Indiana United Ways Awarded COVID Assistance Grants

(photo courtesy of United Way of Central Indiana)

Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. is awarding nearly $17 million in grants to help Hoosier communities during the pandemic. The organization says the funding, awarded to Indiana United Ways and United Way of Central Indiana, will be used for housing, food, and child care assistance, among other needs.

The United Way of Central Indiana will receive a $1.75 million grant to address needs in Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks and Morgan counties. The funding is in addition to a previous $3.5 million grant awarded last April.

Indiana United Ways will use its $15 million grants to give support to residents in the 86 counties not covered by UWCI. Lilly Endowment says funds will be allocated to counties on a per capita basis through IUW’s statewide network of United Ways.

“One year into the pandemic, the effects of the crisis continue to reverberate in every community across Indiana,” said Ronni Kloth, vice president for community development at Lilly Endowment. “Even as the availability of vaccines is helping people imagine life after the pandemic, it is clear that the economic impact on many individuals and families and on organizations that serve them is far from over.”

Lilly Endowment says over the last year, it has approved more than $226 million in pandemic response grants.