LITTLE ROCK, AR – A fundraising goal of $4-million has been met that will allow Little Rock’s Our House to build a new children’s center.
The organization serves the working homeless.
“We are thrilled that our vision for expanding our programs for the most disadvantaged children in our community will become a reality,” said Georgia Mjartan, Executive Director of Our House. “And we are incredibly grateful to the hundreds of families, companies, and foundations that have chosen to invest in this project, which will have a positive impact in the lives of thousands of children and families over the coming years.”
Our House operates the state’s only children’s programs specifically for homeless, formerly homeless, and near-homeless children. That includes a licensed child development center for children ages 0-5 and an out-of-school-time youth program for children ages 6-17. The new center will serve as many as 142 children each day, up from Our House’s current capacity of less than 50 each day.
Our House raised the $4 million needed to build the Children’s Center from more than 350 different donors. All but one of the donors was private (Pulaski County provided funding for environmental remediation of the building site, a newly-acquired piece of land adjacent to Our House’s existing campus). The J.E. & L.E. Mabee Foundation was one of the largest donors, issuing a $665,000 challenge grant contingent upon raising the full construction costs by April 10, 2013. With this announcement, the terms of the Mabee challenge grant have been met.
The funds raised to date will cover the cost of construction of the 19,367 square foot center.
Our House is still raising additional funds to cover the costs of playgrounds, furnishings, and equipment for the new building.
Construction on the new center will begin next month and will take about 11 months to complete.
