The United Way of Monroe County COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund announced Phase 3 grants totaling $215,000 to 20 human service organizations providing critical programs serving people in south central Indiana. With support from the COVID-19 Fund, these organizations will continue to provide life-changing services to members of our community affected by the pandemic. 
 
This follows Phase 1 and Phase 2 grants that awarded a total of $759,425 to 29 human service organizations in Greene, Owen, and Monroe counties in March and May. The COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund has now granted a total of $1,366,429, including funds to regional community foundations, to support priority needs during the pandemic. ​

Help the City collect information to create a sustainability toolkit for businesses by taking the following survey.

​The Bloomington Community Farmers' Market is furthering its mission to support access to nutrition for vulnerable populations by using a grant from the Bloomington Health Foundation to triple Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program benefits for low-income seniors and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) participants.
 
The Bloomington Health Foundation in January awarded a grant for $79,976 to the Bloomington Parks Foundation to be used for tripling these supplemental nutrition programs at the Farmers' Market over the next two years. ​

Ivy Tech Community College has selected Joshua Farrington, assistant professor of philosophy in the School of Arts, Sciences, & Education at the Bloomington campus as the recipient of the 2020 Glenn W. Sample Founder’s Award for Excellence in Instruction. The award is the highest honor the College can bestow upon a faculty member. ​

Ready Schools initiative helps align school districts to the education and workforce needs of regional employers and prepares students for high opportunity jobs and careers  
 
Regional Opportunity Initiatives, Inc. (ROI) has awarded a $1.2 million Ready Schools implementation grant to Monroe County Community School Corporation (MCCSC), the largest school district in the 11-county Indiana Uplands region. MCCSC serves 20 percent of the region’s students (pre-K through grade 12). 

MCCSC will use its Ready Schools implementation funding to support a multi-year district-wide plan focused on college, career, and life readiness for all students. The grant will fund five distinct strategies: project-based learning, STEAM and hands-on learning, career awareness activities, entrepreneurship activities, and community and industry partnerships. 

“We are very proud to award this grant and look forward to the opportunities it will make possible for the 11,000 students of MCCSC,” said ROI President and CEO Tina Peterson.  

“Throughout the Ready Schools process, MCCSC has embraced the important role it must play in regional economic prosperity,” added Peterson. “MCCSC’s Ready Schools design team worked thoughtfully to engage business leaders, community stakeholders, parents, and students in meaningful dialogue. This engagement informed the MCCSC’s Ready Schools implementation plan, carefully developed to equip students from pre-K through graduation with the skills necessary to thrive in regionally relevant careers and 21st-century jobs. We feel confident that the plan MCCSC has developed will benefit both the local community and the Indiana Uplands region as well.”

WTIU received five NATAS Lower Great Lakes Emmy Awards at the 2020 Emmy Gala held online Saturday.
 
WTIU’s travel series, Journey Indiana, took home four of the five Emmys. The program earned awards for best feature or segment in the education category for its story “Planting a Seed” and in the environment category for its feature “Preserving the Prairie Land.” Journey Indiana was also honored in the photographer category and for best video essay on Life Skateboards in Muncie, Indiana.
 
In addition to the four awards for Journey Indiana, WTIU’s locally-produced documentary Fingerstyle! Indiana’s Guitar Festival won an Emmy for special events coverage. The program was filmed last summer at the Indiana State Fingerstyle Guitar Festival held in Nashville, Indiana.
 
The Lower Great Lakes Emmy Awards recognize excellence in television among its members in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. WTIU was nominated for a total of 16 awards. A complete list of this year’s Emmy winners is available on the NATAS website.
 
With the latest Emmy wins, WTIU, along with its joint WFIU-WTIU News team, have earned a total of 49 awards this year, including three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, 14 Telly Awards, and 27 awards from the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

BE PREPARED!
For limited time, the Hoosier Trails Council, BSA will be offering Scout units the opportunity to sell hand sanitizer to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and raise programming support for Scouting adventures. As society transitions from being sequestered, companies, churches, schools, families are going to be seeking this product. A Scout is Clean, a Scout is Helpful, a Scout is Prepared! $30/gallon, bulk orders delivered. More information, contact Jon.Ocheltree@scouting.org

The Monroe County YMCA is excited to announce it is re-opening the Y Membership Financial Assistance application period for 2020. More than $145,000 was already awarded for 2020 Y memberships, and an additional $50,000 will be distributed in an effort to help those most financially impacted during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Y is here to help the Monroe County community recover from the pandemic by remaining accessible to all.  

Through the financial assistance program, individuals, families, and children are able to access the Y facilities and services regardless of their age, income, or background. During the uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s especially crucial to keep the Y services available to those in need. The Y offers quality included-in-membership programs and services, such as chronic disease prevention and rehabilitation through adult programing, on-site child watch called Play and Learn, and Group Exercise classes. 

This second open enrollment period for 2020 Y memberships is due entirely to the generosity of Y donors. Funds are raised during Y for All events held throughout the year, and ongoing donations through staff giving and member donations help support the Y’s cause.  

Perry Brown, a Y financial assistance recipient, shares how his life was changed thanks to the support from the Y. After 40 years of hard labor, a pinched nerve, several surgeries, and facing the threat of never being able to walk again, Perry could no longer afford physical therapy to help him recover and improve his mobility. His doctors recommended he join the Y, which he did with the help of the Y for All Scholarship Fund. 

“I couldn’t imagine what I would have done without the Y after my insurance ran out at the hospital after two years,” Perry said. “I had nowhere else to go. I sat on the sidelines for four years, not knowing if I’d ever walk again, if I was going to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of my life. It was the most frightening and scary thing ever, facing a wheelchair at 53. 

My mobility, my strength, my coordination—everything is a thousand times better. Being a scholarship recipient has impacted my life immensely. I can’t imagine where I’d be without financial assistance. Going to the Y is the highlight of my day. 
 
The scholarship program is the most important program. I know how tough it is not to have a job, not to have money to pay for a membership, but then the Y is nice enough to give you a scholarship to help you. And I have benefited from it totally.“ 

You can read more about Perry’s story on the Y’s blog here: https://monroecountyymca.wordpress.com/2019/11/13/how-ymca-financial-assistance-changed-perry-browns-life/ 
If you or someone you know is in need of financial support in order to access the Y, please submit your application and supporting materials by July 1 via mail or at either the Southeast or Northwest Y branches in Bloomington. More information about the financial assistance application process for Y memberships can be found at www.MonroeCountyYMCA.org/FA.

If you would like to support the Y for All Scholarship Fund, please visit www.MonroeCountyYMCA.org/Giving or contact Matt Osgood, Y Development Director, at (812) 961-2169 or mosgood@monroecountyymca.org.