Sylvia and Dave visited the Michigan statehouse in Lansing. In general, our lawmakers are receptive and supportive. We spent some quality time with Senator Damoose, Representatives Borton and Roth who submitted a $2.4M appropriation request in the House system. With the state of the this year’s budget, it is clear we should not depend on an appropriation. We won’t know for sure if any monies will be granted till the last minute on September 30th when the budget has to be signed by law. It is possible that special appropriations will be pushed into a supplemental budget at the end of the year.
We are awaiting word on the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Tribal 2% grant application for $42k. We expect to hear something by mid July for help on the back parking lot. That is part of the total capital estimate for the building and equipment.
It is becoming clear that foundations are not interested in funding capital projects (new buildings and equipment). Modest sums for programming and capacity building would be available, but only after we have a facility.
We complied the results of the pickleball workshop and will issue a report early August. Thanks to all of you who provided input on that important piece of the plans. From that input and the input from other stakeholder groups, we will develop a new user matrix and operating model in August. The focus will be ensuring that we will have a self-sustaining operation.
We expect to start private donation pledge requests later this fall. It is important at the start that we have a donor database to work from. Work on the database has begun.