1. A Path for Career Growth – We reorganized our classroom-based teams and added career pathways through a new “Excel at DEL” program to help more educators advance their careers in the early learning sector.

2. Come Back Stronger Fund – With support from Lilly Endowment Inc., we launched Round 2 of the Come Back Stronger Fund, distributing an additional $10M to early care and education programs across the state to support their increased costs due to the pandemic and help sustain their operations.

3. Build, Learn, Grow Scholarships – On behalf of the state of Indiana, we carried out the Build, Learn, Grow Scholarship Program, awarding $30,978,517 in scholarships to help Indiana families that work in essential businesses with the cost of early care and education for their children.

4. Closing the Gap Report – We published “Closing the Gap: An Assessment of Indiana’s Early Learning Opportunities” to articulate the true state of child care access across Indiana and empower communities to explore solutions to their child care gaps.

5. Closing the Gap Grants – In conjunction with the release of the Closing the Gap report, we opened the Closing the Gap Fund and issued 17 Closing the Gap grants with the support of Lilly Endowment Inc. to create more than 900 early learning seats in high-need communities in Indiana.

6. Day of Impact – At our 3rd annual Day of Impact — sponsored byQBM, Resultant and many others — over 100 volunteers completed projects across all eight Indy Day Early Learning centers, including refreshing two staff break rooms, landscaping a butterfly garden, building a music wall, painting sensory paths onto playground areas and restocking lending libraries.

7. Modernizing the Industry – We drafted an Early Childhood Education Modernization brief, articulating a vision, framework and recommendations for the future of the early learning industry, which is sparking public policy discussions with invested stakeholders all across Indiana.

8. Reimagining Early Learning – We hosted providers and community partners at an event to “Reimagine” our state’s early childhood education system following the influx of federal stimulus funding.

9. Early Head Start Grant Recipient – We won a major grant for the expansion of our Early Head Start programming, enabling us to serve an additional 75 children.

10. Two New Day Early Learning Centers – We transitioned operations of the Purdue University Early Care and Education Center and Patty Jischke Early Care and Education Center, welcoming 30+ new team members and 162 children to the Day Early Learning family.

11. Indianapolis’ South Side Expansion – In partnership with Christel House Academy, we raised $1 million in grant funds to support the opening of the new Day Early Learning at Manual on the city’s south side and received a $1 million matching grant from United Way of Central Indiana.

12. Early Learning Educator Solutions – Through the support of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, we launched the Classroom Support Work-Based Learning Program in our Day Early Learning centers, training 19 team members with credentials to advance their careers and improve their classroom practice.

13. Arago Honor Recipient – We received the Meridian Foundation’s inagural Arago honor in recognition of innovation through our Classroom Support Work-Based Learning Program. The award comes with a $10,000 cash prize.

14. Assessing Learning Success – Through the use of TS Gold assessments, we supported children in meeting or exceeding widely held expectations in literacy, mathematics and social emotional development. This initiative helps quantify the success of our mission: to ensure children throughout Indiana are empowered with essential skills to be successful in kindergarten and beyond.

15. Kindergarten Readiness Leadership – We trained 381 educators to serve as Kindergarten Readiness Indicator (KRI) assessors for the state of Indiana, empowering them to administer the new KRI assessment to their pre-K students. With the support of the Richard M. Fairbanks foundation, we also launched Getting on Track, an initiative to help children in our Day Early Learning centers build early math and literacy skills in preparation for the kindergarten readiness assessment.

16. Accredited by National Association for the Education of Young Children – Three of our Day Early Learning Centers renewed their NAEYC accreditation. We also achieved NAEYC accreditation for Day Early Learning at Eastern Star Church, officially making all Day Early Learning centers nationally accredited. 

17. Strong Finances – Despite the impact of the pandemic on reduced enrollment and increased expenses, we were able to sustain our operations while keeping our workforce intact. We are well-positioned to continue our innovative, mission-related activities in 2022.

18. Enrichment Programs – Our Spirit of Philanthropy teams supported quarterly activities for each center, including providing family and child enrichments through the Summer Gardening Program and Week of the Young Child activities, as well as Fall-in-a-Bag and Holiday week gifts for teachers.

