BENTONVILLE -- The Walton Family Foundation has donated $2 million toward construction of a Northwest Arkansas Community College facility in Springdale, the college announced Monday.
Donations
Here are the donations made so far to the Northwest Arkansas Community College Foundation’s NWA Ripple Effect fundraising campaign:
$2 million from the Walton Family Foundation
$1.5 million from the the Jackson G. and Ella Frances Byrd Trust
$100,000 from the Black Hills Corp. Foundation
Source: Staff Report
The gift is the largest yet made to the college foundation's NWA Ripple Effect campaign, which has raised $3.6 million, nearly a quarter of the way toward the $15 million goal.
Mike Luttrell, chairman of the college foundation's board, said the Washington County center is one of many of the college's endeavors the Walton Family Foundation has supported over the years.
"We are really fortunate and thrilled they decided to support it with their investment," Luttrell said.
The college owns a 20-acre building site just west of Arvest Ballpark. The facility is expected to be 50,000 square feet and offer a blend of educational and workforce training.
The center will serve an estimated 2,000 students upon opening, with growth expected each semester. The college foundation's board anticipates starting construction by late 2017, according to a college news release.
Meanwhile, the fundraising continues.
"We are very hopeful for some other announcements over the next few months, and we're optimistic this project will continue to progress as we hoped it would," Luttrell said.
Luttrell, who lives and works in Springdale, noted the Springdale School District sends more of its graduates to the college than any other district.
This semester, 231 of the college's first-year students graduated from either Springdale or Springdale Har-Ber high schools. Rogers' three high schools accounted for the second-highest total at 213, according to numbers provided by Steven Hinds, college spokesman.
Of the college's 7,744 students last fall semester, 36.9 percent were Washington County residents.
The Bentonville-based Walton Family Foundation focuses on three areas: education, the environment and its home regions of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta.
The foundation also is financing the move of the college's culinary arts program from Rogers to downtown Bentonville with grants totaling more than $15 million.
Evelyn Jorgenson, the college's president, said the college is grateful to the Walton Family Foundation for the value it puts on expanding educational and empowerment opportunities in the region, according to the news release.
"The college's campaign mirrors those same values of increasing the economic prosperity of the region through education and training for all those with a desire to learn," Jorgenson stated in the news release.
Metro on 11/01/2016