Hamilton County Community Foundation President Tom Kilian and Community Leadership Officer Jeena Siela presented on the group’s recent efforts at the May 25 Noblesville Common Council meeting.
“We exist to mobilize people, ideas and investments to make our community a more equitable place for all individuals, no matter their place, race or identity,” Kilian said.
Kilian said the foundation partners with nonprofits in the community, helps lead initiatives and grants money with an unrestricted endowment. Kilian gave an update about recent grants that were awarded, specifically those that also receive money from the City of Noblesville Fund.
“We partner with the Noblesville dollars, and those dollars, when joined together, fund several initiatives throughout Noblesville,” Kilian said.
In the past five years, the City of Noblesville Fund has granted $250,000 to aid Hamilton County Community Foundation grants.
“We believe it is a phenomenal partnership,” Kilian said. “We have a long history of Noblesville representation on our board, as well as our grants committee, and we are proud to say we have currently seven people from Noblesville serving on our grants committee.”
Siela spoke about the groups’ joint missions and initiatives in the county, specifically for the Trinity Free Clinic in Carmel and Noblesville Mainstreet in Noblesville.
“We have leveraged the Noblesville fund to make a larger investment with the Trinity Free Clinic. The Noblesville fund gave away $7,500 dollars, and we combined that with $12,500 to make $20,000,” Siela said. The money was used to create a strategic plan for the clinic.
The Noblesville fund granted $2,500 to Noblesville Mainstreet to establish a SNAP program at the farmer’s market. Another donated was $5,000 from the Noblesville fund to the Grace Care Center, which the Hamilton County Community Foundation added $15,000 to for a total of $20,000.
Siela spoke about the group’s initiatives outside of funding grants.
“Other Noblesville Initiatives, we are investing about $45,000 in Interrupting Racism trainings for Noblesville to utilize. There are 200 slots available and we are working with the city to get Noblesville residents trained in that,” Siela said. “We also just awarded a $20,000 grant to the Noblesville Diversity Coalition, and that was a racial equity grassroots grant to help them fulfill unfunded but essential areas of need to improve awareness and outreach and whatnot with racial equity in Noblesville.”
The Hamilton County Community Foundation also worked with Mayor Chris Jensen to help establish the Noblesville Wellbeing Coalition, whose goal is to create a culture of well-being by expanding community education and engagement and ensuring rapid access to high-quality, affordable treatment, prevent crises and streamline crisis services.
For more, visit hamiltoncountycommunityfoundation.org.
