Stadelman support brings $800,000 to local museums

Thanks to support from State Senator Steve Stadelman, three local museums will receive a combined $838,000 to make improvements and create new exhibits.   

“Museums provide extraordinary opportunities for education and great environments to expand our minds, experience art and learn about science and history," Stadelman said. “The grants going to these museums will help them bring more of all of those things to our community."

Discovery Center Museum will receive $433,000, the largest of the three grants, to improve air quality and accessibly in the interactive children's museum in Riverfront Museum Park in downtown Rockford.

"The COVID pandemic increased our understanding of our need for additional airflow in the museum galleries,” said Lana Paris, director of development. “Capital investments like this allow Discovery Center to continue to offer an exceptional experience for each of our visitors.“

Museum Capital Grants were announced Wednesday by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which awards the funds to help public museums expand and upgrade facilities and create new exhibits.

Rockford Art Museum, also located in the riverfront museum campus, will be awarded $301,000 to upgrades its HVAC system. "Rockford Art Museum is grateful for the funding awarded through the State of Illinois,” said Carrie Johnson, interim executive director. “This is the first step to replacing this aged system."

Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum and Gardens on South Main Street in Rockford will tackle several projects with $104,000 in state funding -- new UV filters for the windows, a rebuilt brick pathway through the iris garden and pedestrian overpass to the railroad garden.

"With this new accessibility to our garden space, the museum hopes to reinstall the original Victorian gardens once landscaped by Robert Tinker himself," said Samantha Hochman, executive director. “Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum is beyond grateful for this generous grant."

Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum

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New food program could support farmers and underserved neighborhoods

Interested in the sound of a state program to provide grant assistance to local growers who distribute food to underserved communities sound? Join a listening session at 1 p.m. March 16 and offer your thoughts.

If successful, a grant application by the Illinois Department of Agriculture and Illinois Department of Human Services would bring $14.4 million dollars to Illinois to support socially disadvantaged farmers and deliver agricultural products to underserved communities that are not part of the usual food distribution network.

A webinar link will be provided to those who register for the listening session online.

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Grants available for youth-oriented efforts to reduce gun violence

In November 2021, Illinois launched the Reimagine Public Safety Act, a data-driven, community-based program to prevent and interrupt gun violence. As a part this initiative, the state will award $250 million over three years through competitive Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs). Providers selected will work to address the root causes of firearm violence in Illinois.

Services will be aimed at communities with the most concentrated incidents of firearm violence, Rockford among them.

Youth Development Services NOFO (444-80-2775) applications are due March 21, 2022, at 12 p.m. CST. Eligible initiatives include after-school and summer programming to increase school attendance and school performance, reduce criminal justice system involvement, and build social-emotional intelligence. More than 100 grants for a minimum of $100,000 each are expected to be awarded.
 

Click here for more information including application instructions.