Indiana Nonprofits Awarded Duke Energy Grants

The utility's Indiana headquarters is in Plainfield.

Plainfield-based Duke Energy Indiana says nearly two dozen nonprofits throughout the state will benefit from $315,000 in grants from the Duke Energy Foundation. The funding aims to support initiatives that the utility says will enhance the regions where customers live, work and play.

Duke Energy Indiana President Melody Birmingham-Byrd says the community impact grants will support the nonprofits "as they bring life, health and vitality to their communities." A total of 21 nonprofits will share in the grant funding, including:

• Food Finders Food Bank Inc. (Howard County) – $50,000 to provide additional food during the high-need holiday season
• Indiana Chamber of Commerce Foundation Inc. –  $50,000 to advance workforce development goals
• Indiana Symphony Society Inc. – $30,000 to support Discovery Concerts, offered to third- through sixth-grade students
• Indiana Special Olympics Inc. – $20,000 to support the Olympic Town summer games for contestants with intellectual disabilities
• Indiana University Southeast – $17,500 to help build nonprofit capacity in Southern Indiana through a professional development conference and on-site consulting
• Heart of Rushville (Rush County) – $16,500 to create a park in memory of Carol Jenkins-Davis, a young woman who lost her life due to a racially motivated crime
• Arts Council of Southern Indiana – $10,000 to help fund creation of Art on Wheels, a mobile van that will travel in Clark, Harrison and Floyd counties, delivering interactive art experiences to children under age 18
• YMCAs of the Wabash Valley – $15,000 to support a youth food delivery program, helping feed approximately 400 school-age children during the two-week winter holiday break
• Arts and Cultural Council (Decatur County) – $12,000 for the Rebekah Park amphitheater, providing a permanent location for arts and cultural events
• Sculpture Trails Outdoor Museum (Greene County) – $12,000 for a traveling foundry program to support STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) programs