The Project Ready Program exists to ignite the potential of African-American and underserved 9th-12th grade youth in Indianapolis—developing resilient leaders, critical thinkers, and change-makers through mentorship, access, and opportunity, so they can thrive, lead, and redefine what’s possible.
While matriculating through high school, students learn how to prepare for and navigate college and life. They receive support with academic, leadership, social, cultural, and emotional skills through in-class activities and mentoring from our Project Ready site coordinators and Project Ready Mentors.
The Indianapolis Urban League in partnership with the National Urban League continues to secure funding to offer Project Ready as a free program. Currently, Project Ready is hosted in Warren and Wayne Townships at Warren Central and Ben Davis highschools, in Lawrence Township at Lawrence Central and Lawrence North high schools, Phalen Leadership Academies throughout central Indiana, and through the Indianapolis Urban League’s Urban Family Engagement Program (2Gen).
Project Ready Program Benefits:
- Annual Southern Slam HBCU College Tour
- Behind the Business Tours
- College and Career Readiness Workshops
- National Leadership Summits
- Access to scholarships, and more!
Key Program Accomplishments:
- McDonald’s Black History Maker Scholarship: Project Ready Seniors were nominated and received a $1,000 scholarship for three consecutive years from local McDonald’s operators
- In 2026, Five Project Ready seniors applied for and received Indianapolis Urban League Project Ready Scholarships for post-secondary education ($2,500 each)
- In 2024, Project Ready Indianapolis placed third in the Case Competition at the National Urban League’s Leadership Youth Summit.
Project Ready Program History:
The evidence-based Project Ready curriculum was developed jointly by the National Urban League and City University of New York (CUNY) and is comprised of three (3) major components: Academic Development, Social Development, and College Culture Awareness. More importantly, there is a set of explicit student outcomes for each curriculum component, which are guided by an Individual College Development Plan (ICDP). This plan is developed with input from participating students and their parents or caregivers.
In April 2008, the Indianapolis Urban League (IUL) received a two-year grant from the National Urban League to implement the Project Ready (PR) Curriculum in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis affiliate is one of the original eight Project Ready sites nationwide. Project Ready, a National Urban League initiative, which has a set curriculum, is a year-long program designed to prepare 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th-grade students to navigate college.
PROJECT READY SITE COORDINATORS
Darynne Messer
Lead Site Coordinator
dmesser@indplsul.org
Peter Max-Jones
Site Coordinator
pmaxjones@indplsul.org
Imani Luellen
Site Coordinator
iluellen@indplsul.org