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Clean Jobs Midwest 2022 Report

December 12, 2022

Clean Jobs Midwest is an annual report based on survey data on clean energy employment in 12 Midwestern states.These states include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The Midwest's clean energy industry employed 714,323 people in sectors including renewable energy generation, energy efficiency, advanced transportation, grid and storage, and clean fuels at the end of 2021. 

Transformations: Ball Brothers Foundation 2021 Annual Report

October 24, 2022

In 2021, we celebrated 95 years of grantmaking in this community. When reaching a milestone like that, it's hard not to look back on how far we've come—not just as a foundation, but also as a city. And as we reflected on Muncie over the years, we couldn't help but notice how this community has transformed.Just like with growing or aging, it can be hard to notice large-scale change around you day in and day out. It's not until you step back to see how far you've come that you realize how much has transformed. So this annual report, celebrating our 95th year, is just that: a step back to appreciate the major transformations that have taken place all around us—whether we realized it or not. Transformations like downtown Muncie, which was home to a handful of bars and offices a few years ago but now boasts a lively dining scene, shopping opportunities, a one-of-a-kind hospitality training institute and hotel, and new riverfront apartments. Or the White River, which long held a reputation of being dirty and polluted but is now clean and full of life. And the Muncie Civic Theatre, which was on the brink of closing just over 10 years ago but has had an amazing, touching comeback story.

Indiana Nonprofits: Managing Human Resources - Board, Staff, and Volunteers

September 1, 2022

In this report, we look at the human resources present in Indiana nonprofits, which includes staff, volunteers, and board of directors. We examine each of these three components separately to assess the role each component plays within nonprofits. This includes an examination of management challenges impacting nonprofits across the state and the extent to which they have key organizational features in place to help address the challenges.

Onboarding Young Workers in a Post-Pandemic World

May 4, 2022

Labor shortages are widespread, workers are expecting higher starting wages, and after employers hire and train a new employee the risk that they will jump ship for a better paying job is probably the highest it has ever been. The cost of hiring the wrong candidate has never been higher. How can employers do a better job at hiring and retention? We talked with workforce development professionals –people who help employers find workers and young adults find jobs– to document what employers can do to make good hires, ones that last. In this report we focus on what they see as working and what tends to fail when onboarding new young employees. Our goal is to help employers examine their hiring and onboarding practices, increase the speed at which new hires become productive team members, and reduce the high financial and emotional cost of turnover from failed hires.In this environment of short-staffing and difficulty finding new employees, some firms are raising wages, offering more full-time positions, redesigning jobs to include better benefits, and offering signing bonuses. These are important, but so are more subtle aspects of onboarding, especially those having to do with developing mutual respect and trust between the employer and the new hire. Both employers and employees need hiring to be done right. In this study we share ten lessons to help employers hire right. The workforce specialists learned these lessons observing the typical mistakes employers make, sometimes over and over again. 

2021: Our Road to Equity--a Year in Review

May 3, 2022

Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF)—and its affiliates, The Indianapolis Foundation and Hamilton County Community Foundation—IMPACT Central Indiana and Women's Fund of Central Indiana are a $1 billion collective of philanthropic organizations committed to making Central Indiana a community where all individuals have equitable opportunity to reach their full potential—no matter place, race or identity. Each organization has a unique strategic plan to advance this goal within the communities it serves. The collective support of our Equity Partners makes this work possible. 

2021 Indiana Civic Health Index

January 25, 2022

This fifth edition of the Indiana Bar Foundation's Indiana Civic Health Index (INCHI) takes stock of Indiana's successes and shortcomings during the past decade and defines action steps to ensure Indiana becomes a national leader in civic health. In this latest INCHI we examine three election cycles – six elections during 10 years – and analyze trends during that time. The insights gained by examining Hoosiers' participation in civic life from 2010 to the present will inform and inspire citizens and leaders alike to build a culture of civic engagement enhancing our economic, social, and political well-being.Building on the recommendations outlined in the 2019 Indiana Civic Health Index, section one of the report details progress in advancing civic education in schools and promoting citizen participation in the election process, two goals that are profoundly intertwined. Studies show a consistent and robust relationship between school experiences with voting education and civic participation later in life. As cornerstones of representative democracy, civic education and participation are crucial to advancing our civic health.The second section of the report continues the review of Indiana's performance on an array of civic health indicators. Drawing on earlier analyses and incorporating the newest data, we examine ten years (2010-2020) of Indiana's civic activity, identifying areas of strength as well as opportunities for improvement. We hope this unique overview will further stimulate discussion and inspire a renewed commitment to advancing our civic health.  Strengthening Hoosiers' civic health will require a concerted effort of all stakeholders interested in supporting citizen participation in its many forms; the result will be a more vibrant, successful, and engaged Indiana and nation.

