Faith & Action Grants Fuel Initiatives Providing Pathways Out of Poverty

In a metropolitan area experiencing explosive growth, hosting high-profile events, and showing other signs of ongoing prosperity, it would be easy for many residents to forget the poverty that exists around them.

But more than a third of Central Indiana individuals and families who live in poverty or in “ALICE” (Asset-Limited, Income Constrained and Employed) households don’t have the luxury of forgetting about poverty. Nor do the quarter of Marion County residents relying on some form of food assistance, or the one in five Hoosier children who are food insecure.

Fortunately, a number of area organizations have dedicated themselves not just to remembering those who live with poverty every day but to walking alongside them as they strive to emerge from poverty.

When it was founded in 2015, the Faith & Action Project recognized that many organizations already were doing extraordinary work to help the community overcome poverty, but it also saw that much of that work was duplicative and conducted in silos. In response, the Project sought to identify those efforts with the biggest potential for impact and then connect, amplify, and accelerate their work by providing catalytic grants.

This year, the grant selection committee awarded funds to organizations that it felt could provide the most reliable pathways out of poverty, that showed evidence of sustainability and scalability, that forged effective collaborations, and that have faith as a core component. With this perspective as a foundation, for 2024 the Faith & Action Project has awarded $115,000 in grants to five efforts:

• Investing in Youth and Families: $15,000 to First Baptist Church of Indianapolis and First Baptist Athletics to provide program scholarships and community outreach for underserved children and communities in Washington Township. Funds will help to ensure a lack of resources does not block any child from participating in First Baptist’s sports outreach and support a community job fair connecting business owners with families in need of employment. The job fair is modeled on an earlier one that helped many members of the Burmese refugee community find full-time positions that pay well and offer comprehensive benefits.
• Creating Safe and Stable Housing for Pathways out of Poverty: $35,000 to Brookside Community Development Corporation for the launch of the Secure Housing and Breaking the Poverty Cycle initiative. Recognizing housing insecurity’s role in perpetuating poverty, the initiative will help families with transitional housing while also providing financial literacy services, housing maintenance and stabilization assistance including utility subsidies, and financial support to offset unexpected expenses. Workshops will help families manage the costs and requirements of long-term housing while also providing guidance with budgeting, credit management, and more.
• Nurturing Stability and Job Opportunities for Youth: $15,000 to Central Indiana Youth for Christ for its Community Ministries programs that help participants with academic, spiritual, and personal goal-setting, engage participants in group and/or one-on-one therapy sessions, and enroll participants in financial literacy training. Some of the funds will support City Life Wheels, which uses donated vehicles to teach young people basic automotive maintenance and repair along with life-skills training. Other funds will focus on parent support and instruction with the goal of creating more stable, secure families.
• Preserving Homes, Preserving Communities: $25,000 to Mapleton Fall Creek Development Corporation to support its emergency owner-occupied home repair program. Without the means to make essential repairs to older houses, many long-term residents might be forced to sell their homes or let them fall into critical disrepair. The program gives them access to resources for critical repairs in a timely manner, bypassing typical bureaucratic delays with rapid, low-barrier funding options. The program not only allows the residents to stay in their homes, but also helps them maintain home equity and prevents the creation of a neglected, troubled property.
• Creating Greater Access for Health and Well-being for Seniors: $25,000 to CICOA Aging & In-Home Solutions for its Social Care Hub, which will leverage relationships older residents have with their churches to close care gaps in underserved communities. CICOA will embed a staff member to hold office hours in three partner faith communities (St. Mark Catholic Church, Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, and Living Word Missionary Baptist Church) to help older adults and their families access community services and resources that allow them to remain independent, safe, and healthy in their own homes.

“The initiatives receiving grants this year expose the truth that poverty affects a wide range of people – people of all ages, in various neighborhoods and with diverse ethnicities and backgrounds,” said Faith & Action Director Lindsey Nell Rabinowitch. “Tackling such a multifaceted problem requires collaborative, ambitious, and compassionate efforts, and we are humbled to support those kinds of initiatives with this year’s grants.”

Looking ahead, the Faith & Action Project will continue to spotlight effective solutions to poverty with its upcoming Faith & Action Fall Event. Scheduled for November 12 at 7:00 PM at CTS, this event will focus on leveraging education and support networks to improve outcomes for youth. The event will feature Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III and local leaders, who will share insights and best practices on how faith communities and other organizations can partner with schools to support youth in their journey toward educational attainment and overall well-being.