IRON MOUNTAIN PUBLIC Schools and Imagination Factory board members and other community leaders gather in front of the new Imagination Factory Community Center, soon to feature a first-floor Imagination Factory Children’s Museum. From left, in the first row are Megan Blomquist, architect; Kim Webb, IFCC board member; Helen Paquette, IFCC accountant; Cherie Fila, IFCC board member; Shari Picucci-White, IMPS board treasurer; Tamara Juul, IFCC board member; and Rob Langsford, IMPS board member. In the second row are John Estes, IFCC board president; Barb Reisner, IFCC executive director team leader; Jerry Sardina, IMPS superintendent; Eli Ward, IMPS board member; Geno Basanese, IMPS board secretary; Lois Ellis, executive director, Dickinson Area Economic Development Alliance; Mindy Meyers, future executive director of the DAEDA; and Jonathan Ringel, IFCC co-director. (Courtesy photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — The new Imagination Factory Community Center in Iron Mountain has earned a $1.3 million Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Community Center Grant.

It was the largest Community Center grant awarded in the Upper Peninsula and ranks among the top 10 allocations statewide, Barb Reisner, Imagination Factory executive director team leader, stated in a news release.

The Imagination Factory Children’s Museum is a nonprofit organization established in 2019, with doors opening on the museum in 2021 in the upstairs classrooms of Iron Mountain Public School’s former Central Middle School, 217 W. Hughitt St.

The museum has exhibits in three rooms and activities and meetings in two rooms, plus uses lower-level space as needed for family events, trainings and education series.

The organization now plans to develop a comprehensive community center in Iron Mountain’s now-vacant original junior high school, across West Hughitt Street from the museum, that would provide a diverse set of services, including afterschool programming, workforce development, recreational activities, children’s museum, leadership training, career planning and supporting parents and older adults, Reisner said.

The building at 301 W. Hughitt St. was completed in 1938 as a project under the Public Works Administration, which at the time supplied an $89,860 grant for the $201,387 project.

“Our Imagination Factory was a perfect fit for this extraordinary Michigan grant opportunity,” she said. “At the Imagination Factory we believe in teaching children to love to learn; promoting comprehensive career planning impacting high school graduates to know their purpose in life; and providing a safe place where everyone belongs by setting a future goal of having free admission to the children’s museum and community center activities. We want to sustain and create a mind set and belief that everyone deserves to walk through the community center entrance to make positive connections with others and to feel welcomed and supported.”

The funds are part of $64 million in state Community Center grants distributed to 100 Michigan municipalities and organizations to expand programming or work on capital projects affecting 1.6 million Michigan residents.

“Community centers anchor thriving communities across Michigan, offering Michigan residents places to gather, connect, learn, and access resources,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a news release. “This funding for community centers will help deliver on a vision to revitalize cities and towns across Michigan by making them more attractive places to live, work and invest.”

Michigan Community Service Commission Executive Director Ginna Holmes and her team provided the Imagination Factory with information and guidance throughout the grant-writing process, the organization stated in a news release.

Holmes and her team reviewed more than 1,000 grant applications requesting in excess of $1 billion in funding. Grants were awarded to 69 nonprofit agencies, 22 local government agencies and nine schools or universities across the state.

“Special appreciation to Superintendent Jerry Sardina and the Iron Mountain School Board for believing and valuing the Imagination Factory Community Center mission and renovation plan, resulting in a 50-year lease for the Imagination Factory Community Center,” Reisner said. “… We promise to create the No. 1 community center in Michigan and to be nationally recognized for implementing a comprehensive career planning and workforce development program for all students.

“Our motto: ‘Make Your Mark’ at the Imagination Factory Community Center.”