July 1, 2015

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At a recent meeting, the Directors of the Olin B & Desta Schwab Foundation approved the following grants.

  1. Junior Achievement – $83,930 for the 2nd payment of a three year pledge to fund career development for area youth.
  2. YMCA – $8,477 for the Team SOS Program at Renaissance Point YMCA that serves 7th to 12th grade youth with the weekly activities in the 5 areas of Leadership Development, Character Building, Life Skills, College Readiness and Job Readiness.
  3. Northeast Indiana Foundation – $85,000 – for the Big Goal Collaborative’s Talent Initiative 2.0 that will connect regional New Tech High School students with regional target industry employers, to establish a relationship that will develop personal strengths before entering the workplace.
  4. Region 8 Educational Service Center – $110,000 – to fund the College and Career Attribute Development Program (the tri-angle) to enable school leaders to make more college and career ready students a viable strategy for student success, resulting in overall school transformation. Each student will have a meaningful post secondary plan at program completion.
  5. Artlink – $4,790 – Art Club Outreach Program to expose teens to careers in the arts and teach them relevant art-making skills. This funding will allow Artlink to expand their program to the Allen County Public Library Young Adults’ Services site, as well as continue to serve their current partners, develop the Art Club Comic Book, and develop more robust curriculum.
  6. Southwest Allen County Schools – $40,000 – for the Middle & High School College & Career Readiness through Digital Learning Program, which will create a postsecondary career ready culture. This funding will benefit 6th-12th grades with such activities as supporting substitute teachers to providing full-time teachers time to implement college and career readiness into lessons, additional teacher training for Indiana Career Explorer and student e-portfolios, and for a career readiness coordinator.

Also at the meeting, Kyle Martin, Senior Account Executive of Ferguson Advertising was elected to a 3 year term as a new Board of Director. Kyle graduated from Franklin College with a Bachelors Degree in Business & Marketing. At Ferguson Advertising he is involved with overseeing account service and project management throughout the agency, writes and develops strategic marketing plans, leads new business initiatives and directly manages many corporate clienteles. Prior to Ferguson he worked as an Account Supervisor at Boyden & Youngblutt Advertising. In addition to serving on the Board of the Schwab Foundation, Kyle is active with Anthony Wayne Area Council/Boy Scouts of America, serves on a fund raising sub-committee for the Ronald McDonald House of Northeast Indiana at Parkview, is an active member at First United Methodist Church in Decatur and is a youth baseball coach.