Indiana Youth Programs on Campus (IYPC) is a new Lilly Endowment initiative designed to help Indiana colleges and universities in their efforts to create new or expand and enhance existing high-quality, on-campus programs for Hoosier youth, ages 5 – 18. Indiana public and private colleges and universities that have a physical campus in the state are eligible to participate. As of September 2022, the Endowment had awarded program implementation grants to 35 Indiana colleges and universities.
Background
Colleges and universities are facing changing demographics and recent and expected declines in the numbers of college-going students. In recent years the Endowment has observed that colleges and universities are responding to these challenges by collaborating with K-12 schools, community-based youth programs and other organizations that serve potential prospective college students. Furthermore, through on-campus activities and outreach efforts, Indiana higher education institutions are striving to recruit and educate more students of color, first generation college students, and students from families with limited resources. These students have been traditionally underserved by higher education, and in the coming years they are expected to represent an increasingly larger proportion of college-age Hoosiers.
IYPC is intended, among other things, to help address Indiana’s unacceptably low rankings in the percentage of its adult population with a bachelor’s degree or a meaningful postsecondary credential and to help increase the higher education enrollment and success of traditionally underserved students. Recent declines in college enrollment of Indiana’s high school graduates (from 65 percent in 2015 to 59 percent in 2019 according to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education) make these challenges even more compelling.
Goals
Through IYPC, the Endowment is seeking to support programs on Indiana college and university campuses that help young people further explore their interests, learn new skills and envision a future for themselves in college. Goals of the initiative are to:
- Increase opportunities for Indiana youth to participate in learning experiences on college campuses that will expose those youth to Indiana’s higher education institutions while providing them with experiences that will, among other things, help prepare them for success in college and later life.
- Increase the numbers of Indiana youth who successfully attend Indiana colleges and universities and obtain valuable postsecondary degrees and credentials and thereby help strengthen the institutions and improve the education levels of Indiana residents.
Resources
As part of IYPC, the Endowment has provided funding to the American Camp Association (ACA), a national organization that establishes quality standards for hundreds of camps across the country and offers a variety of services to camp providers, including colleges and universities. ACA will offer specialized resources, training and technical assistance, convenings, consultation and other services customized for Indiana’s colleges and universities that choose to participate in IYPC. More information about ACA can be found at acacamps.org.