19. Stronger Together Grants — With generous support from Lilly Endowment Inc., we selected seven organizations to receive $100,000 grants to launch regional shared service hubs around the state. These hubs will allow local child care providers to streamline their operational services, saving money and allowing them to focus their time and energy on providing high-quality child care.

20. Tanner Teacher of the Year – Day Early Learning at Fort Harrison pre-K teacher Angie Laureano was named our 2021 Tanner Teacher of the Year in recognition of her consistent dedication to her center and students over the last year, especially, and her commitment to intentional learning through play.

21. State of Early Learning — Early Learning Indiana President and CEO Maureen Weber hosted her inaugural State of Early Learning in January 2021, outlining the impact of the pandemic on early childhood education and steps to improve early learning access, affordability and quality for Hoosier families and children. Mark your calendar for the 2022 State of Early Learning on Jan. 27 at 11:30 a.m. EST. Register here.  

From: Meridian Foundation

Ind. (December 20)—Announced today, Indianapolis-based, Meridian Foundation has awarded eight nonprofits with awards of $10,000 each to support their innovative approaches to serving the community. Recipients include the Society of St. Andrew, The Milk Bank, CICOA Aging and In-Home Solutions, Early Learning Indiana, Spirit and Place, PATTERN, Launch HOPE Foundation, and GANGGANG.

“Through the last year, we’ve seen how nonprofits have worked creatively to solve complex and constant community challenges,” said Donna Oklak, founder of Meridian Foundation. “The Arago Honors seeks to lift up the inspiring stories of these exemplary nonprofits to amplify their missions and the social impact of their work in central Indiana and the nation.”

The Meridian Foundation announced the Arago Honors in July to put a spotlight on nonprofit program innovation. In this inaugural year, Oklak is pleased to share the broad assortment of missions—food insecurity, health, aging assistance, early learning education, workforce development, new business acceleration, arts entrepreneurship, and racial equity—from this group of nonprofits and encourage the next round of innovative nonprofits to apply in 2022.

“The added benefit from this inaugural innovation group has been seeing first-hand the dual purposes in the projects and how these nonprofits are working on multiple fronts to enact community change,” said Oklak. “I am so encouraged and impressed at the work being done in our city and the many new collaborations and partnerships that have been formed.”

2021 Arago Honor recipients include:

• Society of St. Andrew for the creation of a new gleaning affiliate in Indiana to lower food insecurity within the state and save over 4.1 million pounds of healthy food.
• The Milk Bank for building a new partnership with Versiti (formerly Indiana Blood Center). Although the two nonprofit organizations have remarkably similar missions and are well-aligned, they did not collaborate. Since creating the partnership in 2018 nearly 500 mothers have utilized the Versiti depot locations in Indiana and Kentucky Blood Centers.
• CICOA Aging and In-Home Solutions for creating a Venture Studio to build scalable revenue-generating enterprises for this 47-year-old nonprofit serving the aging population in central Indiana. CICOA employees bringing new ideas to the Venture Studio are incentivized and compensated when products reach the market.
• Early Learning Indiana for Classroom Support-Work Program (CSP) provides a blended online and in-person classroom learning format for classroom support professionals. The program allows ELI employees to earn a salary while completing their credentials and become classroom-ready more quickly and less expensively than traditional programs.
• PATTERN for a nonprofit Fellowship program building career portfolios for young interns in fashion design, photography, graphic design, digital and social media, and art and music. PATTERN’s goal is to keep Indiana talent in Indiana and grow the creative economy in an equitable and inclusive way.
• Launch HOPE Foundation for giving underserved women a second chance by teaching them to become entrepreneurs with vetted business plans by Butler University’s Lacy School of Business undergraduate students. The new program currently operates at Phalen Leadership Academy and Hamilton County jail with plans for more sites in 2022.
• Spirit and Place at IUPUI’s School of Liberal Arts for Powerful Conversations on Race (PCR), a civic reflection dialogue facilitation method utilizing artwork, texts, and other media for public reflection and dialogue on this difficult topic. Spirit and Place has a 24- year history of exploring community issues and is building an income-generating social entrepreneurship strategy around PCR.
• GANGGANG for BUTTER: A Fine Art Fair held in September In Indianapolis, promoting equity in the arts and creative community by this start-up nonprofit. The focus on Black artists is unlike other art fairs because BUTTER artists pay no fee to participate and 100% of the profit from works sold goes to the artists.

