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Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. recently provided $20 million to an affiliate of the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne to step up the development of northeast Indiana’s workforce. The program, Talent Opportunity Success (TOpS) 2015, seeks to better prepare the region’s workforce to capture high-quality job opportunities. The $20 million grant is believed to be the largest single private foundation grant ever awarded in northeast Indiana.
Among the recipients, the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) Wireless Technology Center was granted $2.25 million for expansion of its wireless technology programs. The Lilly grant comes on the heels of a $1.25 million grant in 2007, bringing the Center’s total endowment to $3.5 million.
“Fort Wayne is one of the main centers of the defense wireless industry in the United States,” says Todor Cooklev, director of the IPFW Wireless Technology Center. “At the same time, the total endowment of the IPFW Wireless Technology Center is the largest in the history of IPFW. Not only is IPFW committed to serving northeast Indiana, but this commitment is being widely recognized.”
IPFW Chancellor Michael Wartell stresses the importance of strengthening existing businesses as well as attracting new businesses. “This grant is critical in supporting the defense industry, an integral component of northeast Indiana’s financial health and a longtime partner of IPFW. Expanding education in systems engineering and wireless communication, core competencies of the local defense industry, will help ensure the financial wellbeing of that sector.”
Contributing entities in the development of the TOpS 2015 strategy include WorkOne Northeast, Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne, Northeast Indiana Corporate Council, the City of Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance, Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, IPFW, Ivy Tech-Northeast, the University of Indianapolis Center for Excellence in the Leadership of Learning, CONEXUS, I-STEM Resource Network, Indiana Economic Development Corp., regional K-12 superintendents, and a number of business leaders in the advanced manufacturing, defense, and aerospace industries.
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