Girls on the Run a recipient of Lilly Endowment grant

Girls on the Run Michiana?has received a grant of $175,500?from Lilly Endowment Inc. that will help the?Girls on the Run program ensure a high-quality and life-changing experience for participants throughout Michiana.

Over the next three years, grant funding will enable Girls on the Run?Michiana?to strengthen its sustainability through capacity-building efforts to retain high-quality staff, as well as a few much-needed capital improvements.

“Through the generosity of Lilly Endowment, a fresh new curriculum, volunteer recruitment and retention initiatives, diversity and inclusion initiatives, additional program staff, and increased program marketing will enable more girls in Michiana to grow joyful, healthy, and confident.?We are incredibly grateful for?Lilly Endowment's commitment to strengthening youth programming in our community,” said Amy Cooper Collier, Executive Director of Girls on the Run Michiana.

The program is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s initiative, Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana. The aim of the competitive initiative is to help youth-serving organizations working throughout Indiana improve their abilities to promote the academic, physical, and social well-being of young people, ages five through 18.

“Indiana’s youth-serving organizations are crucial to the healthy development of children and youth across the state,”?said Ted Maple, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for education. “The challenges these organizations have faced in meeting the needs of young people in recent years have made their work increasingly difficult. Lilly Endowment is pleased to support their efforts to strengthen programs and serve more youth more effectively.”

Girls on the Run Michiana?is one of 187 organizations receiving grants through Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana.

About Lilly Endowment Inc.

Lilly Endowment Inc. is a private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff, and location. Although the Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, it maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.