Park Forest Historical Society Wins Grants and Aid
In December 2008, the Society was awarded a Consultant Services Grant from the Illinois Association of Museums. This is a small matching grant which will allow the Society to have a consultant hold a funding sources workshop for the board. The board plans to hold the workshop in March. We are grateful to the Illinois Association of Museums for recognizing the work we have been doing to move forward by awarding us these funds.
In January 2009, the Society was awarded a $2253 Local Tourism Grant from the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau which will greatly assist in marketing the 1950s Park Forest House Museum to potential visitors. The grant is a 60-40 match, which will help the Society design and print 10,000 copies of a new color brochure, pay for a web site designer to help update the website and iron out some of the "kinks" you have been experiencing with it, and to create and place a 2 x 2 ad in the Northwestern Region of Illinois through the Illinois Press Advertising Service targeting visitors outside the Chicago Southland region. We thank the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau for awarding the Society these funds, and trust that the marketing tools we create will bring visitors to the Chicago Southland.
In December 2009, the Society gained a 1% Public Architecture partner. This is a website and organization designed to bring together not for profits with building or design projects and architecture and design firms who will help them on a pro bono basis. Our project was listed on the site for about a year before we were contacted by John Benware of Silhouette Design of Chicago. John had designed the new Park Forest Health Department in the lower level of Village Hall while working for another firm. We are delighted to have his generous help evaluating buildings to house the archives and creating drawings of what the facility would look like.
The Society Board of Directors has been very busy working on Strategic and Business Plans, and long range budgets.
With the help of these two grants and the generosity of our 1% Public Architecture partner, we are truly taking some giant steps forward.
The Society wishes to thank Jane Nicoll for the time she has put into writing the two grants and listing the project on the 1% website. She is also, at this time, project director for both grants and is working with John Benware.
When you see any of the Society board members, stop and thank them for the tremendous amount of work they are putting into this project to keep Park Forest's history collections in Park Forest.