Explore the Meridian Foundation and learn more about the Arago Honors at www.indymeridianfoundation.org.

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About the Meridian Foundation
The Meridian Foundation exists to support and celebrate innovation. The Arago Honors is a new initiative to honor innovative nonprofits by accelerating positive change in the community. For more on the Meridian Foundation, please visit www.indymeridianfoundation.org.

INDIANAPOLIS (Nov. 30, 2021) — After releasing its August 2021 “Closing the Gap: An Assessment of Indiana’s Early Learning Opportunities” report, Early Learning Indiana announced today the 17 organizations receiving Closing the Gap grants to address local child care access issues in their communities, increase capacity and quality, and ensure affordability and choice for families. The funding is made possible through a 2019 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support Early Learning Indiana’s statewide work to improve access to high-quality early learning programs in Indiana.

“The challenge is great, but the opportunity to build a system of more equitable access for Hoosier children is even greater,” said Maureen Weber, president and CEO of Early Learning Indiana. “Our Closing the Gap grant recipients have put together collaborative solutions to solve some of the greatest barriers to access to high-quality early learning in their communities, and we are proud to help kick start their work.”

The 17 grant recipients represent 18 unique counties in Indiana. In total, their proposals will create 926 new child care seats for 269 infants and toddlers and 657 preschool and pre-K children. These recipients have proposed strategies to address a variety of community-level access issues, including providing high-quality early learning services to families experiencing homelessness, offering care options that prioritize extended hours to accommodate parents who work late shifts, and building an intergenerational model connecting early learners to seniors.

Grant recipients include:

• Adams County Economic Development Corporation – Adams Co.
• Mental Health America of Boone County — Boone Co.
• Lewis Cass Schools (Lewis Cass Early Learning Academy) — Cass Co.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Harrison-Crawford Counties — Crawford Co.
• Greene County Foundation — Greene Co.
• TOTally Kids Childcare at St. Mark’s — Hendricks Co.
• Henry County Child Care Network — Henry Co.
• Bona Vista Programs — Howard Co.
• Appleseed Childhood Education, Inc. — Jasper Co.
• LaunchPad Child Care and Early Learning Coalition — Kosciusko Co.
• Wee Care Early Learning Ministry — Marion Co.
• Monroe County United Ministries — Monroe Co.
• First5 of the Rush County Community Foundation — Rush Co.
• Scott County School District 2 — Scott Co.
• ABC & ME — Tipton Co.
• Union County College Corner Joint School District — Union Co.
• United Way of the Wabash Valley, Inc. — Vigo Co.

Early Learning Indiana’s Closing the Gap report centered around the Early Learning Access Index, which helped qualify and quantify child care access throughout the state, assessing the additional factors of quality, affordability and choice as well.

Notable findings of the report include:

• The statewide Early Learning Access Index is 60.6 out of 100, equaling moderate access to early learning and care statewide​.
• In more than two-thirds of Indiana counties, existing child care capacity can serve fewer than half the children ages 0-5 who need care.
• 14 counties have no high-quality infant/toddler care.

View a PDF of awardees, their locations and project descriptions here.

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About Early Learning Indiana
Early Learning Indiana is Indiana’s oldest and largest early childhood education nonprofit, providing leadership, advocacy and early childhood education services to continually improve the early learning landscape in Indiana. Today, Early Learning Indiana operates 10 high-quality Day Early Learning centers, a network of premier community-based schools used to advance the science of early learning, train the next generation of teachers and leaders, and instill essential skills in the children we serve. Through regional and statewide programs, the organization enables early learning providers to build capacity, transform operations and improve learning outcomes. Learn more at EarlyLearningIndiana.org.

INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. 22, 2021 —High-quality early childhood education has proven to close early gaps in academic outcomes based on race and family income. But while Indiana has expanded pre-K funding in recent years, more needs to be done to maximize its power.

That’s why a group of early childhood education leaders and philanthropists today announced the launch of a new tool in Marion County – Getting on Track (GoT) – in an effort to improve academic outcomes for all pre-K students, including Black and Hispanic students and students from low-income families.

The independent research organization, NORC at the University of Chicago, will implement GoT at eight Early Learning Indiana sites within Indianapolis over the next two school years, starting in the current 2021-22 school year. The Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation contributed $879,469 and PNC Bank contributed $30,000 to launch the tool in Marion County.

“The pandemic has shown us the critical role that quality early childhood education plays. It is not only key to supporting working parents, but also to ensuring children get a strong start in life by helping them to develop the foundational academic skills that are key to success in kindergarten and beyond,” said Claire Fiddian-Green, president & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. “As we work to ensure more students have access to high-quality early learning opportunities, we also must ensure early childhood teachers have the tools and training they need to help every student succeed. That’s what Getting on Track is designed to do.”

Through GoT, early childhood education students are tested three times annually to assess math, oral language and emergent literacy skills. Through these assessments, GoT helps early childhood educators determine where pre-K students need to make academic progress and gives them the knowledge and tools they need to intervene. GoT aims to reduce inequality in math and literacy skills at kindergarten entry and equip students with a foundation for academic success beyond pre-K.

“At PNC, we recognize that education is a powerful means for economic and social mobility. That’s why 17 years ago, we launched PNC Grow Up Great^® to help children from birth through age five develop a passion for learning and help set them up for success that lasts a lifetime,” said Connie Bond Stuart, PNC regional president for Central & Southern Indiana. “Getting on Track makes perfect sense for us because it helps build upon the impact that early childhood education is making for students of color in our state and provides a targeted tool to enhance their academic outcomes.”

Over the last decade, NORC and the University of Chicago have worked to develop and evaluate GoT’s effectiveness in Chicago, Northwest Indiana, and Oakland, Calif. It has shown impressive results in these pilot cities: students attained a 48% increase in verbal comprehension in one school year and students from low-income families demonstrated a significant increase in math skills, reducing the disparities in outcomes with their higher income peers by at least 45%.

THE CASE IN INDIANA

A recent report from Early Learning Indiana shows that Indiana lacks sufficient program capacity, quality and affordability to meet the early learning needs of the state’s population. There are only enough early childhood education seats to serve 55% of the population under age six who might need care, and fewer than 20% of programs meet state benchmarks for high-quality. Ensuring early childhood educators have the tools and training they need to serve students well is among the strategies needed to increase the number of high-quality seats.

“The first five years are critical to a child’s growth and development,” said Maureen Weber, president and CEO of Early Learning Indiana. “Getting on Track is an important assessment tool that will help educators ensure children are developing the essential, foundational skills they need for success in kindergarten and for the rest of their lives.”

NORC will collaborate with Early Learning Indiana to implement GoT at eight sites across Indianapolis and train Early Learning Indiana educators in the system. NORC will measure the impact of GoT on student learning during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years and assess whether the system can be expanded to additional providers.

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ABOUT THE RICHARD M. FAIRBANKS FOUNDATION
Since 1986, the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation has strived to advance the vitality of Indianapolis and the well-being of its people by addressing the city’s most significant challenges and opportunities. Through strategic grantmaking, research and evaluation, and cross-sector collaborations, the Foundation aims to improve outcomes across its three focus areas: Education, Health, and the Vitality of Indianapolis. Learn more at RMFF.org.

ABOUT EARLY LEARNING INDIANA
Early Learning Indiana is Indiana’s oldest and largest early childhood education nonprofit, providing leadership, advocacy and early childhood education services to continually improve the early learning landscape in Indiana. Today, Early Learning Indiana operates eight high-quality Day Early Learning centers, a network of premier community-based lab schools used to advance the science of early learning, train the next generation of teachers and leaders, and instill essential skills in the children we serve. Through regional and statewide programs, the organization enables early learning providers to build capacity, transform operations and improve learning outcomes. Learn more at EarlyLearningIndiana.org.

