Kids Hope USA is proud to announce a $425,000 grant award from Lilly Endowment Inc. in Indiana. This award is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s initiative, Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana; the aim of the competitive initiative is to help youth-serving organizations working throughout Indiana improve their abilities to promote the academic, physical and social well-being of young people, ages 5 through 18. Kids Hope USA is one of 187 organizations receiving grants through this initiative.
Kids Hope USA is a national mentoring organization that exists to mobilize the local church to tangibly serve their community by partnering with neighborhood schools. Through these partnerships, volunteer mentors are sent into their local elementary and middle schools to serve as mentors for children who could benefit from an additional relationship with a caring and consistent adult.
This award will catapult the work of Kids Hope USA in Indiana forward, strengthening the existing presence in the state and forming new partnerships to reach more students through one-on-one mentoring relationships. Kids Hope USA will double the number of students reached in Indiana by 2026, mobilizing 1,500 mentors to serve and support 1,500 students each week through a faithful, consistent one-on-one mentoring relationship.
“We are thrilled to receive this award from Lilly Endowment and honored to come alongside church and school communities across the state to form and nurture one-on-one mentoring relationships for many years to come!” said Kara Nguyen, Director of Generosity and Growth. “Indiana is home to the second largest group of Kids Hope USA mentors in the country, and we’re eager to see that double in size in three short years. The impact of these faithful mentors who step up and step into the lives of Indiana kids will be felt by students, classrooms, families, and neighborhoods. The opportunity to join the village of adults who care for and invest in these young students’ lives is both a privilege and a joy for each and every mentor.”
“Indiana’s youth-serving organizations are crucial to the healthy development of children and youth across the state,’ said Ted Maple, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for education. “The challenges these organizations have faced in meeting the needs of young people in recent years have made their work increasingly difficult. Lilly Endowment is pleased to support their efforts to strengthen programs and serve more youth more effectively.”
Lilly Endowment launched Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana Initiative in 2022 with an invitational round of grants to nine national youth-serving organizations to help them expand and enhance the work of their Indiana affiliates or chapters.
About Kids Hope USA
Kids Hope USA is a national, faith-based mentoring organization that began in 1995 to address the question of how churches can best meet the needs of students. Today, Kids Hope USA partners with 600+ churches and organizations to send volunteer mentors into their local elementary schools to serve students through one-on-one mentoring relationships. To learn more about Kids Hope USA, visit kidshopeusa.org/indiana.
About Lilly Endowment Inc.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a 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. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. Although the Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, it maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.