$700K Grant To Help Fund Naper Settlement Welcome Center

NAPERVILLE, IL — Naper Settlement is set to receive a grant in the amount of $700,000 from the state of Illinois to help fund construction of a new welcome center.

At more than 5,000 square feet, Naper Settlement's Innovation Gateway will serve as an updated welcome center with ADA-accessible features to accommodate more guests. The welcome center will also feature an interactive digital wall that spotlights photos, documents and other archives that tell the story of Naperville and Chicago's other western suburbs. Guests will also have a chance to share their own stories.

“With school children from 112 districts coming to Naper Settlement each year, the Innovation
Gateway will provide our students with the ability to see their communities’ stories told through
the people of the past and the present,” Naper Settlement President and CEO Rena Tamayo-Calabrese said in a news release.

Tamayo-Calabrese added, “By learning from and connecting to these local stories, students will be able to envision the endless possibilities that are available to them in their own backyard.”

The $700,000 grant will be part of the 2022 fiscal year budget for Illinois. On its website, Naper Settlement wrote that it plans to break ground on Innovation Gateway within the next year, but noted the project's construction is "funding dependent."

As of early August, the Innovation Gateway fund has also received a $500,000 grant from the Tellabs Foundation and $500,000 in donations from Christopher and Christine Birck and The Birck Family Fund at The Chicago Community Foundation.

Click the link to donate to the Innovation Gateway fund.