Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
KENDALLVILLE — The Dekko Foundation, a private family foundation located in Kendallville, with a mission of fostering economic freedom through education, awarded more than $980,000 in grants and pledges to 16 youth-serving organizations during its most recent round of grantmaking.
The foundation, started in 1981 by the late businessman and philanthropist Chester E. Dekko, invests in projects and programs that help build knowledge, skills and character in children and young people from birth through age 18 so they can be self-sufficient and grow up to be economically free, according to a provided news release.
Its grantmaking is concentrated within 13 counties in four states — Indiana, Iowa, Alabama and Minnesota — where Dekko had business or personal interests.
Local organizations receiving grants and pledges were:
• Lost Sparrows Inc., Winona Lake, $20,000 to support the organization’s annual conference for youth workers and caregivers where they learn practices and strategies that contribute to their understanding of the healthy development of young people.
• Syracuse-Wawasee Park Foundation, Syracuse, $100,000 to support the extension of the Syracuse-Wawasee Trail so students can engage in outdoor recreation and have a safe route to Wawasee Middle School.
• Grace College, Winona Lake, $40,000 to support educational programs for preschool through sixth-grade students that enhance their understanding of natural environments, aquatic life and career opportunities.
• Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation, Akron, $10,000 to support high school students’ understanding of photography so they can express themselves creatively and build skills that can lead to a career or starting their own business.
• Warsaw Community Schools, Warsaw, $21,710 to support the leadership development of elementary students as well as equipping educators with principles and strategies that elevate their work.
• Greater Warsaw Cooperative Preschool Inc., Warsaw, $2,000 to support an additional classroom at the school that can help children develop foundational skills during their formative years.
If you’d like to learn more about how investments such as these support children and young people so they can achieve economic freedom later in life, contact a Dekko Foundation program officer at 260-347-1278; or visit dekkofoundation.org to explore the foundation’s mission and funding priorities, review its grantmaking process or send a grant proposal.
