News Release
WARSAW — Kosciusko County Community Foundation announced it received a $2,838,000 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to strengthen the learning and development of very young children in the northeastern Indiana community.
The grant will support a partnership between the Community Foundation and LaunchPad, Kosciusko County’s child care and early learning coalition, according to a news release from the Community Foundation. The goal of the partnership will be to enhance the operational capacity of LaunchPad, provide education and training resources for early learning professionals, and build child care and early learning capacity through grant investments in area nonprofit or school-based child care programs.
Funding from Lilly Endowment will also support a feasibility study for a second- or third-shift child care and early learning program in the county.
“With support from this grant, many more Kosciusko County infants and toddlers will have access to the type of quality care and development opportunities that are essential to healthy development,” said Community Foundation CEO Stephanie Overbey.
The Community Foundation will share more details in 2024 regarding a grant program to help strengthen nonprofit and school-based child care programs to expand the number of infant and toddler seats they offer or to increase the quality of care they offer, the release states. For example, eligible child care organizations will be able to apply for grants to improve their facilities and increase their operating budgets to serve more children.
“We are thrilled about this new grant investment in children and families in Kosciusko County,” said LaunchPad Director Sherry Searles.
Kosciusko County Community Foundation Inc. is a public charity whose mission is to bring caring people and charitable endeavors together to inspire generosity and strengthen communities. The Community Foundation grants about $3 million annually in the areas of education, health, arts and culture, recreation, civic projects, environment and human services. Gifts made to the Community Foundation are tax-deductible.
For more information, visit www.KCFoundation.org, call 574-267-1901 or visit 102 E. Market St., Warsaw.
LaunchPad is a child care and early learning coalition operating under the Kosciusko County Chamber Foundation. LaunchPad was established in 2018 in response to the community’s urgent need for child care. The coalition’s mission is to strengthen the climate of early learning in Kosciusko County by focusing on the most recent research for children, birth to age five, and meeting the needs of our youngest citizens. For more information about LaunchPad, visit kchamber.com/get-involved/launch-pad/ or contact Sherry Searles at 574-267-6311.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based, private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly and his sons, Eli and J.K. Jr., through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company.
While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with its founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education, and religion, it maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.
