Community Leaders Give Back to Children’s Museum

The 2018 NeighborWorks Great Falls Community Leadership Institute Team has awarded $4,000 to the Children’s Museum to benefit the summer camp program. Every year community leaders are brought together for NeighborWorks Community Leadership Institute (CLI), which is a national training that aims to strengthen the voices and skills of community, resident and volunteer leaders. NeighborWorks America (based in D.C.), each year fund projects born out of the institute. The 2018 team chose to benefit the Children’s Museum to help build capacity in one of their most impactful programs, the children’s’ educational summer camps. Started in 1996, the Museum “exists to ignite a lifelong passion for learning through hands-on exploration of science, math, and culture.”

According to their most recent demographic survey, 54% of the children that come to the Museum are low income families. That number doesn’t include the low income scholarship programs that they offer. This $4,000 will help pay for the additional staff that is needed to carry out the camps, as well as scholarships, marketing, art supplies and more. Shane Etzwiler, President of the Great Falls Chamber and 2018 CLI team member commented on the decision to focus on the Children's Museum " We are fortunate as a community to have the Children’s Museum in Great Falls to help our youth and people of all ages learn about the wonders and mysteries of our world and universe! Children love exploring, experiencing and learning and we are proud to be able to help this experience for our youth in this capacity".

About NeighborWorks Great Falls Community Leadership Institute:

Each year, NeighborWorks Great Falls takes 6 to 8 residents to a national NeighborWorks America training event that aims to strengthen the voices and skills of community, resident and volunteer leaders. At the training, residents learn best practices and solutions to everyday challenges in their communities. Participants from around the country attend in small teams from communities served by NeighborWorks network organizations and their partners. They attend a full range of courses and each participating team creates an action plan for making positive change in their community. In October 2019, NeighborWorks Great Falls will take 8 people to Chicago for this year’s CLI; the chosen action plan focuses on expanding the impact of our 37-year-old MApril Community Cleanup. If you are interested in being apart of a future CLI team, contact NeighborWorks office at 406-761-5861.