The Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation (IndyGo) Foundation is accepting applications from local 501(c)3 nonprofits for its 2024-25 Bus Fare Grant Program. The program awards up to $4,000 in transportation funding to each selected organization.
“These passes enabled us to provide transportation to participants who do not qualify for other transportation services due to funding restrictions. They have helped decrease food insecurity, improve health outcomes and allowed participants to make important appointments with their care teams," said Director of Essential Services at the Damien Center and a 2023-24 Bus Fare Grant recipient Jaime Reynolds.
“This allowed some of our people to get and maintain employment, which then helped them to be able to get housing and break the cycle of poverty and hopelessness that comes along with it," said Cornerstone Ministries of Indiana Vice President Michelle Miller.
In 2023, the Foundation’s Bus Fare Grant Program awarded $339,030 to 100 local nonprofits to increase public transportation accessibility for Marion County, Ind., residents. Since the program’s inception in 2021, awareness has rapidly grown and the number of applicants has more than doubled.
The IndyGo Foundation also offers nonprofit organizations a 50 percent discount on purchasing full-fare bus passes. Nonprofit discount applications are currently open and accepted year-round. The goal of these programs is to make it easier for nonprofits to assist under-resourced clients with transportation freedom. Using the bus passes provides Indianapolis residents the opportunity to seek employment and education and obtain food, healthcare and other essential services. In addition to these resources for nonprofits supported by the Foundation, IndyGo offers free and reduced programs to individual veterans, seniors, those with disabilities and students.
Applications to the 2024-25 Bus Fare Grant Program are now open until Sept. 30. Grants are expected to be announced in early 2025, culminating in a celebratory event on Transit Equity Day, Feb. 4, 2025.
