The Chicago-based Big Shoulders Fund, which provides support to elementary and high schools serving students from low-income backgrounds, has announced a $16 million gift from the Bruce and Beth White Family Foundation in Merrillville, Indiana.

The organization will use the gift to extend its programming to northwest Indiana, build the capacity of school communities in the region, and support students and families in areas of greatest need, including Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago. Initial investments will provide operational support and academic programming for ten schools in the Catholic diocese of Gary, where approximately thirty-three hundred students are enrolled. In another ten schools serving twenty-six hundred students, teachers and administrators will receive professional development opportunities.

To that end, the initiative will provide technology, curricular resources, and instructional and data coaching to the schools. The fund also will work to boost student enrollment and provide financial aid opportunities, STEM scholarships, and summer enrichment  programs. Employees of White Lodging, the hotel development and management firm founded by Bruce White, will support the initiative through volunteerism and other activities.

"We are so grateful for the White family’s tremendous support and generosity, which has made it possible for us to provide support and assistance to additional communities in need," said Big Shoulders Fund president and CEO Josh Hale. "Not only are they making this extension of our programming to northwest Indiana possible, but they will also continue to support Big Shoulders Fund in Chicago through scholarships, operational support for schools, and summer enrichment programs."