ABOUT PNC FOUNDATION
The PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group (www.pnc.com), actively supports organizations that provide services for the benefit of communities in which it has a significant presence. The foundation focuses its philanthropic mission on early childhood education and community and economic development, which includes the arts and culture. Through Grow Up Great, its signature cause that began in 2004, PNC has created a bilingual $500 million, multi-year initiative to help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life.

ABOUT NORC
NORC at the University of Chicago conducts research and analysis that decision-makers trust. As a nonpartisan research organization and a pioneer in measuring and understanding the world, we have studied almost every aspect of the human experience and every major news event for more than eight decades. Today, we partner with government, corporate, and nonprofit clients around the world to provide the objectivity and expertise necessary to inform the critical decisions facing society.

INDIANAPOLIS (July 27, 2021) — Early Learning Indiana and Christel House Indianapolis are teaming up to create a new early childhood education center — Day Early Learning at Manual — on the south side of Indianapolis.

“Quality, licensed early care and education is one of the greatest unmet needs of south side Indianapolis families,” says Maureen Weber, president and CEO, Early Learning Indiana. “A new center at Manual will add 80 new high-quality child care seats for infants to 5-year-olds.”

Building upon the $5.5 million Christel House has invested into turning the previous Emmerich Manual High School facility into a community-serving campus for traditional K-12 students and adults seeking a high school diploma, the ambitious $2 million early childhood education center construction plan will require extensive renovation to convert office space at Manual into rooms appropriate for infants, toddlers and pre-K students. United Way of Central Indiana has committed to making a $1 million match for the capital project.

“To receive the match, we must raise $1 million by Aug. 30, 2021,” says Weber. “It’s a big goal, but we are confident the community will support this important need. We’re seeking private support to secure the remaining $38,000 needed to meet the match requirement.”  

“Quality early childhood education makes a positive impact on everything from children’s future learning to family self-sufficiency and breaking the cycle of poverty,” according to Dr. Sarah Weimer, executive director, Christel House Indianapolis. “We’re turning Manual into a community-serving campus. The new Day Early Learning center offers a crucial opportunity to ensure Indianapolis’ most vulnerable residents get a great start in life.”

Donations can be made at https://earlylearningin.org/manual/.       

About Early Learning Indiana
Early Learning Indiana is Indiana’s oldest and largest early childhood education nonprofit, providing leadership, advocacy and early childhood education services to continually improve the early learning landscape in Indiana. Today, Early Learning Indiana operates eight high-quality Day Early Learning centers, a network of premier community-based lab schools used to advance the science of early learning, train the next generation of teachers and leaders, and instill essential skills in the children we serve. Through regional and statewide programs, the organization enables early learning providers to build capacity, transform operations and improve learning outcomes. Learn more at EarlyLearningIndiana.org.

About Christel House Indianapolis

Christel House Indianapolis is a network of charter schools supported by Christel House International. Christel House Academy South opened in 2002 and was Indiana’s first charter school to receive the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform’s designation as a “School to Watch” and was recognized nationally as one of 10 MetLife Foundation–NASSP “Breakthrough Schools.” For more information, please visit www.chschools.org. 

The program is designed for early learning educators who want to advance their careers and increase the impact they have on young children. Most CDA programs are costly and take up to a year to complete. Early Learning Indiana’s Fast-Track CDA program is made possible by the generosity of the Lilly Endowment Inc. and will allow participants to earn their CDA credential in as little 12 weeks. 

In 2020, at the height of the pandemic when many teachers were facing reduced work hours due to limited enrollment, Early Learning Indiana rolled out the Fast-Track CDA Program to help teachers make the most of their downtime. We had over 800 applicants in just one month. We accepted 16 cohorts of early childhood educators, and 200 individuals have completed the program. 

