The Christian Theological Seminary Faith & Action Project awards grants totaling $115,000 to 5 efforts aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty in Indianapolis.

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, UNITED STATES, August 6, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Christian Theological Seminary Faith & Action Project has awarded grants totaling $115,000 to five efforts aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty in Indianapolis.

The 2024 grant recipients follow:

$15,000 to First Baptist Church of Indianapolis and First Baptist Athletics to provide program scholarships and community outreach for underserved children and communities in Washington Township. Funds will help to ensure a lack of resources does not block any child from participating in First Baptist’s sports outreach and support a community job fair connecting business owners with families in need of employment. The job fair is modeled on an earlier one that helped many members of the Burmese refugee community find full-time positions that pay well and offer comprehensive benefits.

$35,000 to Brookside Community Development Corporation for the launch of the Secure Housing and Breaking the Poverty Cycle initiative. Recognizing housing insecurity’s role in perpetuating poverty, the initiative will help families with transitional housing while also providing financial literacy services, housing maintenance and stabilization assistance including utility subsidies, and financial support to offset unexpected expenses. Workshops will help families manage the costs and requirements of long-term housing while also providing guidance with budgeting, credit management, and more.

$15,000 to Central Indiana Youth for Christ for its Community Ministries programs that help participants with academic, spiritual, and personal goal-setting, engage participants in group and/or one-on-one therapy sessions, and enroll participants in financial literacy training. Some of the funds will support City Life Wheels, which uses donated vehicles to teach young people basic automotive maintenance and repair along with life-skills training. Other funds will focus on parent support and instruction with the goal of creating more stable, secure families.

$25,000 to Mapleton Fall Creek Development Corporation to support its emergency owner-occupied home repair program. Without the means to make essential repairs to older houses, many long-term residents might be forced to sell their homes or let them fall into critical disrepair. The program gives them access to resources for critical repairs in a timely manner, bypassing typical bureaucratic delays with rapid, low-barrier funding options. The program not only allows the residents to stay in their homes, but also helps them maintain home equity and prevents the creation of a neglected, troubled property.

$25,000 to CICOA Aging & In-Home Solutions for its Social Care Hub, which will leverage relationships older residents have with their churches to close care gaps in underserved communities. CICOA will embed a staff member to hold office hours in three partner faith communities (St. Mark Catholic Church, Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, and Living Word Missionary Baptist Church) to help older adults and their families access community services and resources that allow them to remain independent, safe, and healthy in their own homes.

“The initiatives receiving grants this year expose the truth that poverty affects a wide range of people – people of all ages, in various neighborhoods and with diverse ethnicities and backgrounds,” said Faith & Action Director Lindsey Nell Rabinowitch. “Tackling such a multifaceted problem requires scalable, sustainable, and compassionate efforts, and we are humbled to support those kinds of initiatives with this year’s grants.”

Since its inception in 2016, the Faith & Action Project has been a driving force in the fight against poverty in Indianapolis. With annual/ongoing support by the Mike and Sue Smith Family Fund and the Petticrew Foundation, the project has become a cornerstone of community efforts to reduce poverty. In addition to providing grants, the Faith & Action Project holds communitywide events and attracts national poverty experts to Central Indiana.

The Faith & Action Project will continue its highlight solutions to poverty with its Faith & Action Fall Event, which will focus on how we can leverage education and networks of support to for youth to obtain a better future. Individuals, congregations, and organizations from across Central Indiana will join on November 12 at 7:00 PM for the Faith & Action Fall Event at CTS, featuring Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglass Haynes III and local leaders as they share insights, effective approaches, and best practices on how faith communities and others can partner with schools to play a critical role in providing layers of support for youth in their journey for educational attainment and overall wellbeing.

About the Faith & Action Project
The Christian Theological Seminary Faith & Action Project is dedicated to helping to spark a revolution of hope by leveraging resources of communities of faith to connect, inspire, and empower lasting solutions for people confronting poverty. Through annual public events and grants, the Faith & Action Project seeks to ignite a solution-oriented movement for inclusive well-being in our community.

About Christian Theological Seminary
Christian Theological Seminary (CTS) is a fully accredited ecumenical graduate school open to all with historic roots in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). CTS offers master and doctoral degree programs through its School of Theology and School of Counseling, accessible mental health services through the Counseling Center, and collaboration to mitigate poverty and address systemic social justice issues through the Faith & Action Project.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Lindsey Nell Rabinowitch, 317-931-2336

Lindsey Nell Rabinowitch
Faith & Action Project, Christian Theological Seminary
+1 317-931-2336
email us here

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