The Alex Foundation has obtained a $15,000 grant from the Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation to provide students with architecture and design skills.
The grant will allow the Alex Foundation to purchase architecture supplies and materials and retain architects to provide architecture and design training to middle and high schools in the Southeast Arkansas Delta, according to a news release.
Students will also participate in shadowing days and field trips at the Little Rock-based Cromwell Architects Engineers, as part of a recent partnership with the firm to give students direct exposure to skills and services in the profession.
McKinley Thomas, president of the Alex Foundation, said the grant is vitally important to give students added value 21st century creative and technical skills.
“We are delighted to partner with the King Foundation to support giving students year round architecture and design training for eighth and ninth graders,” Thomas said. “In doing so, students will access a continuum of valuable skills.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Angela Courtney, Alex Foundation executive director, said the grant will help prepare students for success in the architecture and design profession.
“The architecture and design profession is a large user of advanced software including Autodesk, Revit, Google Sketch, Form Z and other CAD and modeling programs,” Courtney said. “STEM is a major factor in preparing students for success in this profession – in turn the architecture curriculum produces graduates with keen problem-solving skills that can be used universally. The King Foundation’s grant is a tremendous help for students in the Delta, where architects do not exist. This award allows us to level up the opportunities that will be made available to them.”
Carl B. and Florence E. King started the foundation in 1966. Established by gifts from the Kings as well as a later bequest from their daughter, Dorothy, the foundation has now grown to more than $100 million in assets.
The foundation distributes more than $3 million per year to charities serving the Dallas-Fort Worth area, 38 counties in West Texas and 32 counties in Arkansas, according to the release. Details: www.kingfoundation.com.
The mission of the Alex Foundation is to engage students to consider careers and entrepreneurial opportunities in architecture, design, and the built environment. This mission is achieved through mentoring, strengthening students’ capacity, and supporting their educational attainment. The foundation is a recipient of several awards, including the 2020 Dean’s Medal of Distinction bestowed by the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. Details: www.alex-foundation.org.