My name is Austin Hammond and I work as the development director at the Atlas Science Center (formerly the Paper Discovery Center). Last August, I started with Atlas and was excited to learn my role was made possible because of a grant from the Community Vision Fund within the Community Foundation.

Photo courtesy Atlas Science Center

The Community Vision Fund provides recipients of the award, such as the Atlas Science Center, an opportunity to address arts and culture, community and neighborhood development, environment, financial stability and well-being and nonprofit effectiveness. This grant makes it possible for nonprofits like the one that I work for to make much-needed investments into its future success. In the case of Atlas, it was creating a position to help with fundraising. A role focused on fundraising serves as a huge benefit for an organization.

Since joining Atlas, my biggest projects have been raising funds and advocating for our new exhibit, Wisconsin Industry Innovations (or WIn for short). The main goal for WIn is to help connect the next generation with the abundance of work opportunities in Northeast Wisconsin.

We’re here to inspire our guests that success is going to school, participating in an apprenticeship, or going right into the workforce. We want to be an innovative hub that provides our guests an opportunity to explore a variety of local career opportunities. I have enjoyed learning about the many amazing industries we have in the area. It has been a neat experience to meet with folks from different industries and hear why they’re excited about Atlas.

What does a Community Foundation do? Glad you asked! Learn more here.