USA Funds Continues Support for Indiana Black Expo Educational Events

In its 36th year, the Indiana Black Expo Inc. serves as a voice and vehicle for the social and economic advancement of African Americans. The organization aims to enable African-American youth and families to achieve their potential and reflect pride in their ethnicity and culture. Since 2002 USA Funds^® has awarded $200,000 to support two IBE educational initiatives for youth — the annual youth summit and back-to-school rallies.

“USA Funds is pleased to support initiatives that promote educational opportunities for African-American youth,” says Pat Roe, USA Funds manager of philanthropy. “The mission of the youth summit and the back-to-school rallies is in line with our own: enhancing postsecondary-education preparedness, access success.”

In 2005 USA Funds committed $18 million in support of philanthropic programs to promote its mission.

Youth Summit
Since 1984, IBE has hosted a youth-oriented conference as part of its annual Summer Celebration. This year’s Summer Celebration was July 6-16 in Indianapolis.

With the theme “Giving Youth Something to Say Yes To,” the 2006 summit programs were designed to empower teens to successfully deal with issues they may face and to assist them in planning for their future. Local IBE chapters, county offices of the state family-services agency, and other youth-service organizations from around the state recommended the 250 participants, age 11-18. The three-day Youth Empowerment Summit offered participants peer-to-peer training, networking, educational workshops and entertainment.

The summit included a presentation of USA Funds Unlock the Future^®, a program to promote early awareness of the benefits of higher education. Additionally, participants from the 2005 Youth Empowerment Summit met to discuss their experiences with USA Funds Unlock the Future and the effects that the program had on their postsecondary-education goals. 

Back-to-School Rallies
This year, more than 9,000 students will participate in IBE Back-to-School Rallies, which are conducted in each of the IBE-chapter cities in Indiana. The rallies help students enter school ready to learn by providing educational materials and school supplies. The rallies also incorporate local-school goals in areas such as parental involvement, academic achievement and cultural awareness.

The Back-to-School Rallies serve as an opportunity to rejuvenate students, parents, teachers and administrators and celebrate the upcoming school year. IBE will offer USA Funds Unlock the Future to select parents and students in conjunction with the rallies. IBE encourages each chapter to share the early awareness program with middle-school administrators and local community organizations and churches so that those organizations can offer the program at their sites.