INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Youth Institute (IYI) has awarded The Villages of Indiana a grant totaling $500,000. The funding will help The Villages of Indiana strengthen programs serving young people in Indiana and build the organizational capacity needed to deepen its impact over the next several years.
IYI made the grants in connection with Strengthening Youth Programs in Indiana (SYPI), an initiative Lilly Endowment Inc. launched in 2023. The initiative seeks to help youth-serving organizations working throughout the state improve their abilities to promote the academic, physical, and social well-being of young people, ages five through 18.
With this support, The Villages of Indiana will invest $500,000 over three years to sustain and expand its Behavioral Health Telehealth program, giving youth ages 5 to 18 anywhere in Indiana timely access to trauma-informed therapy from Indiana-based providers. The need is urgent: according to the Indiana Department of Health’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, nearly half of Indiana high school students reported feeling sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in a row, and suicide attempts rose from 11.8% in 2021 to 15.7% in 2023.