Community Impact Report

Understanding Our Community

GIFT VII planning grants supported a comprehensive planning process. This allowed the Community Foundation Alliance to utilize these grant dollars to contract with Chmura to collect and compile data, and Thomas P. Miller & Associates (TPMA) to lead the planning process.

For this process, the nine-county affiliates were grouped based on geographic proximity, as well as factors such as the overlap of industry and services, common time zones, and work travel patterns. Learn more about Region B which includes Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, and Warrick counties.

Review Other Counties

Community Indicator Report

Key Development Indicators

For each subregion, Chmura identified 46 meaningful development indicators, conforming to four primary categories.

Demographics

Economics

Human Capital

Quality of Place

Determining Top Priorities

TPMA reviewed all data collected by Chmura, analyzed additional data, and explored basic demographic trends for each county using information from the U.S. Census Bureau.

TPMA then identified five potential priority areas of need and opportunity for each subregion, to be further prioritized through a series of Community Forums that helped identify the county specific issues and opportunities

Access and Affordable Healthcare

Cycle of Poverty

Family Self Sufficiency

Obesity

Mental Health & Substance Abuse

Learn more
These two topics can be interconnected, but not always
- Struggle to access care
- Cost for treatment is a barrier
- Shortage of Mental Health providers
- Alcohol, opiod, and meth abuse or dependency
- Drug addicts have unmet healthcare needs because mental health issues are not addressed
- Mental Health Care providers are strained
- Need for more addiction counselors
- Good employment opportunities play a role in helping people with substance use disorders seek the help they need
- There is also a need for Primary Care Physicians

Community Forums

Structure

The Community Leader Forums began the process of narrowing to a single topic area that would be addressed in the Lilly Endowment GIFT VII Implementation Grant proposal. Forum participants included local leaders of nonprofit organizations, municipal and elected officials, business and industry leaders, and active community philanthropists. Forums were conducted with an initial overview of the background research and an explanation of how the top five topics were chosen. In addition, participants added the following topics:

Broadband
Child Abuse & Neglect
Connectivity/Transportation
Education
Housing
Prevention
Workforce Development

Participants prioritized topics and held active discussions about what they have observed about the specific topic. Upon completion, TPMA facilitated Regional Board Forums for each subregion to further narrow the topics. These forums followed a similar process to ensure consistency.

Forum Findings

Cycle of Poverty

Mental Health & Substance Abuse

During the forums, several areas of improvement were documented. With regards to Mental Health & Substance Abuse, concerns highlighted were: lack of accessible services and care, easy access to prescription meds, and lack of education targeting prevention. With regards to The Cycle of Poverty, a few key concerns were discussed: affordable quality housing, transportation, and awareness of services.

Leading Change

Overview

Through an active stakeholder engagement process including data and document review, community leader forums, and issue-specific stakeholder meetings, the Posey County Community Foundation selected the cycle of poverty as its top priority to address with GIFT VII Implementation Grant funds to align with existing work in the community. Community leaders discussed the need to increase education, access to financial capital, and connections of those living in poverty to help disrupt the cycle of poverty.

With GIFT VII Implementation Grant monies, the Posey County Community will provide funding for several programs/projects to address the cycle of poverty. Funding will support:

1. Implementation of the GAIN Initiative at Family Matters of Posey County to increase relationships for individuals living in poverty, increase access to resources, and provide training to increase financial self-sufficiency;

2. Professional development for faculty and staff in Posey County school districts on effective interaction with students who are living in poverty presented by Dr. Ruby Payne, a leading expert in the culture of poverty and its relation to education;

3. Marketing dollars for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Posey County to help attract more volunteers to be matched with children in the program; and

4. Three afterschool programs (Making Gigantic Improvement in Choices (MAGIC), Thrive, Mt. Vernon Parks and Recreation Tutoring Program) aimed at providing students with mentoring, tutoring, and educational field trip opportunities.

Implementation Grant Recipient

Family Matters of Posey County
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Thrive Afterschool Program
Mt. Vernon Parks and Recreation Department Tutoring Program
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church MAGIC Afterschool Program

Collaborating Organizations

Bethel Township Trustee
Family Matters of Posey County
Neighbor to Neighbor Program
Posey County Habitat for Humanity
Willow Tree of Posey County

Activity Update

March 2023

During the previous six-month reporting period, Big Brothers Big Sisters hired a videographer to create recruitment videos and targeted Posey County with their marketing efforts.

