The Center for Civic Innovation was recently awarded $49,377 from the Community Foundation of Elkhart County’s Career Pathways grants to fund 12 internships in 2023. Since 2018, CCI and CFEC have partnered to provide 62 full-time summer internship opportunities focused on local community projects. “We appreciate the continued investment from the Community Foundation of Elkhart County in these important learning experiences for college and high school students in our region,” commented CCI managing director and grant principal investigator Alisa Zornig Gura.
This grant also serves as a new opportunity for collaboration between CCI and the Elkhart Education Foundation (EEF). The mission of EEF is, “to provide programming, funding and supplies to Elkhart teachers, staff and students to build a stronger future.” To this end, CCI and EEF are working together to move the operations of the internship program from CCI to EEF. “In 2023, EEF will be expanding our educational enrichment programming to reach Elkhart students in grades K-High School+. Through this partnership with CCI, EEF will be able to provide high quality STEM exposure to Elkhart high school students. CCI’s internship program has a long-standing track record and we are excited to work collaboratively with the CCI team.”
In summer 2023, CCI will continue to act as fiscal agent for the grant while training EEF staff in the Community-Engaged Educational Ecosystem Model. A program manager with EEF will oversee interns and projects with guidance and mentorship from CCI. The Elkhart site will participate in CCI’s current Improving Undergraduate STEM Education grant funded by the National Science Foundation and led by CCI’s associate director for research, Danielle Wood.
To view the original grant announcement visit the Community Foundation of Elkhart County’s website.
About Community Foundation of Elkhart County
Community Foundation of Elkhart County partners with donors to leverage their philanthropy in ways that transform lives. Since 1989, the Community Foundation has opened doors by helping generous donors to meet community needs, providing scholarship opportunities to local students and making grants to nonprofit organizations working to improve Elkhart County. The Community Foundation strives to be a local entity known for inspiring good and impacting success.
For more information, visit InspiringGood.org.