The Community Foundation serving Howard, Clinton and Carroll counties has closed both its spring scholarship and grant cycles, triggering weeks of review work by local committees before awards are announced in May and June.
Scholarships: 229 Students in the Pipeline
Foundation staff told listeners that 229 students submitted the unified scholarship application before the March 1 deadline, a number they described as typical for recent years. Those applications are now being sorted and matched to specific donor-created scholarships before packets are sent out to volunteer review committees in each county.
“Once that application closes, the hard work begins,” said Emily Hemmersbach, chief marketing and communications director for the Community Foundation of Howard, Clinton and Carroll Counties. “We received 229 students…our committees are going to be hard at work here soon.”
Each county has its own scholarship committee made up of local residents who read applications, meet to discuss each student, and recommend recipients based on donor criteria and the overall profile of the student. “These are your local community members that are making these decisions,” Hemmersbach said. “We, at the foundation as staff, we just facilitate those conversations.”
Final scholarship decisions go to the foundation board for approval, with students typically learning their awards at high school honors programs in May; award nights across the three counties usually wrap up by June 1.
Encouraging Seniors Not to “Count Themselves Out”
Hemmersbach said foundation staff continue to meet students in area high schools who are not aware that one general application can qualify them for multiple scholarships. She urged current juniors and their families to start asking questions earlier so they are ready when applications reopen for the Class of 2027.
“I think it’s important for students to not count themselves out,” Hemmersbach said. “They count themselves out because they’re not the valedictorian of their class…that might not be what that donor was looking for when they made that scholarship.” She noted that many awards are tied to a student’s intended field of study, chosen college, or high school, rather than just grade point averages.
The foundation also administers several renewable scholarships, which can provide support beyond freshman year if students continue to meet requirements. Hemmersbach said those renewal opportunities are especially important because “the next few years are the tougher years for students” after initial aid packages are used.
Yard Signs and Community Visibility
In addition to the formal award nights, the foundation will again celebrate local recipients with yard signs placed at students’ homes after announcements are made.
“We wanted to find ways to celebrate the students,” Hemmersbach said. “When you’re driving all over your county, and you’re seeing those signs…that’s like five families, five students that are impacted by the dollars that are supporting the community foundation.” She called the project “just a fun” way to recognize student effort while also making the impact of donor dollars more visible.
Grants: Two “Massive” Processes at Once
Alongside scholarships, grant applications from nonprofits in all three counties closed the same week, with cycles ending March 2. The foundation runs two grant cycles each year in Carroll and Clinton counties and four in Howard County, meaning staff and volunteers are reviewing both student and nonprofit applications at the same time.
“That’s probably what maybe people don’t realize is we have two massive processes happening at the same time,” Hemmersbach said. “Our scholarships application closed on March 1, and our grant cycles in all three counties closed on March 2. So we have a lot of applications. A lot of committee members busy.”
Grant packets are prepared for committee members, who read proposals in advance and then meet to weigh community need, alignment with the foundation’s mission, and available dollars. Recommendations then go to the board before senior vice president Emerald Blankenship contacts organizations with both funding and non‑funding decisions.
Recent grants have supported a range of projects, from a golf cart to help volunteers maintain the Red Barn Theater property, to food bank support during last fall’s hunger concerns, to youth arts and nutrition programs and ball field lighting upgrades that extend safe play time.
New Communications Officer and Staff Recognition
The WILO Party Line program also introduced the foundation’s new communications officer, Katharine Collabro, who joined the staff two weeks ago. Collabro previously worked in communications in Lafayette and once covered Frankfort as a reporter for the Frankfort Times.
“I thought, man, if I can help that community in some way, like moving forward, I would love to do that,” Collabro said. “So when this job came up, I thought, oh my gosh…still be making a difference in other communities. And I had to take that chance.”
Hemmersbach noted that Emerald Blankenship was recently honored in Heartland Magazine’s inaugural “20 Under 40” list, recognition she said reflects the strength and community focus of the foundation’s staff. She added that while staff serve as a conduit, “the heroes in this story are the nonprofits and the donors who have a heart for the community.”