OUR PLAN

Project Overview

We are a 5-member nonprofit board under the name Florence Community Center dba Florence Recreation Facility (FRF), which began its start in the early spring of 2019. FRF is spearheading the renovation of the dilapidated recreation facility at Florence Carlton School (FCS) which is a K-12 campus with 783 students. FRF’s vision was born out of believing deeply, there should be a functional and thriving outdoor facility for the Florence Carlton students and the greater Florence community. Our mission is to create a safe space that connects education, community, and athletics to lifelong health and wellness.

The recreation facility has had significant deferred maintenance primarily due to a lack of funding. Though our district recently passed a $16 million bond, these funds are specifically allocated to a new K-5 building and renovations on the existing school building. We see a great opportunity to work in tandem with our school building improvements to renovate the school's recreation facility. It would be valuable to note here that two portions of the recreation facility, the softball field, and the football field, have received major upgrades and renovations via community volunteer efforts in labor, monetary donations, and grant funds. Our renovation project will provide upgrades for both of those areas but will focus on the completion of the track and the rest of the outdoor facility. This includes the surrounding grounds, especially related to the lack of the following: ADA compliance, all-weather 10-lane rubberized surface track, practice fields, utilities, secure fencing, event buildings, and adequate storage buildings

The FCS outdoor facility is a multipurpose facility serving primarily K-12 for sporting events, health enhancement, physical education classes, and recess. In addition, the greater Florence community uses the run-down track regularly for healthy outdoor physical activity. By completing the Florence Recreation Facility, all Florence Carlton students including those in need of ADA access will have an enhanced and much greater opportunity for healthy outdoor physical activity. We genuinely believe “if you build it, they will come!” We have had great enthusiasm and support for the fundraising efforts of the proposed 10-lane rubberized track we would like to build. This upgrade to the recreation facility would give our middle school and high school track programs the proper facility to practice and compete. In addition, our very popular youth Mileage Club, which encourages a fun lunch recess program for K-5 students to tally their run/walk laps on the track in exchange for tokens of accomplishment, would have an appropriate, safe facility to grow their love of running. These outdoor physical enhancement programs are run by K-12 Florence Carlton school teachers, physical education teachers, and volunteers. All of these individuals put in countless hours and are so valuable to the success of these programs for our students.

The Florence Recreation Facility has received approximately $51,000.00 in grant monies and donations since we began our project in 2019.

We have hosted a community block party, three home-coming 5k fun runs, and a summer movie in the park night for local fundraising. With our awarded grant funds and monetary donations, we have been able to contract the WGM Group which is a comprehensive engineering, planning, and design firm creating sustainable communities since 1966 in Montana.

We have successfully completed our schematic design layout drawings. This step is our most exciting and critical move forward as it gives a visual & financial overview of the completed project. With this step completed, we will be able to move forward more successfully with our fundraising & grant-writing efforts.

Our short-term goals are to continue our grant writing and look for opportunities to acquire funding for the completion of the recreation facility. Our long-term goals are to have a completed recreation facility that is ADA accessible, fully functional, and safe for many generations of Florence students and the greater Florence community.

The goal of the Florence Recreation Facility Board of Directors is to steward the execution and completion of the facility. Upon fulfillment of our commitment, we will donate it in its entirety, to Florence Carlton School.