More Information on the 2022 Change Maker Grant Finalists

On June 14, 2022, 5:00pm, we will present The 17th Annual Awards Celebration with presentations by the 2022 Grant Finalists. You can read about their grant proposals below. Following their presentations, the 2022 Members will vote, and once those votes are counted we will announce the 2022 Change-Maker! This event is open to nonmembers and guests. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets. You can also visit the Annual Celebration page to learn more about the grants and the event.

Arts, Culture & Preservation Focus Area Finalist

Phalen Leadership Academies: Phalen Cultural Center

Phalen Leadership Academies, a transformative leader in education, believes strongly in providing support to our scholars, their families, and the community. The Phalen Cultural Center is a gathering place founded on the belief that the arts have the potential to educate, engage, inspire, and empower the Far Eastside of Indianapolis and surrounding areas. The Center embraces the premise that the arts can build bridges between diverse cultures, speak to the trauma of peoples’ lives, revive an understanding of the past, and give hope for the future. Programs are interactive, dynamic, multicultural, and designed to accommodate diverse performances and populations.

Education Focus Area Finalist

Paws & Think: Paws to Read

Paws & Think helps 45,000 individuals annually through our Therapy Dog programs. The Paws to Read program and new Impact 100 Training Center will expand our impact on kids with social-emotional learning (SEL) concerns and who have experienced trauma, including the impact of COVID. Paws to Read strengthens literacy skills and creates positive, long-term education outcomes, while encouraging a love of reading. More than mentorship, Paws to Read measurably improves a child’s reading performance each year. To achieve our goals, the Impact 100 Training Center is needed to increase the number of therapy teams trained using our proven methods.

Environment & Animal Welfare Focus Area Finalist

FACE Low-Cost Animal Clinic: Spay Day

FACE Low-Cost Animal Clinic provides affordable spay/neuter, vaccination, and wellness services for the Indianapolis community to prevent the unnecessary euthanasia of dogs and cats. Our community cat program focuses on Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) to humanely reduce the number of kittens born in our city’s neighborhoods each year, to reduce the overcrowding and euthanasia in area shelters. FACE will devote ten days per year to holding high-volume spay/neuter clinics for community cats called Spay Days. Together we can save lives and improve health for all our city’s residents.

Family Focus Area Finalist

You Yes You!: Building Relationships Through Incarceration

Bringing children inside prisons to spend time with their father changes the lives of the whole family. Using the power of relationships, YYY connects incarcerated fathers with their children through activities including a father daughter dance and Halloween party at Putnamville and Plainfield Correctional Facilities. The only organization of its kind in Indiana, YYY works with the Indiana Department of Correction to create pre-release plans for each father to increase their chance of a successful return to their family. YYY is ready to expand to Pendleton Correctional Facility, hire a program coordinator, and increase marketing inside facilities and the community.

Health and Wellness Focus Area Finalist

NeuroHope of Indiana: Impact 100 Wellness Center and Path to Independence Program

Spinal cord injury, brain injury, and stroke change lives in the blink of an eye. Recovery takes months or years, but time in insurance-covered rehabilitation is limited to weeks. NeuroHope makes long-term care an affordable reality. With your support, our clinic will focus on the health of patients past therapy. The “Impact 100 Wellness Center” will be the first fully adaptive, wheelchair accessible fitness center in Indianapolis. It will feature specialized equipment, supervised access, and daily group fitness classes. When combined with our existing therapy services, this will create a continuum of care unlike any in the community.