The summer 2021 program will consist of 100 total individuals. Early Learning Indiana is reaching out to individuals who have previously applied but did not get the opportunity to participate due to overwhelming demand.  

Participants accepted into the program will complete 120 hours of course work over 12 weeks using an e-learning platform. All fees, including tuition, materials and assessments, will be covered by the program, an approximately $800 investment per participant. Participants will receive portfolio support from an early childhood education expert at Early Learning Indiana. Once their 120 hours are completed, participants will take the CDA exam to be certified.  

With the demand for early childhood educators growing, Early Learning Indiana is proud to make an impact on the supply of high-quality classroom support professionals who can help prepare children for success in kindergarten and beyond.  

Media Contact: Jennifer Erbacher, 812-483-5124, jennifere@earlylearningindiana.org   

Early Learning Indiana today announced the latest grant recipients of the Come Back Stronger Fund that has awarded more than $13.1 million to 1,025 Indiana early childhood education providers. With support from Lilly Endowment Inc., Come Back Stronger Fund grants are reinforcing Indiana’s high-quality early learning programs, especially for the state’s most vulnerable children, by providing financial support for added pandemic-related-safety needs. Through these awarded providers, over 45,300 Hoosier children will continue having high-quality child care experiences. 

“The pandemic has proven what we’ve long known to be true – that as parents, early care and learning programs are critical to our family’s wellbeing and our ability to work and move forward as a society,” said Early Learning Indiana President and CEO Maureen Weber. “In the best of times, early learning providers operate on razor-thin margins, and COVID-19 has put them in a precarious position with added expenses and lost revenue. These grants are creating ripple effects across our state, from the early care and learning programs receiving them, to the children, families and businesses they serve.” 

Come Back Stronger Fund grants ranged from $2,000-$40,000 based on providers’ total enrollment and the percentage of children they serve from vulnerable family populations, defined as households at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. Awarded providers serve children ages 0-5 and have achieved Paths to QUALITY™ Level 2, 3 or 4 on Indiana’s quality rating system. View a map of all awarded providers here. 

In their grant applications, providers outlined their plans for grant funds, citing opportunities like hiring additional teachers and staff to create smaller group sizes or do daily health screenings; supporting social distancing and safety in classrooms by purchasing and installing hand sanitizer stations, room dividers and additional washers and dryers for increased laundry needs; offering mental health and coaching services to staff members who struggle with the increased demands of their work; and building out new classrooms to increase the capacity of early learning opportunities in the community. 

Early Learning Indiana has prioritized the fund’s remaining $1.8 million to address critical service gaps and support the communities across Indiana with the greatest need.   

Media Resources

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B-Roll

Early Learning Indiana is Indiana’s oldest and largest early childhood education nonprofit, providing leadership, advocacy, and early childhood education services to continually improve the early learning landscape in Indiana. Today, Early Learning Indiana operates nine high-quality Day Early Learning centers, a network of premier community-based lab schools used to advance the science of early learning, train the next generation of teachers and leaders, and instill essential skills in the children we serve. Through regional and statewide programs, the organization enables early learning providers to build capacity, transform operations, and improve learning outcomes. Moreinformation is available at EarlyLearningIndiana.org.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and 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 the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.

Early Learning Indiana today awarded grants totaling $2,341,000 to 155 early child care and education providers across Indiana to assist them with safety-related expenses and challenges as they serve families in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. This first round of grant awards is part of the $15 million Come Back Stronger Fund, made possible by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., to reinforce Indiana’s supply of high-quality early learning opportunities, especially for the state’s most vulnerable children.

“The pandemic has shone a light on the critical role early care and education providers play in our society,” said Early Learning Indiana President and CEO Maureen Weber. “It’s estimated that nearly one-third of our state’s child care providers made the difficult decision to close their doors when the pandemic first hit. Now as many of them re-open to serve families who need quality care in order to go back to work, safety is of utmost importance. We’re excited to see how providers use their grants to increase health and safety measures and expand to serve more families who need care.”

More than 400 providers applied for funding in the first two weeks. Applications are being reviewed and awarded on a rolling basis, and Early Learning Indiana will notify new awardees each week. View a map of awarded providers here.

