Manchester details plans for Lilly Endowment grant
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Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded Manchester University a $250,000 planning grant as part of its College and Community Collaboration Initiative. The university said it will use the funding to explore community projects in Wabash County.
The initiative aims to help colleges and universities work with their communities to attract and retain students, faculty and staff by “building more vibrant places to live, work, and play.”
The university, located about 100 miles northeast of Indianapolis and about 40 miles west of Fort Wayne, said many of the initiatives goals match the strategies outlined in Wabash County’s Imagine One85 comprehensive plan unveiled in March 2022.
Those strategies include affordable and attractive housing, engaging attractions and amenities, and quality schools.
“Lilly Endowment’s initiative aligns closely with planning already under way at Manchester and in Wabash County,” Manchester President Dave McFadden said in a news release. “Our success at attracting students and drawing top talent to the University often depends on what they find in the community around them.”
Now that the planning grant has been awarded, the university said the next step is to work with community partners to identify a project or set of projects that benefit Manchester and Wabash County to meet the goals of the initiative.
The partners will spend the next several months developing a plan with the goal of submitting a proposal for an implementation grant of up to $25 million from Lilly Endowment in March 2024.
Manchester joins DePauw University and Anderson University, which also received planning grants earlier this year.