Rollins Avenue Open House
On Thursday October 11th, IW was pleased to welcome nearly 100 community partners, neighbors, staff, volunteers, and donors to our new main office at 981 Rollins Avenue in Rockville. In addition to being home to our administrative, operations, finance, development, and communications team, it is the new permanent location of our Vocational Services Program. Each year, our Vocational Services Program (VSP) serves more than 260 clients who are looking for sustainable jobs. The new VSP facility at Rollins Avenue includes space for meetings and mock interviews with clients, strategy sessions for the VSP team, and a new Computer Lab for client training, online interviews, and job applications. During the October 11th Open House, staff connected with guests about the importance of their new and expanded space and showed the impact that having access to a computer lab, office spaces and conference room has for our clients.
In addition, Open House guests were able to take a self-guided tour around the office, learn about our programs, and enjoy the donated artwork adorning the Rollins Avenue walls. The artwork – created and/or donated by IW staff, volunteers, and clients – creates a vibrant sense of community in the office. Our move to Rollins Ave. was made possible through many incredible partners, and we were able to thank and recognize them in a short ceremony during the event. Elected officials, local organizations, architects, and contractors all made this new facility possible. We expressed our gratitude to long-time supporters MD State Senator Cheryl Kagan and MD State Delegate Jared Solomon who co-sponsored a $350,000 legislative bond request on our behalf to provide us with the majority of the funding for this move. We also recognized Rockville City Council Member Monique Ashton for connecting IW to Rockville Economic Development Inc. (REDI). In turn, REDI Deputy Director Richelle Wilson not only introduced us to the owner of 981 Rollins Avenue, but REDI also awarded IW a $40,000 MOVE grant to help with the renovation and moving costs. Finally, we thanked City of Rockville Mayor Bridget Newton and Building Plans Examiner Supervisor Chris Dempwolf who worked with their teams to keep the inspection and permitting processes moving and enabled us to move into the new facility in a timely manner.
This expansion is bittersweet since it means that more neighbors are increasingly needing our services, but we are so grateful to the partnerships and collaborations that allow us to provide this care. Thank you to all the guests, community members, elected officials, and neighbors that support IW year-round. We at IW know we are not alone in this work or in this community. It means a great deal to know that we have such incredible support.
