Gov. Tony Evers announced Thursday The Center for Black Excellence and Culture will receive a $5 million grant toward capital development and building groundbreaking.
The Center is a community-wide effort to bring together a collective Black brilliance to affirm, inspire and advance the Black community in Madison and beyond, according to its mission. The Center will be a three-level, 65,000-square-foot destination and will focus on the areas of health and wellness, leadership and innovation, performing and arts visuals, and youth and families.
The grant was announced at a press conference in South Madison featuring Gov. Evers and The Center Founder & CEO Dr. Alex Gee. The Center was put forward to receive a grant by Dane County Executive Joe Parisi, who committed $810,000 in county funding to The Center in 2021.
“We are deeply appreciative to Governor Tony Evers and Dane County Executive Joe Parisi for responding to the powerful vision of Madison’s Black community with a seismic investment in our future,” said Dr. Alex Gee. “We also appreciate Mayor Rhodes-Conway’s continual support of the project. By supporting The Center’s construction, this grant carries the multi-generational empowerment of Black families, Black business leadership, Black arts and Black excellence. Today, our collective dream of a cultural home is on the doorstep of becoming a reality.”
The governor also announced four other community projects in Madison that will be funded through the State’s Neighborhood Investment Fund including The Bayview Foundation’s housing and community center at the Triangle, The Madison Public Market, The Urban League of Greater Madison’s Black Business Hub, and Centro Hispano’s community center.”
“This is an unprecedented investment in South Madison,” Urban League CEO Ruben L. Anthony, Jr. said in a statement. “The Governor, County Executive, and Mayor are investing in an area that has historically seen under-investment. This will pay back in economic empowerment for the residents and families of South Madison for many generations to come.”
The Neighborhood Investment Fund was offered as a competitive grant for local and Tribal governments to invest in the recovery of their neighborhoods after COVID.
With today’s $5 million grant, The Center, which is on track to begin late this year, has now raised $17 million of its $36 million capital campaign in six months.
