The Iowa F-F-A Foundation announced plans today (Tuesday) for a new headquarters and enrichment center on the campus of the Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny. Ed Wiederstein is the chairman of the fundraising campaign for the center. He says it’s a center that’s been envisioned for almost 14 years as a leadership and career development center for Iowa F-F-A. Wiederstein says as they moved into fundraising for the project, officials at D-MACC suggested building the center at their campus in Ankeny. He says college officials thought there could be some synergy between what F-F-A wanted as far as classrooms and some of the things the college could offer. He says they decided to partner on the project and the F-F-A thinks it’s a great fit. He says they’ll share the use of the building. Wiederstein says they’re in the middle of the fundraising effort. He says they don’t have an exact number on the cost of the building, but they estimate it’ll be around 13-million dollars for the 75-thousand square foot building. Wiederstein says the center will enrich the information that F-F-A participants get from their local chapters. He says this center will provide opportunity that the students can’t get at the local level. He says they want it to be an opportunity to expose the students to different careers and to use it as a leadership development tool. Wiederstein says they hope to be able to start construction on the new facility in September.
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