Grants support youth-focused projects

The Dekko Foundation, a private family foundation located in Kendallville, IN, with a mission of fostering economic freedom through education, awarded more than $980,000 in grants and pledges to 16 youth-serving organizations during its most recent round of grantmaking.

The foundation, started in 1981 by the late businessman and philanthropist Chester E. Dekko, invests in projects and programs that help build knowledge, skills, and character in children and young people from birth through age 18 so they can be self-sufficient and grow up to be economically free.

Its grantmaking is concentrated within 13 counties in four states — Indiana, Iowa, Alabama, and Minnesota — where Mr. Dekko had business or personal interests.

Organizations receiving grants and pledges were:

• Lost Sparrows, Inc. (Winona Lake, IN): $20,000 to support the organization’s annual conference for youth workers and caregivers where they learn practices and strategies that contribute to their understanding of the healthy development of young people.
• Murray Community School District (Murray, IA): $1,500 to support updating a high school classroom so it better meets the learning needs of students.
• Syracuse-Wawasee Park Foundation (Syracuse, IN): $100,000 to support the extension of the Syracuse-Wawasee Trail so students can engage in outdoor recreation and have a safe route to Wawasee Middle School.
• Youth for Christ of Northern Indiana, Inc. (Fort Wayne, IN): $75,000 to support caring adults building authentic relationships with middle and high school students that enrich their mental, spiritual, and social well-being.
• Athens City Schools (Athens, AL): $30,000 to support science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) opportunities at the school so that students building problem-solving, collaboration, leadership, teamwork, and other skills.
• Grace College (Winona Lake): $40,000 to support educational programs for preschool through sixth-grade students that enhance their understanding of natural environments, aquatic life, and career opportunities.
• Mount Ayr Community Schools (Mount Ayr, IA): $500,000 to support building and equipping a career technical education academy for high school students from Mount Ayr and surrounding communities so they can gain workforce-ready skills and be better prepared for their next steps after graduation.
• Norman County East Schools (Twin Valley, MN): $7,000 to support updating science equipment that adds to students’ learning and engagement in the classroom.
• Shore Church, Inc./Rainbow Years Learning Center (Shipshewana, IN): $800 to support staff members’ professional development that contributes to their work with young people.
• Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation (Akron, IN): $10,000 to support high school students’ understanding of photography so they can express themselves creatively and build skills that can lead to a career or starting their own business.
• Warsaw Community Schools (Warsaw, IN): $21,710 to support the leadership development of elementary students as well as equipping educators with principles and strategies that elevate their work.
• Westview School Corporation (Topeka, IN): $13,000 to support more extracurricular opportunities for junior and senior high school students through esports.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County (Goshen, IN): $5,000 to support after-school programs in Angola, IN, and Ligonier, IN, so elementary students have a safe place to participate in activities, get homework help, and engage with caring adults.
• East Noble Show Choir Boosters, Inc. (Kendallville, IN): $7,500 to support choir members’ growing confidence in their music and performance skills as well as what they are capable of achieving.
• GO Foundation (LaGrange, IN): $150,000 to support the opening of a new childcare center for children ages 0-5 that contributes their healthy development and provides a needed option in the community for parents.
• Greater Warsaw Cooperative Preschool, Inc. (Warsaw): $2,000 to support an additional classroom at the school that can help children develop foundational skills during their formative years.

If you’d like to learn more about how investments such as these support children and young people so they can achieve economic freedom later in life, contact a Dekko Foundation program officer at 260-347-1278. Or visit dekkofoundation.org to explore the foundation’s mission and funding priorities, review its grantmaking process, or send a grant proposal.