Central Illinois Program

The Central Illinois Program makes grants and undertakes initiatives in education, preventative health and the creation of a vibrant nonprofit sector. This is The Foundation’s largest program, reflecting the Lumpkin family's historic connection and commitment to the community, as well its ongoing relationship with Consolidated Communications. The Lumpkin Family Foundation is committed to spending a minimum of 50 percent of its annual grant-making budget on projects in Central Illinois.

The Central Illinois Program is comprised of:

• Grant-Making to support projects in education and preventative health. Click here for more information on grant-making.
• Nonprofit Excellence Program which provides training, grants and peer networking and collaboration opportunities to small and medium-sized organizations in Central Illinois. Click here for more information on the Nonprofit Excellence Program.
• Soaring Schools! which is a school reform project with Mattoon High School. Click here for more information on the Soaring Schools!
• The Regional Alliance for Youth (RAY) is passionate about helping children in East Central Illinois grow up to realize their full potential.  To meet this goal, RAY has granted seed-funding for new projects proposed by organizations desiring to collaborate across sectors and across the region.

RAY grew out of the March 2006 Summit entitled, Helping Our Children Reach for the Future.  After two years, RAY has begun planning another regional summit to be held in 2009.  The summit will again to enable community leaders to learn with and from one another by tapping and building on existing resources to give all youth access to services and programs they need to flourish.  We are working with the following advisory team members to plan and offer the summit.

We are pleased to share the names of the folks providing leadership to the 2009 Summit Planning Committee.  This committee will work on all aspects of a 2009 conference to support the mission of RAY. 

• Robert Angus, Human Resources Center
• Deb Briseno, Douglas County Mental Health
• Robert Bushey, Central Christian Church
• Karen Crawford Simms, Mental Health Center of Champaign County at CUPHD
• Clyde Frankie, Casey-Westfield High School
• Kim Kuchenbrod, Workforce Development Specialist
• Sara Layton, Cumberland County Development Corporation
• David Lett, Pana C.U.S.D. #8
• Michelle Meadows, EIU- Family & Consumer Science
• Lucy Murphy, Decatur & Macon County Community Foundation
• Sherry Rocha, University of Illinois Extension
• Mitchell Shick, Circuit Judge- 5th Judicial Circuit
• John Stremsterfer, Sangamon County Community Foundation
• Peter Tracy, Champaign County Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Board

We thank these community leaders for their time and effort!  For more information, visit http://regionalalliance4youth.org/. 

Central Illinois Program Eligibility

To be eligible under this program, an organization must operate in Central Illinois. Click here to see a map of Central Illinois.

Please direct inquiries on the Central Illinois Program to:

Annie Hernandez
annie.hernandez@consolidated.com
217-234-5702