Indianapolis Gun Violence Problem Analysis

August 1, 2021

A Gun Violence Problem Analysis (GVPA) is a set of analytical exercises designed to support the implementation of violence reduction strategies; the GVPA is a research-based methodology used in dozens of cities nationally. The goal of this analysis is to examine the circumstances of the event itself, explore the characteristics of individuals involved, and identify the networks associated with the highest risk of violence. This work establishes a common understanding of the local violence problem that can help guide policy, tailor interventions to those at the highest risk of violence, and inform the work of civic, community, and criminal justice leaders to reduce gun violence in Indianapolis. 

Lilly Endowment Annual Report 2020

July 28, 2021

While living through the challenges of two world wars and the Great Depression, Lilly Endowment founders, J.K. Lilly Sr. and his sons, Eli and J.K. Jr., dedicated themselves and their company to helping meet the immediate needs of their employees, community and country while they continued to plan and build for the future. During the past extraordinarily challenging year, the Endowment attempted to follow their example by working to help meet various urgent needs in our city, state and country arising from the COVID-19 pandemic while continuing to help build brighter futures for individuals, families, organizations and communities through our ongoing grantmaking in community development, education and religion, the areas of focus established by our founders when they created the Endowment in 1937.The Endowment's COVID-19-related grantmaking in 2020, which totaled nearly $208 million, supported the inspirational efforts of hundreds of organizations that worked diligently to help meet urgent needs in Indianapolis, throughout Indiana and across the nation. This grantmaking also included funding for several organizations to make pandemic-related adjustments needed to continue to operate their important programs safely.This annual report also highlights other grants the Endowment approved in 2020 that support promising endeavors to build brighter, more prosperous futures for young children and college students in Indiana and that enhance the future vitality of the community of Indianapolis and communities throughout the state, as well as congregations and seminaries around the country.

The Power and Problem of Criminal Justice Data: A Twenty-State Review

June 30, 2021

Despite accounting for a substantial portion of local, state, and federal budgets, our criminal justice institutions are among the least measured systems in our country. In an effort to bring transparency to this sector, MFJ has collected, standardized, and made public 20 states' worth of criminal justice data.The purpose of this report is to share what we have learned through this effort, including: (a) what we cannot see when data are missing, and (b) the value that data can provide when they are available and comparable. In particular, we identify patterns around the following:There is a substantial lack of data around pretrial detention and release decision-making, as well as individual demographics (particularly indigence).New data privacy laws are also making it needlessly difficult to obtain certain data. This poses challenges to understanding how individuals experience the system in cases that do not result in conviction.There is great variation in how counties dispose of and sentence nonviolent cases; how financial obligations are imposed on individuals; and the collateral consequences that individuals face when convicted.Across many of these findings, where demographics are available, we have an opportunity to identify and respond to significant disparities in group outcomes.This report challenges stakeholders and policymakers to dig deeper into these patterns and missing data. It also implores policymakers and legislators to improve criminal justice data infrastructure to ensure a more transparent, fair, and equitable implementation of justice.

Champions of Resilience: 2020 Annual Report

June 7, 2021

Muncie is a city built on resilience. From the industrial revolution through the Great Depression and two World Wars, the community's tenacious spirit continually propelled the city through hardships, always coming out stronger than before. But the inherent resilience that lives within Muncie has perhaps never been more evident than this past year.Keeping pace with the community, Ball Brothers Foundation championed resilient efforts in many fashions in 2020—from emergency Rapid Grants to support the urgent needs of today, to multi-year grants that position us for a better tomorrow.In total, BBF awarded a record payout of nearly $8.5 million. Read more about some of the community's resilient efforts in our latest annual report.

Police Brutality Bonds: How Wall Street Profits from Police Violence

June 24, 2020

This report focuses on just one aspect of the cost and profits of policing—the use of borrowingto pay for police-related settlements and judgments. This report serves to uncover the lengths that municipalities have gone to hide both how the costs of police violence and who profitsfrom it. In our research, we found that cities and counties across the United States issue bonds topay for police brutality settlements and judgments. The cities range from giant metropolises such as Los Angeles to smaller cities like Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Our report includes details on police brutality bonds in twelve cities and counties, including five in-depth case studies: Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Lake County, Indiana. 

Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2017 Homicide Data

June 1, 2020

This study examines the problem of black homicide victimization at the state level by analyzing unpublished Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data for black homicide victimization submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The information used for this report is for the year 2017. This is the first analysis of the 2017 data on black homicide victims to offer breakdowns of cases in the 10 states with the highest black homicide victimization rates and the first to rank the states by the rate of black homicide victims.It is important to note that the SHR data used in this report comes from law enforcement reporting at the local level. While there are coding guidelines followed by the law enforcement agencies, the amount of information submitted to the SHR system, and the interpretation that results in the information submitted (for example, gang involvement) will vary from agency to agency. This study is limited by the quantity and degree of detail in the information submitted.