2010 Promising Projects — Community Capital Projects

At the corner of Columbia Avenue and 9th Street near downtown Holland, Hope College plans a new acoustically excellent performance space that will house its nationally accredited music department and play host to a diverse offering of local and regional arts programming.
Strengthening the integration of campus and community, the new facility, once complete, will provide the community access to a first-class music venue, one of few in the Holland/Zeeland area and the only one immediately adjacent to the downtown. The extent to which the facility will serve the broader community, attract regional audiences to public performances, and to local restaurants and shopping made the project ideal for Frey Foundation funding.

With philanthropic support, the all-volunteer Oden Community Association (Community Association) came together to repair the one room schoolhouse that serves as the village’s community hall. The facility is the centerpiece of activity in this enclave of less than 100 residents, hosting family reunions, wedding receptions and funeral dinners.

Located just north of Petoskey on the shores of Crooked Lake, the village of Oden has no taxing authority. The Community Association instead mobilized local donors and journeymen to help complete the project. More than just bricks and mortar, the community hall renovation exemplifies the broadly supported, mission enhancing capital project likely to attract Frey Foundation funding.