Grant awards are of varying amounts up to $40,000 based on enrollment and the percentage of children served who receive federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) or On My Way Pre-K assistance from the state of Indiana.

In their grant applications, awarded providers detailed how they would use grant funding to more safely serve families and expand to serve additional families. Examples include hiring an additional teacher to allow for smaller group sizes in order to minimize contact; creating a new role for a staff member who will meet families at the door to take temperatures and walk children to their classrooms; supporting social distancing and safety in classrooms by purchasing and installing hand sanitizer stations, room dividers to separate spaces for groups of infants and toddlers, and additional washer and dryer units to allow for increased laundry needs; and building out new classrooms at a center to increase the supply of early learning opportunities in the community.

To be eligible for grant funding, providers must be:

• Licensed and registered centers, ministries or family child care home providers in Indiana in good standing
• An approved CCDF or On My Way Pre-K provider or a provider that otherwise serves children from vulnerable family populations, defined as households at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level
• Operating as a Paths to QUALITY™ Level 3 or 4, or as a Paths to QUALITY™ Level 2 with a demonstrated commitment to achieving a higher level of program quality
• Serving children ages 0-5

Early child care organizations can learn more about the Come Back Stronger Fund and apply at www.earlylearningin.org/comebackstronger. Early Learning Indiana also invites others to contribute to the fund to help make more grants possible throughout the state.

Media Contact: Jennifer Erbacher, 812-483-5124, jennifere@earlylearningindiana.org  

Early Learning Indiana is Indiana’s oldest and largest early childhood education nonprofit, providing leadership, advocacy, and early childhood education services to continually improve the early learning landscape in Indiana. Today, Early Learning Indiana operates nine high-quality Day Early Learning centers, a network of premier community-based lab schools used to advance the science of early learning, train the next generation of teachers and leaders, and instill essential skills in the children we serve. Through regional and statewide programs, the organization enables early learning providers to build capacity, transform operations, and improve learning outcomes. Moreinformation is available at EarlyLearningIndiana.org.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and 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 the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana. More information is available at lillyendowment.org.

As early care and learning providers across the country face an uncertain future because of COVID-19, Early Learning Indiana is launching the Come Back Stronger Fund with the support of a $15.7 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The fund is designed to reinforce Indiana’s supply of high-quality early learning opportunities, especially for the most vulnerable children.

“In the best of times, early learning providers operate on razor-thin margins due to the imbalance between the cost of providing care and families’ ability to afford it,” said Early Learning Indiana CEO Maureen Weber. “As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the path forward is even more precarious with added safety-related expenses and uncertainty around enrollment and staffing. This funding will help providers make necessary operational changes to deliver safe and high-quality early learning services that are critical for Hoosier families and the state’s economic recovery.”

Through the Come Back Stronger Fund, Early Learning Indiana will offer grants of varying amounts that will depend on the number of children served. The grants will help offset new expenses incurred by providers to safely operate and continue delivering early learning experiences in the wake of the pandemic. These include measures such as enhancing sanitation practices, altering key aspects of the physical environment to support social distancing, adopting new staffing models that minimize exposure, expanding to serve more children in response to a depletion in community supply, and investing in personalized sets of materials and toys to limit cross-contamination among children while maintaining an environment that stimulates child development.

“High-quality early care and education programs are essential to the learning and development of children and to parents’ ability to work and support their families,” said Ted Maple, the Endowment’s vice president for education. “We are pleased that this fund will help providers continue to offer high-quality learning experiences while safely serving children in the face of the unparalleled COVID-19 challenges.”

Licensed and registered centers, ministries and family child care home providers in Indiana serving vulnerable family populations are eligible to apply. Providers must serve children ages 0-5 and be a Paths to QUALITY level 3 or 4 provider or a level 2 provider that has committed to reaching higher levels of quality in due course. Grant amounts of up to $40,000 will be tiered based on the number of children served, with an additional sum available to providers with 25% or more of their enrolled children receiving federal Child Care and Development Fund assistance from the state of Indiana.

