GH Foundation Community Grant, 2025 - asked $15k, awarded $25k.

With this application, we respectfully request a grant in the amount of $15,000 for the 2025-26 academic year, which would support STEAM Field Trips to The Neon Museum for Title 1 students in grades 3-12. As we focus especially on providing educational opportunities to underserved youth in Clark County, we feel our programming aligns well with the GH Foundation’s mission and charitable giving priorities.

This program is intended to supplement formal, curriculum-based education with learning in the object-based setting of the Neon Boneyard. Educational programming at The Neon Museum includes Nevada Academic Content Standards (NVACS) aligned tours and hands-on learning activities in the “Neon Boneyard” for Southern Nevada students. There are three different focuses for field trips, which educators choose between when confirming their booking: 1) Social Studies/Social Justice, 2) Visual Arts, and 3) Science and Engineering (STEAM). From elementary school to high school, students learn a variety of lessons related to the history, science and engineering of neon signs.

As the Museum’s 2024-25 academic year has already achieved capacity, with a waitlist of 32 schools, now is the time to begin effectively planning for the 2025-26 academic year. to accommodate as many Title 1 and home-schooled students as possible. A contribution from The GH Foundation makes educational offerings to low income and/or under-represented communities more accessible. You will provide important learning opportunities outside of the classroom environment which are more focused on self-discovery and exploration.

Nourish Nevada Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program for Underserved Families(IECHVP).
$500k grant award for 2-years ($100k total) from U.S. Department of Family and Community Well-Being (DFCWB) Office of Early Childhood and Family Support (OECFS).

The glitz of Las Vegas overshadows the reality of life for many residents of Clark County, Nevada. Covering an area of 8,061 square miles, the county is mostly urban with a large portion of residents who struggle to make ends meet and a significant number of children who arrive on their first day of kindergarten without the skills to lay a foundation for success.

Kindergarten Readiness is critical for a child’s lifelong success. Readiness is more than the ability to hold a pencil correctly, recognize colors and letters, and write their name. It includes a host of characteristics that include social-emotional skills such as self-regulation and emotional understanding, fine and gross motor skills, the ability to conduct basic self-care tasks, and cognitive skills such as problem solving and the ability to maintain attention. The Kindergarten Entry Assessment for the Clark County School District found that in the 2022-2023 school year, nearly 30% of Clark County children are NOT developmentally ready when they enter kindergarten.

The time before a child enters kindergarten is a critical period for brain and body development. During this time, a child’s experiences are forming hundreds of critical brain pathways and connections—more than at any other time in their life. Socioeconomic factors, parental educational attainment, access to health care (physical and behavioral), access to safe and reliable transportation, race/ethnicity, and unemployment can individually or collectively play an important role in appropriate childhood development.

State of Washington Tourism Sustainability Grant - asked $30k, awarded $25k.

As the only local employer of professional performing-arts contract personnel, Spokane Valley Summer Theatre seeks $30,000 to assist with our $390k budget for employing artists, musicians, technicians, and faculty. Other partnerships come from municipal grant funding, season and show sponsorships (including cooperative agreements with local hotels), playbill advertising, and direct contributions.

Objectives are to:
1) employ local talent,
2) to beat summer 2023 season ticket growth (which was up 65% from 2022) and single ticket growth (up 14% from 2022),
3) produce the best-selling and best attended season (and individual production) in company history for the 9th straight year in a row
4) Increase our out-of-town and out-of-state patronage.

In SVST’s company history, we have traditionally brought in 1/3 of patrons and Conservatory students from outside the cities of Spokane/Spokane Valley, and 15% annually from out of state (the majority of those are from North Idaho). In summer 2023, those figures took dramatic jumps to 54% and 39% respectively. This means over half our patrons attend our performances and camps from miles away. We estimate that half of those visiting require some kind of nearby lodging.

Geographic patron/student statistics tell us that much of our patronage comes from rural communities in Eastern WA/North ID with little or no access to the professional performing arts. Americans for the Arts shares that for every $1 spent on professional theatre, $32 is returned to the local economy.

Building for the Arts Grant was a $2M grant ask, resulting in a $1,799,000 award from the Governor and State Legislature.
Youth Recreational Facilities Grant was a $1.2M ask, resulting in an award of $1,140,720.
Both grants were for 2 years terms, 2023-2025.

The purpose of Spokane Valley Performing Arts Center (SVPAC, a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity) is to build, own, and operate a multi-faceted performing arts facility for the presentation of public and private events including: musicals, plays, concerts, recitals, classes, camps, music lessons, lectures, and other artistic presentations.

Other purposes include but are not limited to:
• Promoting the development of the arts, education and cultural activities in the Greater Spokane area through various means of programming within the general performing arts.
• Serving as an institutional resource for all to take part and remaining a legacy for the Spokane Valley community for generations to come.

Vision: The SVPAC aims to provide artistic, educational, cultural and social programs that provide a forum for creative and personal expression by and for residents of the Inland Northwest Region, further enhancing the lives of local residents and visitors, and utilizing the dedication of both staff and community volunteers to make productions of high artistic merit affordable and accessible to the local community.

Total cost of the project is $36M (including land and design costs) and 58,000 sq. feet. Amenities include: hydraulic lift under the stage for large set piece storage, grid trap system, full fly-loft, state-of-the-art lighting and sound, all comfort seating, twice as many ADA seats as required by law (plus completely ADA accessible), and many other perks.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for Aug. 13, 2022, occupancy of the facility in February 2024, and the first musical produced on the mainstage in June 2024. The Capital Campaign began in February 2021 and runs through Dec. 2025.