Client Story

Out-of-School-Time Teens are at the heart of the Indiana Parenting Institute of St. Joseph County (IPISJC), which serves over 300 high school students in northwest Indiana—focusing primarily on college and career readiness. Most participants come from the South Bend Community School Corporation, where all five high schools have a Free and Reduced-Price Lunch rate above 50%. Three of these schools do not meet federal rating standards, and two others are only “approaching expectations.” Consequently, these at-risk teens often lack the preparation needed to address the critical workforce demands of St. Joseph County.

As in most communities, there are “hiring” signs all over St. Joseph County post-COVID-19 and the challenge to hire skilled workers is prevalent. The county is ranked 13th in the state for unemployment.

IPISJC had a desire to focus programming on preparing students for post-high school opportunities. They wanted to better provide partnerships that allow students exposure to job training and certifications right after high school as well as college credit and financial aid assistance for those students who want to further their education. All of this was possible with more dollars.

IPISJC hired Transform Consulting Group to write and submit three major grants that were part of the post-COVID-19 relief efforts across the state. These grants resulted in over $1 million dollars of funding that allow IPISJC to build capacity in a number of ways:

• Provide financial incentives for students’ participation
• Invest in research-based curriculum
• Strengthen community partnerships and formalize opportunities to engage local employers with teens served in out-of-school-time programs
• Hire program staff to meet demands of more students served
• Provide training and support to staff to build capacity and diversify funds

With additional dollars, our team was then able to create a fund development plan that would help IPISJC diversify their funding and begin more formally tapping into donors and local partners. We first worked with staff to support overall marketing strategies to create simple messaging that could be used to communicate IPISJC’s impact in all fundraising efforts. We completed an audit of the organization’s funding and a 10-year fund development plan with clear goals for diversifying and increasing funding. We trained staff in implementing the plan and developed a case statement that could be used to secure funding. We developed processes and templates to support all ongoing fundraising efforts.