In addition to grant funding, Early Learning Indiana will provide technical assistance to Indiana child care providers and help them develop strategies to continue offering high-quality early care and education programming to children and families during the pandemic. Grant funding from Lilly Endowment to Early Learning Indiana in 2019 will also support planning and developing new tools and resources for child care providers to help strengthen and sustain their programs into the future.

Early child care organizations will be able to learn more about the Come Back Stronger Fund and apply at www.earlylearningin.org/comebackstronger. Guidelines and application instructions will be available on Tuesday, May 19. Early Learning Indiana also invites others to contribute to the fund to help make more grants possible throughout the state.

Media Resources

Photos

B-Roll

Early Learning Indiana is Indiana’s oldest and largest early childhood education nonprofit, providing leadership, advocacy, and early childhood education services to continually improve the early learning landscape in Indiana. Today, Early Learning Indiana operates nine high-quality Day Early Learning centers, a network of premier community-based lab schools used to advance the science of early learning, train the next generation of teachers and leaders, and instill essential skills in the children we serve. Through regional and statewide programs, the organization enables early learning providers to build capacity, transform operations, and improve learning outcomes. Moreinformation is available at EarlyLearningIndiana.org.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and 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 the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.

Early Learning Indiana today announced the launch of “Educate ME Early supported by Early Learning Indiana,” a pilot program to recruit, train and support men of color in entering the early childhood education field as classroom teachers. The program, made possibly by support from the Lilly Endowment, is a partner effort with Educate ME Foundation, Inc., an Indiana non-profit organization determined to increase the number of men and women of color in the field of education.

African American and Latino males who apply and are selected as fellows will join one of two Educate ME Early cohorts and make a two-year commitment. In the first year, fellows will co-lead a classroom with the mentorship of a full-time teacher at an early childhood center in Central Indiana. Fellows will transition to full-time teaching in the second year. In addition to the support of a mentoring teacher, Educate ME Early Fellows will receive individualized coaching and guidance from an Educate ME program coordinator throughout their experience.

The early childhood education field faces a critical workforce shortage. In Indiana, demand for early learning educators is outpacing supply, with a projected shortfall of more than 9,000 child care workers and teachers by 2027. Moreover, lack of ethnic and gender diversity in the general teaching population is even more pronounced in early learning programs. People of color represent only 36% of the early childhood workforce nationally and just 14% in Indiana. Additionally, only 7% of the more than 30,000 early childhood educators across the state are men. National research indicates children who are instructed by a teacher who looks like them, particularly in their formative years, are more likely to complete high school and enroll in college.

Educate ME Founder and CEO Blake Nathan has firsthand knowledge of the benefits of being a male educator of color in an early learning setting. He credits a Nashville, Tennessee provider who hired him as a teacher ten years ago, for an experience that had a tremendous impact on his life.

“She saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself, and offered me an opportunity to work in the infant and pre-K rooms at her center,” said Nathan. “Today, with partnership from Early Learning Indiana, we have the privilege to pour into the lives of other aspiring educators of color and give them a chance to accomplish their dream of pursuing a career in education.”

In addition to increasing diversity in early childhood education, Educate ME Early seeks to create a new talent pipeline to address workforce challenges in the field. There is a projected shortfall of 9,120 child care workers and preschool teachers in Indiana by 2027, with 16% of current early childhood education teachers indicating they plan to leave the field in the next three years. Educate ME Early is part of a broader talent development strategy by Early Learning Indiana that includes creation of a competency-based degree program to accelerate teacher preparation, a partnership with Ascend Services supported by the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation.

“There is an opportunity here not only to widen our talent pool, but to fill open positions with teachers who will help the communities of color we serve to be more represented,” said Early Learning Indiana President and CEO Maureen Weber. “It is important that families see themselves reflected in the individuals caring for their children and essential for children to have access to well-trained and highly-effective teachers.  This partnership allows us to accomplish both.”

To apply to become an early childhood educator through Educate ME Early, visit http://educatemeearly.org/. Selected applicants for the first cohort will be notified in late March.