Workshop Houston’s Capital Campaign

Workshop Houston is six months into its Capital Campaign to secure a new home. With the help of our supporters and volunteers, we have made incredible progress towards our vision of a vibrant center of activity and community. We have fully renovated and reopened the Bike Shop, while also completing a comprehensive site plan for the rest of the campus, and raising more than half of the funds we need for the Campaign.

In summer of 2006, Workshop Houston unexpectedly lost its original space and had to move. This was a trying time, but we were motivated by our responsibility to the youth and adults who have come to rely on the organization and who have put so much into it. We decided to purchase a permanent home to ensure Workshop Houston will be a part of the lives of our participants well into the future. After searching the neighborhood, we found ideal new location to continue our work at 3529, 3531 and 3615 Sauer Street , and launched our Capital Campaign to pay for its purchase and renovation.

Our new site has 5,650 square feet of indoor space and nearly 10,000 square feet of land Ð plenty of space for our current programs, and to expand in coming years. The campus is comprised of two adjacent properties: a former pool hall (3615 Sauer) which houses the Bike and Chopper Shops, and a lot which holds two residential fourplexes (3529 and 3531 Sauer) that will be converted into the Beat and Style Shops, as well as offices and our new tutoring center, the Homework Shop (see article pg 2). The new location is within blocks of Blackshear Elementary School, Ryan Middle School, and Yates High School, which most of our participants attend. The Columbia Tap Trail, a new bike path that will connect downtown to Hermann Park , will run directly behind the site.

In order to move as quickly as possible, we signed leases for the properties in September of 2006 so we could immediately begin renovations. At the same time, we signed option contracts for their purchase. Since then, we have been simultaneously renovating so that we can reopen our programs and raising the money for the project. The properties, though in better condition than many others we looked at, were in poor shape. We have worked to make our new spaces safe, comfortable, and accessible for our participants. We opened the beautiful new Bike and Chopper Shop on January 27 th (see article pg 1). Our team of pro bono architects has created a site plan with indoor and outdoor program spaces that will create a unified and welcoming campus, and we are currently beginning to renovate the buildings that will house the Style Shop, Beat Shop, and the new Homework Shop.

To date, funds for the Capital Campaign have been raised through a combination of foundation grants, fundraisers, and individual and corporate support. With a $50,000 matching gift from the Bridgeway Charitable Foundation and a recent grant from the Houston Endowment, we will be closing on the Bike Shop property this month. We have received in-kind support in the form of air conditioning, lighting and an overhead security door for the Bike Shop, and a much-needed new electrical system for the Style and Beat Shop buildings. Through the dedication and hard work of our supporters, board and staff we have already raised over $235,000 of our $421,000 goal.

We are working to raise the remaining $186,000 to reach this goal by June 2007, when our option contract expires. We have come a long way in a short period, but still have more to do. If you can, please support the Capital Campaign, and help Workshop Houston bring to life its vision of a place that is much more than the sum of its programs, a place where people of all ages gather to work, play, learn and achieve together. We are looking forward to all the great thing to come at the new campus, and hope you will join us in making it a truly vibrant and uplifting center for the community.