I’ve worked with the volunteer Partnership Board and campaign committee for The New JACC for nearly four years. These folks are the most dedicated, passionate and determined group of individuals I have ever met. I want to explain to my friends and neighbors in Juneau what they are going to get for their investment.
This team has worked diligently to make the New JACC a reality and understand that public funds for projects like the JACC, at every level of government, are increasingly difficult to obtain. There is much competition for limited available funds. This is why advocates of the project are working to raise 70-75% of project costs from private sources. The project cannot be built without this level of participation from the private sector. This includes not only raising funds from local individuals and businesses, but also from statewide and national businesses, corporations, foundations and other nonprofit sources.
Until recently, proponents would have turned to public funding first for a project like the New JACC. In the days of oil wealth abundance, state funds built many projects. The Performing Arts Center in Anchorage is an example of past state largesse. Public funds will not build the New JACC, but they remain essential for its successful completion. Local support through private giving, along with limited city and borough financial participation, provide evidence that the community is behind the project, and is vital in order for project sponsors and involved citizens to fundraise from non-public sources. Let’s do this!
Katharine Heumann,
Executive Director of New JACC
• My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire.