Ten Years of IMPACT: A Changemaker Investment That Continues to Transform Lives
Ten Years of IMPACT: A Changemaker Investment That Continues to Transform Lives
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of IMPACT 100’s Investment in Lutheran Child & Family Services and Ascent 121
In 2016, Lutheran Child & Family Services (LCFS) and Ascent 121 received the $100,000 Changemaker Award to strengthen services for young people who were survivors—or at significant risk—of sexual exploitation. That investment helped build the foundation for what has become one of the most comprehensive systems of residential, behavioral health, educational, and supportive services for these vulnerable young people in the region.
From an Investment to a Comprehensive Continuum of Care
At the heart of this work is LCFS’s IMPACT Program, which provides young women with something every survivor deserves: a safe place to heal, grow, learn, and envision a future beyond exploitation.
Since receiving the Changemaker Award, LCFS has significantly expanded its capacity and services. Today, six of our seven secure residential centers and two community-based group homes at Lutherwood serve only female survivors, creating a continuum of housing and support designed to meet young women at different stages of healing and independence.
Through a longstanding collaboration among LCFS, Ascent 121, and Community Health Network, young survivors have access to coordinated, trauma-informed care addressing the many dimensions of recovery.
Ascent 121 brings specialized expertise in serving youth impacted by trafficking and exploitation. As a critical partner in the IMPACT model, Ascent 121 helps ensure survivors receive specialized, survivor-centered behavioral health services that recognize the complexity of trauma and the long-term nature of healing.
Community Health Network strengthens the continuum through behavioral and health care expertise, helping ensure that young people have access to the clinical support necessary to address their physical, emotional, and mental health needs.
Together, we have developed a coordinated community response built around the needs of each young survivor.
Education and Opportunity Are Part of Healing
The IMPACT Program has continued to evolve because recovery is about more than addressing trauma—it is also about helping young people rediscover their potential.
LCFS partners with Indianapolis Public Schools to provide four teachers onsite, allowing residents to continue earning academic credits while receiving residential treatment. Young people have achieved record levels of credit completion, an important milestone for youth whose education may have been disrupted by trauma, instability, or exploitation.
LCFS has also expanded career and workforce development opportunities through Pathways to Purpose, helping residents explore careers, build practical skills, and prepare for employment and greater independence.
These opportunities send an important message to every young person in the program: Your past does not define your future.
Ten Years Later, the Changemaker Legacy Continues
The true value of philanthropy is not measured only by what happens in the year a gift is made. It is measured by what that investment makes possible in the years and even decades that follow.
The $100,000 Changemaker Award from IMPACT 100 in 2016 helped LCFS and Ascent 121 strengthen an innovative approach to serving young survivors of exploitation. Ten years later, that investment can be seen in expanded residences, specialized behavioral health care, onsite education, workforce opportunities, community partnerships, and—most importantly—the lives of young women who have been given a safe place to begin again.
What started as an investment in a promising partnership has grown into a comprehensive continuum of care for some of Indiana’s most vulnerable young people.
As we celebrate this 10-year anniversary, Lutheran Child & Family Services and Ascent 121 extend our deepest appreciation to the women of Impact 100 who believed in this work and invested in its potential.
Your generosity did more than fund a program.
You helped build a model of care. You expanded what was possible. And ten years later, you are still changing lives.
