Community Foundation of St Joseph County

Our largest program area is Youth and Education. The 21st Century Scholar Success Initiative has been our primary focus. A far-reaching partnership that includes school corporations, higher education, social service providers and workforce development organizations, all working together to support our county's current and future 21st Century Scholars. We're seeing strong gains from this work; with an increase in the number of enrolled Scholars and the number who complete the program requirements. We continue to invest in early childhood education; providing HighScope traning, mentoring, and materials to hundreds of local teachers in our Head Start program and dozens of other early childhood education centers. We continue to train elementary school teachers in the nationally recognized Responsive Classroom program. We sponsor the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program locally, providing nearly 10,000 children under the age 5 with a free beautiful new book each month. We hold more than 65 scholarship funds that grant out close to $1 million annually. Through the $3.8 million we invested in this area, we hope to build a stronger future for our community by ensuring our youngest members grow into informed, involved citizens.

Our third largest program area is Arts & Culture. We believe that the arts have the power to bring people together, fostering appreciation and respect for the diversity and beauty of the human experience. The past two years have been particularly difficult for our arts organizations as most, unable to perform because of COVID restrictions, saw their revenue streams dry up overnight. Now, even though organizations have returned to more "normal" activities, audience numbers have yet to rebound to their pre-pandemic highs. Our grants provided much needed support to many arts and culture organizations, including the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, South Bend Civic Theatre, the History Museum, Southold Dance Theater, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association, and the South Bend Museum of Art. In total, we awarded more than $2.5 million in support of the arts, showing our commitment to the tremendous creative talent of our communtiy.

Our second largest program area is Health and Human Services. The COVID-19 crisis continues to affect our area social service agencies; the need for services increased, staff members were often limited by quarantines, health concerns for staff, and other related issues. Our grant funding supports organizations that focus on food security, such as the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, as well as many smaller food pantries based at community nonprofits; organizations that provide temporary housing assistance, such as the Center for the Homeless, Hope Ministries, and St. Margaret's House; organizations that serve specific vulnerable communities, such as REAL Services, LOGAN, and the CASIE Center, and dozens of other organizations that, through their good work, make our community a better place to live. This year, we awarded more than $3.3 million to support our local social service agencies. We know that our community is only as strong as its individual components, and through these efforts, we hope to ensure that every one is safe, healty, and well served.

Community Development, Parks, Religious