INDIANAPOLIS — A large pool of money is about to become available for Indianapolis organizations, and non-profits are ready to dive in for their share of the funds.
The application window for $100 million in Indianapolis African American Quality of Life Initiative (IAAQLI) grant funds opened up on Tuesday.
The program is funded by an endowment from Lilly and is led by the National Urban League and Indianapolis Urban League. Recipients of the grants should, in the application's words, "provide solutions to address critical issues facing Indianapolis’ African American community."
The Flanner House on 24th and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. streets plans to apply for a grant. The house provides programs to help kids and adults succeed despite their obstacles.
"We're working with black folks to move them from positions of instability and crisis to positions of self-reliance," said Flanner House CEO Brandon Cosby.
Flanner House has received grants through the IAAQLI in the past and said the funding is key to keeping their programs at their standards.
"It's not about whether or not there are enough people who can do good work, but if there are the resources available to do the work," Cosby said.
"Grants are essential, they're the lifeblood of everything that a non-profit organization has to do," said Flanner House economic director Brent Lyle. "Where else has someone concentrated a pot of money this large in one particular city to see what can change?"
Cosby says the Flanner House used its past $250,000 grant from the IAAQLI initiative to resurrect its agriculture and farming program.
While he says the grants are helpful, he believes the Flanner House can run smoothly even if it is shut out of the grant pool.
"In a city like Indianapolis, there are so many non-profits and so many dollars that people are fighting for," Cosby said. "We can take those grant dollars as seed money and see the programming itself take off and be self-sufficient."
Organizations can apply for the grant here.
