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October 2020 Updates

Hello Wayne County!

Fall is here, finally. Get out and enjoy the fall colors, go on a hike with family, and make some memories. Remember to stay safe and social distance. This month’s Forward Wayne County newsletter continues our theme on our two main pillars: Our People and Our Community. Please share with your family, friends, and colleagues.

OUR COMMUNITY

Main Street, Neighborhood NICE! Program

Forward Wayne County received a sizeable Lilly Endowment grant to work with our county neighborhoods and Main Street organizations. Both programs will work toward addressing community needs, strengthening partnerships, and collaborating on projects. We are excited to get this moving forward. Our Main Street Coalition kickoff meeting is scheduled for next month. The Pal-Item had a great article about this.

Wayne County Foundation Challenge Match

The Wayne County Foundation Challenge Match starts on Monday, November 2^nd and runs through November 10^th. This is an opportunity for 49 of our county organizations to raise unrestricted operating dollars. They have financial needs due to COVID and not being able to do their typical fundraising activities in 2020. Consider making some charitable contributions to our county organizations that are participating.

AVAILABLE GRANTS

CARES About Child Care Grant

Indiana CARES About Child Care grants are designed to reimburse Indiana child care providers with COVID-19 related needs. Grants are also available for emergency expenses deemed necessary to reopen classrooms temporarily shut down due to a positive COVID-19 case.

IHCDA Rental Assistance Grant
The program can provide eligible renters with up to 6 months in rental assistance to help cover past due and ongoing monthly rent payments.

OUR PEOPLE

Workforce Development- Employability Coalition

As part of the Lilly Endowment grant, Forward Wayne County also received some dollars to work on a career awareness campaign and to look at some career exploration partnerships within the county that our Employability Coalition has been working on. They have been looking at high-wage, high-demand careers in Wayne County. Look for this in 2021.

Wayne County Lilly Endowment Community Scholar Finalists

The Wayne County Foundation announced the five finalists for the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship program. Two recipients will be announced in December. One of the primary purposes of the program is to help raise the level of educational attainment in Indiana. We stand with this as we look at helping Wayne County raise its education levels.

Students- It's FAFSA Time

We are encouraging all of our high school seniors to apply early for the FAFSA for more consideration of grants and programs. Getting our students into colleges and completing helps us move closer to our educational attainment goal of 35 percent of our county having an Associate degree or higher. And remember, the FAFSA is free. If you are asked to pay, it is a scam.

Missed Our Blogs?

October had some good blog articles. Click on the title to read:

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