Fort Bend Children's Discovery Center

Cocktails and Conversation reception to explore what’s next in anticipated Fort Bend project
August 8  

HOUSTON (Aug. 1, 2012) – The Children’s Museum of Houston will kick off  its Fort Bend Children’s Discovery Center capital campaign with an evening reception from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2012 at the Sugar Land Skeeter’s Constellation Field.  The Museum, along with Imperial Johnson Development, will host “Cocktails and Conversation,” a fete to celebrate and discuss the upcoming plans for the project.

The Museum will recognize capital campaign co-chairs:  Debbie Fash, Jan Leaman, Rachel Leaman and Charlene Pate, as well as honorary co-chairs Evalyn Moore, Pat Hebert and Gay Thompson.  Also in attendance will be a host of Fort Bend corporate and community leaders. The event will provide updated information, naming opportunities, and marks the first publicized step towards fundraising for the Discovery Center. 

The Fort Bend Children’s Discovery Center is a special project of the Children’s Museum of Houston. The Museum seeks funds to open a year-round facility at the historic Imperial Development in the summer of 2015. The Discovery Center will occupy a 10,000 square foot restored building; it will house six exhibits with an additional outdoor space; and will give the Museum the opportunity to enrich the educational lives of Fort Bend’s children by expanding cultural and educational family-focused opportunities. The total fundraising goal of the entire project is $3.65 million.

To help reach the project’s financial goals, the George Foundation has pledged a $1 million challenge grant. In order to meet the challenge, the Museum must raise a matching $1 million by October 2013 from Fort Bend-based donors.  Leading Discovery Center fundraising will be Fort Bend resident and campaign manager, Mandi Bronsell, who has 15 years of fundraising experience.

The Museum has worked alongside Fort Bend for several years.  In 2007 and 2008, the Museum conducted summer venues at available retail spaces within Town Square in Sugar Land, each for six weeks. Those summer efforts were well received with 21,000 visitors each year.

The Museum has also delivered outreach programming to low income families living in Fort Bend since the mid 1990s.  It has worked with more than 40 partners in the community to ensure that underserved populations get free access to the Museum and to raise awareness about the Museum’s family learning programming.  Additionally, parents in Richmond, Rosenberg and Sugar Land have benefited from the Museum’s Parent Stars program, a school-based initiative which provides bilingual resources and support so they can increase the learning and literacy skills of their children.

ABOUT CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF HOUSTON
America’s No. 1 Children’s Museum” by Parents Magazine, winner of Nickelodeon Parents’ Picks “Best Museum in Houston 2009 & 2010,” Click2Houston’s “Best Museum 2010,” the Children’s Museum of Houston is a Citysearch.com’s nationwide 5-star children’s museum and it’s listed among Forbes’ “Best Children’s Museums in the U.S.”  It is dedicated to transforming communities through innovative, child-centered learning.  Founded in 1980 and housed in a whimsical building designed by internationally acclaimed architect Robert Venturi, the Children’s Museum of Houston offers a multitude of innovative exhibits and bilingual learning programs for kids ages birth to 12 years. The Museum serves more than 1,100,000 people annually and operates as a 501(c)(3) under the direction of a Board of Directors.