome common barriers that get in the way of success. Currently there are four Bridges sites in Indianapolis: Edna Martin Christian Center, John Boner Neighborhood Centers, Southeast Community Services and Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center.
The Lilly Endowment grant will enable LISC Indianapolis to increase network connectivity and infrastructure; improve training capacity and coordination; increase staffing capacity; explore ways to better address the barriers that clients face; strengthen employer partnerships; respond to COVID-19 and increase the Bridges network to a total of five sites in Indianapolis.
The Bridges program is a proven resource that has already helped hundreds of families raise their standards of living in Indianapolis,” said Jessica Guilfoy, Vice President of Field Operations for LISC. “This funding through Lilly Endowment will help scale that impact and empower LISC and its partners to help participants make progress toward lasting economic self-sufficiency.
"We are grateful for the tremendous response we received from the Indianapolis community during a time when organizations were called upon to significantly ramp up their existing programs and services in response to the acute needs brought on by the COVID-19 crisis," said Rob Smith, Lilly Endowment's senior vice president for collaborative strategies. "We believe that the projects being funded through this initiative have the potential to improve the lives of a significant number of Indianapolis residents facing the challenges of poverty and financial insecurity."
Lilly Endowment launched Enhancing Opportunity in Indianapolis in 2019 because poverty and financial insecurity have been persistent challenges in Marion County. Research has indicated that around 20 percent of residents in the city have been living in poverty and an additional 20 percent have been living close to poverty and struggling to make ends meet.
Through Enhancing Opportunity in Indianapolis, Lilly Endowment invited eligible organizations to consider how they would work comprehensively with other community partners and employers to help residents make progress toward achieving lasting economic self-sufficiency. Due to the number of high-quality proposals Lilly Endowment received and the compounding challenges COVID-19 brought to bear on already vulnerable individuals and families, Lilly Endowment nearly doubled its initial funding commitment to more than $93 million.
About Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private philanthropic 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.
About LISC Indianapolis
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Indianapolis is the local office a national organization that helps resident-led, community-based development organizations transform distressed communities and neighborhoods into healthy ones — good places to live, do business, work, and raise families. By providing capital, technical expertise, training, and information, LISC supports the development of local leadership and the creation of affordable housing; commercial, industrial, and community facilities; businesses; and jobs. In short, we help neighbors build communities.