CAP: History and Purpose
In the spring of 1995, the corporate public involvement division of Lincoln National Corporation envisioned Creative Alternative Programs (CAP) as an innovative response to the growing problem of youth violence in the Fort Wayne community. The program is now funded by two local foundations: The Lincoln Financial Group Foundation, the charitable arm of the Lincoln National Corporation, and the Foellinger Foundation, created in 1958 by Esther A. Foellinger.

The program is administered by Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne, a united arts fund and local arts council with over 50 years of providing funding, guidance and advocacy for non-profit arts and cultural organizations in a ten county region in northeast Indiana.

CAP is based on the belief that hands-on arts experiences can be a stabilizing influence in the lives of youth placed at-risk, stimulating the development of personal responsibility, creativity, problem solving skills, judgment, values identification, intercultural tolerance and understanding, and job opportunities through education.

The CAP grant program is meant to stimulate, fund, and foster collaborative programs involving arts and cultural organizations as well as individual artists partnering in the planning and implementation of programs to serve school-aged youth.