Lilly Endowment Inc. is launching the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative, an effort to help theological schools in the United States and Canada strengthen their ability to prepare pastoral leaders for Christian churches into the future.

Elyssa Campodonico-Barr and Leah Seigel are joining the staff of Lilly Endowment as program directors in community development. In their grantmaking roles both women will help the Endowment further its efforts to enhance the quality of life in Indianapolis and in Indiana and sup

New grants totaling $17.2 million will help 38 organizations working to mitigate the adverse human and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Marion County. This brings the total support provided by Lilly Endowment for COVID-related needs since the pandemic began to nearly $208 million.

Beginning in January, Early Learning Indiana will provide nearly $12 million in grants to child care programs statewide. The effort is made possible through the combination of a new $10.4 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to Early Learning Indiana and funds remaining from a previous Lilly Endowment grant made in May 2020.

With support from a Lilly Endowment grant, 16 Tech Community Corporation announced the selection of a team to design a signature bridge that will connect the 16 Tech Innovation District to Indianapolis’ nationally ranked research corridor and serve as an architectural centerpiece for the city.

Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded 18 grants to museums and other cultural institutions across the United States to develop exhibitions and education programs that fairly and accurately portray the role of religion in the U.S. and around the world.

The United Service Organizations, whose mission is to strengthen America's military service members by keeping them connected to family, home and country, has been awarded a $3 million grant to fund the Combat COVID-19 Initiative.

A $2.8 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to the Indy Chamber Foundation will support the five-year Project Amplify initiative, a digital first step for potential residents to “see themselves” in the Indianapolis region.

Grants are supporting 11 community foundations as they embark on large-scale leadership efforts. The grants – totaling more than $33 million – are being made through the seventh phase of the Endowment’s Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow, known as GIFT VII.

Lilly Endowment is making nearly $25 million in grants to 297 youth-serving organizations working in Indiana to help them face challenges caused by COVID-19 through the Youth Program Resilience Fund.

Friends of the National World War II Memorial has received a $2 million grant to add President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s D-Day Prayer to the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C., restore the “Circle of Remembrance," and develop interpretative programming.

Johnny Pryor is joining Lilly Endowment’s staff as a program director in the education division. Pryor comes to the Endowment from an extensive career in higher education during which he has led multi-faceted programs designed to help students succeed.