On August 22, 2023 representatives from the City of Cincinnati, the Evanston Community Council, architects from emersion DESIGN, contractor Skanska USA Building, developer Neyer Properties, and other contractors and friends joined Cincinnati Public Radio Board members and staff for the groundbreaking celebration for the new home of 90.9 WGUC, 91.7 WVXU and 88.5 WMUB.
The former surface parking lot was prepped and ready for construction. Mu Sinclaire (CPR Board Chair and Campaign Co-Chair) and Otto Budig (CPR Board Member Emeritus and Campaign Co-Chair) shared more about the campaign and thanked Tim Maloney (Campaign Co-Chair) for Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile Foundation’s leadership gift. They also expressed deep gratitude to Marilyn Scripps and announced the name of our new building, The Scripps Family Center for Public Media.
CPR has raised $18 million, more than half of the total campaign, and that the board and staff are committed to protecting public radio and dedicated to raising the remaining funds needed to build this permanent home.
Cincinnati has a rich history of supporting the arts and local non-profits. Billions of dollars have been raised locally for dozens of capital campaigns within just the past 10 years. But Cincinnati Public Radio has never launched a formal capital campaign, even when the decision was made to purchase WVXU in 2005. To preserve WVXU as a local news radio station CPR borrowed $15 million to purchase it from Xavier University – and paid off that loan five full years early.
This Building Connections campaign is challenging with a change of venue and the pandemic, but Cincinnati Public Radio has done it before, and (with your help) we can do it again.