Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Competitive. Compelling. Community.
Three key words that if handled correctly could mean $5 million of educational programs to the Kosciusko County area.
The offer of a $5 million grant is part of CAPE, Community Alliances to Promote Education, offered by Lilly Endowment Inc.
The reasoning behind CAPE, said Bill Goodwin, vice president for community development at Lilly Endowment Inc. Tuesday, is the "deplorable state of education in Indiana."
Goodwin quoted statistics, such as 45 percent of Indiana 10th graders don't pass the graduating exam, Indiana is 45th in SAT scores and 50th in the nation in the proportion of the labor force employed in professional specialty occupations and the only state showing a decline in professional jobs.
CAPE is a program Lilly Endowment Inc. is offering through community foundations, such as the Kosciusko County Foundation, to encourage innovation and collaboration in communities.
It's an experimental program, Goodwin said. "We don't know what to expect. In view of the deplorable educational situation in Indiana, we thought it was worth it to try CAPE."
The program will be highly competitive, said Sara Cobb, vice president for education at Lilly Endowment Inc., meaning Lilly will read the proposals and choose the best ones based on a certain set of predetermined criteria.
Fifteen awards of $50,000 each will be given to community foundations that make it through the first phase. The $50,000 is a planning grant, "to support the identification, research and planning of programs to improve its residents' educational attainment," according to Lilly Endowment literature.
Of those 15 planning grants, Lilly Endowment Inc. will chose up to seven finalists, who will receive as much as $5 million (the amount may be less).
Crucial to any proposed program, Cobb said, is that it must meet three requirements: Is the need the program aims to fill the most compelling need in the community? Is it the best use of the initiative funds? And is it the best solution to meet that need?
The proposal also must identify the most pressing educational needs in the community, including the entire population and age spectrum. And it must be proposed only if existing educational programs cannot address the problem, Cobb said.
She also said part of the $5 million grant is expected to go into an endowment that will keep the program going after the three-year period of the grant.
Planning grant applications are due Jan. 15, and the formal proposals are due Sept. 15.
