Your Story. Our Community.

As an educator, I’m a relentless, tireless advocate for kids. I treasure the vision of kids learning and growing. Arts for Learning brings arts to the lives of kids. In my experience, kids need lots of opportunity to build confidence, identity, and creativity. Arts for Learning brings those to the lives of kids.
—Charlie, secretary of the board for Arts for Learning

The most rewarding thing is showing the kids that the bicycle can be used as a tool not only for exercise but for exploring their city. The sky is the limit. As long as we keep plugging along and keep doing what we’re doing, there’s no stopping what we can do.
—Chris, program operations director at Nine13sports

I have seen so many miracles here. You can have the worst day ever but when you arrive at Agape and you see the staff, students and horses, you’re overcome with peace and it turns into the best day ever. You feel so much joy and love by giving back.
–Tina, volunteer at Agape Therapeutic Riding Resources

We really meet our students where they are, and they appreciate having the opportunity for a second chance. We want to accept students who really need the training and are sincere about working hard in the industry. We’ve had over 700 graduates, including a former chef for the Colts, but I’ve seen some of my students here, and they’ve already gotten management positions. They’ve done a lot in a year and a half’s time.
—Vincent, director of culinary job training at Second Helpings

Libraries are not traditionally places that immigrant or refugee communities are accustomed to. Often in their home countries libraries do not exist at all—the concept makes no sense. Or libraries are connected to government, which can be iffy at times. So we try to reshape how that community sees and experiences libraries; what do we need to do to serve them effectively as those demographics shift and grow. We offer programs and classes specifically for these groups of people. Bilingual experiences and conversation circles. We have many people who say that they’ve never heard of people from these countries, and they’re our neighbors.
—Jessica, immigrant program specialist at The Indianapolis Public Library

Like any business we need funding to operate. It is very important for us to be clear about our niche, what we do and why. We have some service fees for folks that can pay to be here, scholarships for those who can’t, and those fees don’t come close to covering our expenses. We need to raise 70% of our operating and program expenses.

Organizations like CICF are cornerstones to allowing us to serve our riders. We could not do what we do without them. The donors that give to CICF and the team there change our community. Whether you’re a donor or volunteer, you are positively changing the community and families in Central Indiana.
—Amanda, executive director of Agape Therapeutic Riding