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Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6th, 2022
Contact: Jess Rodriguez Hernandez, Vice President of Community Impact
317-474-8124 | info@proactindy.org
Lilly Endowment Inc. Awards ProAct Indy with $260,000 to Support Mentoring Youth for Post-Secondary Success
Indianapolis, IN | October 6th, 2022 — ProAct Indy has received a grant in the amount of $260,000 from Lilly Endowment Inc. This funding will strengthen and expand infrastructure to support and replicate the innovative Proactive Community Model that works alongside business leaders, educators, and community partners through progressive mentorship programs leveraging youth voice and action.
ProAct Indy is the hub for community engagement inspiring Indianapolis residents to stand in the gap for vulnerable populations and engineer upward mobility for Indy’s most vulnerable population – our youth – and empower them to actively transform their communities.
This strategic partnership between ProAct Indy and Lilly Endowment, Inc. will create Proactive Communities within each of the nine townships in Marion County by 2026.
Lilly Endowment has a long history of supporting youth development in Indianapolis and Indiana and believes local youth-serving organizations play a vital role in helping youth, their families, and their communities thrive. One aspect of this work is supporting mentoring organizations that encourage educational attainment and personal development.
“As a founder and a leader of a high-impact organization, I am grateful for this transformational investment from Lilly Endowment and the opportunity we have to continue to prioritize people over action,” said Derrin Slack, CEO, and Founder of ProAct Indy.
“We plan to strengthen our organizational effectiveness, strategically develop strong and sustainable operations, and build our capacity to better serve youth through community relationships and empowered execution with a focus on supporting the development of our youth’s future college and career plans.”
For the past 12 years, the ProAct Indy team has been working diligently alongside youth leaders, educators, and corporate partners in the community, and has experienced steady growth in the past few years, serving over 30,000 Indianapolis youth, business and community leaders, and community members.
About ProAct Indy
ProAct Indy is a nonprofit organization on a mission to stand in the gap for vulnerable populations while empowering youth to actively transform their communities. The organization works to realize a vision of our community where youth and adults alike adopt an Outward Mindset – whereas, people see others as people, not objects. In this way, it helps youth, individuals, teams, and organizations move from the default self-focus of an inward mindset to the results-focus of an outward mindset. Through training, coaching, mentoring, and a suite of implementation tools, ProAct Indy enables youth, organizations and their people to achieve results that are only possible with an outward mindset.
About Lilly Endowment
Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private philanthropic foundation based in Indianapolis. The Endowment was 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. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location.
