Back in June we shared news that 4C of Southern Indiana, a community organization that we’ve maintained a strong partnership with in the Early Learning space, was part of state government mandated redistricting process . At that time, it appeared that 4C would likely lose the lion’s share of their state funded work and much of their service footprint would shift to a childcare service provider in Vigo County called CASY. Since that time, a number of conversations and activities have taken place that have really turned a difficult situation into a very positive one.
Over the past few months, Aleisha Sheridan, President & CEO of 4C, has taken the initiative to engage in conversations with CASY to formulate solutions that would be mutually beneficial, while also providing the best possible solutions for the communities each organization served. Ultimately, a plan was derived and approved by the State of Indiana that not only allowed 4C to continue serving the 16 counties they had been serving, but to add 12 addition counties.
Thanks to Aleisha’s tenacious pursuit, with the support of her board, staff and partners, 4C will continue to provide critical childcare services for families in our Tristate area.
Additionally, here are a few other things that have developed over the same time period:
Strategic Plan – In September, 4C engaged in a strategic planning process that included its staff, board and community partners (including WBF). In the process, five key goals were identified:
As part of the execution of the plan, 4C and its board will begin the process of developing statements to support each activity and connecting relevant stakeholders who have an interest in, and can assist with, plan implementation.
New state grant – A new grant with the State of Indiana went into effect on October 1.
Office move – 4C will be moving its offices after the first of the year. It will occupy a smaller space in the same building.
Welborn support – Welborn continues to support 7 full time positions and 5% to 15% of three additional positions. Other grants support 10-12 positions.
We continue to be invited to share in various community forums.
On November 7, the 2019 Indiana Early Learning Summit took place in Fort Wayne. In Evansville, the SW Indiana Chamber hosted a remote simulcast of the event. As part of the local event, Patrick Jackson, Early Learning Program Officer, participated in a panel to share his insights and experience in the Early Learning space.
One of the primary goals of the Summit is to give business leaders from the for-profit business sector a greater sense of how quality child care effects their workforce presently and in the future.
Click here to learn more about the Early Learning Summit
Later in the month, Andrea (HEAL Program Officer) and Jeff (Communications Officer) sat down with Lynn Miller-Pease, CEO of Leadership Everyone to record the November 30th edition of Leadership Connection. Leadership Connection is an hour-long, weekly radio show broadcast on 98.5 WEOA each Saturday at 8am. Andrea and Jeff discussed the impact of the nonprofit community as well as the partnership opportunities the Foundation has been blessed to be a part of.
Leadership Everyone is a local nonprofit organization that helps to equip area leaders from all business sectors and encourages community engagement. Andrea and Jeff are both alumni of the LE program.
Click here to learn more about Leadership Everyone
Finally, Pat had the privilege of sitting down with Elisa Gross of Tucker Publishing in an interview for the upcoming edition of Evansville Business Magazine. Pat will be featured in the “Back Talk” feature. In this interview, Pat gave a glimpse of his past work and passions and how they’ve led him to his recent role as the CEO / Executive Director of the WBF. Be sure to pick up a copy of the magazine.
Recently, Evansville Business Magazine featured a special section called Evansville Gives which highlighted area nonprofits. The magazine has also featured nonprofit leaders in the "Back Talk" section that is part of every issue.
A couple of events took place in the month of October that allowed Pat to represent the Foundation and to share his thoughts on what's happening in our community.
On October 1st, nonprofit leaders from each of the levels of our SustainAbilities cohort gathered together to network and have the opportunity to hear from Pat, his thoughts and vision for our community and the roles that the nonprofit organizations play in it.
This forum gave these nonprofit leaders the opportunity to ask Pat direct questions. Pat shared some of his background in the for-profit marketplace as well as his church ministry experience. Questions included:
Attendees also had the opportunity to interact with each other and, as a result, we've heard stories of organizations finding ways to support each other. The following came from Cheryl Simmons, Executive Director of Weekday Christian Education,
"I loved spending some time with the ladies at my table and I was able to meet Regina Hamman from the Literacy Center. We had a great conversation that day about an older gentleman who is using their services. Regina shared that this gentleman's goal is to be able to read scripture one day at his church. This touched my heart! We started talking about how we give our graduating Weekday Christian Education 4th graders Bibles at the end of each school year. I talked about how much we like the NLT "Hands On Bible" and how it is easy reading for our kids. It hit me, why not share some of our extra Bibles with the Literacy Center? They may have other clients that would like to be able to read God's Word. So, we have developed a relationship with the Literacy Center and have donated Bibles for their clients to utilize. Isn't God good?"
Pat was also invited by Mayor Winnecke to participate in a panel discussion the The Southwest Indiana Chamber's annual Lunch with the Mayor on October 24th. The Mayor and panel discussed how intentional alignment to address issues in our community can be fostered and what the road forward looks like. Pat shared his own perspective, stating “attendees were able to hear what our community leaders believe are the greatest issues that need addressing to help ensure the Evansville MSA is a sought after location for business and residents alike. The challenges facing our community are complex and inter-related. Our community leaders are excited about advancing collaborative and comprehensive solutions that will help our community flourish."
The panel consisted of:
