Partners 4Community Growth


Partners 4Community Growth began in response to an initiative from the Indiana Association of United Ways. A two part non-competitive grant was offered to communities in Indiana.

Part One
A planning grant. We were required to have at least four partners who would provide equal representation and equal contributions. The grant was a 5:1 match for up to $35,000.00. This grant was to be used to identify a need and then develop a plan to address that need.

Miami County had 15 partners who each contributed $1,000.00. We received the grant and hired a local coordinator and a consulting firm. Through research, surveys, focus groups, and key leader interviews, we looked at needs in our community relating to youth issues. We were confronted with several key issues. Some of them are:

Our community has seen a prolonged decline in the economy and the number of families in poverty has increased.

A result of this is that the number of children in our schools "at-risk" of failing academically has risen.

The number of single parent families has risen.

People in this community see a need for better parenting skills and support for parents, especially parents of adolescents.

We see the biggest struggle at the Middle School level, and sometimes it is not related to income.

Therefore our goal is to provide the at-risk students with the skills and self-confidence to succeed in high school and beyond.

We plan to:

~Start an after-school club for 6th graders in all three area school systems offering:

~ teacher supervision

~ mentoring and tutoring by volunteers in the community

~ workshops for parents on dealing with adolescents and other related parenting skills

~ incentives such as gas vouchers or family fun activities like going bowling or to the movies

~ Work with the students to improve grades, attendance, good behavior, good habits and work ethics. Help them to see a correlation between success in school and success in life.

~ Call it Project SOAR. Students Obtaining Academic Results.

Part Two 
Put our plan into action. Again this is a non-competitive grant. It is a 1:1 match for up to $50,000.00. We have a two-year plan for Project SOAR. We are currently in the process of raising $50,000.00 for the match. This would fund us for two years.

For more information contact Project SOAR at 765-473-4240

The Original 15 Partners
City of Peru
County Commissioners
Chamber of Commerce
County Schools
Community Foundation
Board of Realtors
Peru Ministerial Association
Ivy Tech
Grissom Redevelopment Authority
Economic Development Corp.
United Way of Miami County
American Health Network (Reese & Orr)
Local Coordinating Council
Miami Co. Community Services Council
Workforce Development Strategies

Additional Collaborators
Big Brothers/Big Sisters
Miami County YMCA