$7M Lilly Endowment grant aims at child care in Greater Lafayette

Money will go toward an “Early Childhood Career Ladder,” via Right Steps, Ivy Tech and the Greater Lafayette Career Academy.

• Support for this edition comes from the Haan Museum of Indiana Art, presenting “Holidays at the Haan” where the museum is once again decorated in celebration of the upcoming winter holidays. Now through Dec. 29. The museum is open 1-4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday at 920 State St., Lafayette. For tickets and more information, go to: thehaan.org/event/holidays-at-the-haan/

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$7M LILLY ENDOWMENT GRANT AIMS AT CHILD CARE IN GREATER LAFAYETTE

A new $7 million grant from the Lilly Endowment will go toward the latest attempt to get a handle on gaps in early education and child care in Greater Lafayette.

Announced Wednesday by the Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette, the grant is geared for what’s being called an “early childhood career ladder,” intended to fund space for more child care slots in the community and recruiting, training and lining up better pay for people staffing early education centers.

(Photo: Unsplash)

David Lasater, president and CEO of the Community Foundation, said the funding will be spread out over the next four years, starting in the second quarter of 2025 and going to projects started through Right Steps, the Greater Lafayette Career Academy and Ivy Tech Community College in Lafayette.

“This isn’t taking care of the whole issue, because the whole question of early education and child care is so big,” Gary Henriott, who leads the Early Learning Workforce Coalition, said Wednesday. “So, we’re biting around the edges. This is taking some of those bites.”