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church is planning a field trip for their MAGIC After School Program.

Thrive Afterschool added a Literacy Coordinator and a therapy dog and purchased a school bus. Unfortunately, the GAIN Initiative could not begin the second cohort due to a lack of qualified participants.
September 2022

During this last six-month reporting period, 30 students in the MAGIC After School Program went on an all-day field trip to tour a local corporation and learn about manufacturing. This tour focused on skills necessary for successful employment as an adult, such as the importance of receiving a good education and developing good problem-solving, communication, and math skills. Since the field trip, the MAGIC Program educators have stated that students show a new eagerness to complete homework and have a different perception of learning. The program continues to reinforce the importance of education in meeting life goals.

The Thrive after-school program, currently serving 55 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, was able to hire three part-time staff members as well as provide summer programming for the first time in 2022. For students in the program who have experienced academic or behavioral difficulties, program educators have seen student improvement over the last six months in the areas of homework completion, accepting responsibility for their actions, and social behaviors.

Family Matters of Posey County completed the first GAIN Initiative cohort in June 2021, with six individuals successfully graduating. Currently, four individuals remain in the program from the first cohort and are currently working with mentors to learn more about home ownership, the steps in purchasing a home, and the importance of maintaining a home.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwestern Indiana implemented a successful billboard campaign during the first quarter of 2022. This billboard campaign resulted in the organization receiving several inquiries about volunteering and attributed close to 20 new volunteers as a direct result of the campaign. The organization is currently developing a new recruitment plan for the end of 2022 / beginning of 2023 that will utilize a videographer to capture stories from their mentors and mentees.
March 2022

Due to COVID restrictions still in place during the 4th quarter of 2022, several programs have not begun implementation, but remain dedicated to supporting families in the county.

The MAGIC After School Program continues to be on hold; however, the program plans to resume on March 29, 2022 and will host fifteen sessions before the end of the 2021-2022 school year. The program currently has twenty-two students enrolled and is excited to be planning an end-of-year field trip. In August 2022, they plan to re-start the program to full capacity.

Family Matters held their first session of GAIN Initiative classes. Members were pleased with their progress, and look forward to the "continuation" phase that will pair them up with local "mentors" in areas of home buying and increased financial stability. The group decided that they would like to be more involved with local government, so hope to plan a visit to a city council meeting. This will help the class members realize that they are a part of their community, and need to stay involved.

The Thrive program provides homework assistance, literacy and math tutoring and curriculum, structured programming in STEM and fine arts, and an evidence-based social-emotional learning curriculum for children ages kindergarten through eighth grade. The program has been able to hire five new staff members and has increased its student participation, with hopes of growing the number of participants.
September 2021

During the summer of 2021, the Community Foundation offered continued professional development for faculty and staff in the Posey County school districts by welcoming Dr. Ruby Payne, author and founder of aha! Process. Dr. Payne’s Emotional Poverty workshop, addressed Posey County educators on effective interaction with students who are living in poverty.

The group was comprised of teachers from all grade levels, administrators, and retired educators. The feedback from these events has been very positive and many of the attendees stated that they would utilize techniques learned to address children living in poverty differently in their classrooms.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters utilized part of their funding by placing a billboard East of Mt. Vernon, Indiana, in hopes to increase the number of volunteers for children wishing to participate in their program in Posey County.

Family Matters was able to complete their first series of GAIN Initiative classes with six individuals attending and completing the cohort. These classes met weekly from March 2021 through graduation in June 2021.

The GAIN facilitator felt that the material/curriculum was presented to the members in a reasonable way. This cohort has now moved into the “continuation” phase of the initiative and the second cohort is planning to convene March 2022.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has stalled several programs, we remain hopeful that our continued efforts to fund programs to support and educate youth and families will make a positive and lasting impact on the lives of those living in poverty.
March 2021

Although the COVID-19 pandemic had stalled our initiative due to gathering and travel restrictions, programming has begun with the implementation of the GAIN Initiative at Family Matters of Posey County, and Dr. Ruby Payne’s Emotional Poverty presentation to school districts scheduled for July 28, 2021. Other projects and programs are anticipated to begin with the start of the 2021-22 school year.