The Foundation for Roanoke Valley has announced it has awarded $50,000 from its Unrestricted Community Catalyst Funds to support Center in the Square’s capital campaign efforts to raise money for the cultural facility’s historic restoration and LEED renovation.
According to Alan Ronk, Executive Director for Foundation for Roanoke Valley, “The Foundation has ‘Economic Development’ as one of its three discretionary grants focus areas, with special emphasis on supporting the important role that arts and cultural organizations play in attracting and retaining good businesses. Center in the Square has long been one of the anchors of the cultural community, and the Foundation felt it was very important that we support Center’s campaign.”
Funds from Foundation for Roanoke Valley will support Center in the Square’s goals of revitalizing the 25-year-old, 174,000 square-foot building to accommodate current and future technology advances, enhance cultural and educational offerings, and reduce its carbon footprint. The restored Center in the Square, which is on track to be certified as LEED-Silver, will be only the third Virginia historic renovation project to attempt LEED certification.
“We see the new Center in the Square as a show piece for ingenuity, conservation, and education,” says Jim Sears, President of Center in the Square. “The improvement we’re making today will bring us future economic development opportunities, significantly enrich the education of our children, and indelibly enhance the quality of life for our citizens. We’re grateful to the Foundation for its generous support of these goals.”
Foundation for Roanoke Valley, the region’s community foundation, currently administers over 240 named endowment funds on behalf of the community. Unrestricted endowments are particularly powerful as they provide the Foundation with the flexibility over time to seek out and fund highly-effective programs across a wide-range of community needs. Individuals interested in establishing their own personal or family legacy through an unrestricted endowment or any of the many other types of endowment funds offered by the community foundation can visit www.foundationforroanokevalley.org or call (540) 985-0204.
