Quality of Place Matters

Quality of Place Grant Focus Area

Southern Indiana’s amenities and great quality of life continue to attract new growth and opportunities as more businesses and families are calling Clark and Floyd counties home. Capitalizing on this momentum, the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana is happy to announce that beginning on July 1, 2021 we will begin designating half of our annual grantmaking funds to Pathways to Progress Grants which will support initiatives aimed at improving our region’s quality of place.

The Foundation’s Pathways to Progress Grants were set to begin in 2020, but the Foundation pivoted its focus this past year to address the needs created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pathways to Progress Grants will focus on serving people with the least access to safe, high-quality public places and amenities, typically those who have low incomes and/or who have transportation or mobility challenges or physical and/or mental differences. When their lives are improved, our communities are more welcoming and attractive to all residents, tourists, and employers.

For these populations, the Foundation will work with nonprofit partners to improve:

• Both real and perceived safety of existing amenities (greenspaces, parks, playgrounds, rivers, etc.)

• Safe and affordable access to the amenities (trails, public/shared transit, etc.)

• Environmental quality and sustainability of those amenities

• Use of the areas to decrease physical inactivity, obesity, and other health risks 

While half of the Foundation’s Community Impact Fund grants will be allocated towards Pathways to Progress Grants, the other half will continue to support the various needs of our community that are being addressed by the region’s nonprofit organizations.  For more information on the Foundation’s Pathways to Progress Grants, visit www.cfsoutherninidana.com.