WAUSAU – The city of Wausau will receive the 2024 Audrey Nelson Award from the National Community Development Association for Wausau’s role in acquisition of the Community Partners Campus, the city announced this week.
The city will be recognized at the NCDA’s winter conference on Feb. 2.
The Community Partners Campus is a shared space, nonprofit center focused on providing a one-stop shop for basic needs services. CPC helps community nonprofits meet guest needs with an emphasis on food, clothing, shelter, medical, mental health and social well-being.
Sharing physical space offers a more effective and efficient guest experience with each organization under one roof, thereby eliminating the need to arrange transportation between appointments, and providing more personal and faster referrals.
Wausau contributed Community Development Block Grant money – $150,000 – to assist with the purchase of what was then an existing, vacant office building. A capital campaign raised the remaining money.
“Community Partners Campus is one of those innovative, but obvious solutions to social challenges that makes you wonder why nobody thought of it sooner,” said Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg in a news release. “But thanks to the visionary leadership of Brian Gumness, Kevin Noel, and incredible community champions like Tara Glodowski, our whole metro area has a one-stop place to get a variety of needs met.”
Glodowski, Community Partners Campus executive director, gives kudos to the city for the achievement.
“It’s incredibly commendable that the city recognizes the importance of supporting nonprofits providing basic needs services,” she said in the release. “Their commitment to funding a space for these vital organizations to come together under one roof speaks volumes about their dedication to the well-being of the entire community.”
The CPC co-located services do more than help guests. Nonprofits and funders reap benefits, too. It saves on overhead and provides shared services, like kitchen access, which is often prohibitively expensive to duplicate. Fundraising efforts can now be concentrated on guest services, rather than “keeping lights on,” which allows more of each dollar donated to go directly to guest care.
This project attracted over 500 individual donors, ultimately raising more than $7.2 million.
