Discovery Children’s Museum recently was awarded a $150,000 Museums for America Grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The funds were given in support of the development, implementation and evaluation of Discovery’s new staff training program — Discovery Training Boot Camp.
Discovery, the city’s only children’s museum, is among 217 museum projects chosen from 583 applicants seeking support through the Museums for America and National Leadership Grants for Museums programs. Statewide, Discovery was the only museum to receive the grant.
“The Museums for America grants support projects that strengthen the ability of individual museums to address their key needs or challenges”, said Discovery Children’s Museum President and CEO Tifferney White. “The visitor experience is of upmost importance to us. This grant supports our efforts to better prepare our team to engage our visitors in inquiry-based, relevant and open-ended experiences using our exhibits and programs as a platform.”
Discovery will develop, implement and evaluate the new staff training program including the development of training materials, collaboration with professionals to aid in the development of training curriculum, and the formation of a peer advisory group from other institutions across the U.S. that have successful staff training programs. The program will also bring in an outside evaluator to assess the impact of the training program on visitors.
Smart City Networks adds IPv6 at Orlando convention center
Las Vegas-based Smart City Networks, the largest provider of event telecommunications and technology services in the convention industry space, implemented Internet Protocol version 6 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., in an effort to improve network services for visitors.
IPv6, the latest protocols in the industry, provides IP addresses for connected devices including computers, tablets and wearable devices so they can communicate with other systems online. The technology allows for all devices that are IPv6 compatible to connect to the Internet.
The expansion increases the ability for more devices to come online, transcending its IPv4 predecessor. The new version was seeking an expanded amount of IP addresses to accommodate the increasing number of devices coming online.
“Someday there will be large parts of the Internet people will be unable to reach with an IPv4 address, due to its space limitations,” said David Langford, vice president of technology at Smart City Networks. “Smart City has monitored this issue carefully and has taken the necessary steps to adapt. This implementation of IPv6 reflects Smart City’s commitment to providing the Orange County Convention Center with the most innovative resources available.”
The center still offers the old compatibility for machines that can only be used under the IPv4 protocol.
Smart City already has expanded into other convention center including the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Austin, Texas, and the Anaheim (Calif.) Convention Center. The company plans to continue implementing this protocol where its local partners have the capability to handle IPv6.
Smart City was founded more than three decades ago in Houston. It serves 35 convention and meeting facilities nationwide, servicing more than 3,000 conventions and meetings a year.
DC Building Group gets contract for Opportunity Village expansion
Las Vegas-based contractor DC Building Group was chosen as construction manager at risk for Opportunity Village’s Engelstad Campus expansion at 6050 S. Buffalo Dr. The project will expand the Thomas & Mack Employment Resource Center and renovate a space inside the existing building.
DC Building Group was founded in 2001 and is a full-service general contracting firm contracted to complete an expansion along with a renovation project for the nonprofit. The expansion will give Opportunity Village a two-story 38,000 square-foot space. DC also will renovate an interior space of 10,000 square feet for a total cost of $5 million.
“As a general contractor, we have made not-for-profits one of our core markets,” DC Building Group president Bryce Clutts said. “By focusing our attention in this area, we have been able to carry out our mission of ‘enhancing the lives of our team and the communities where we do business.’
“We are humbled and blessed at the great fortune of being selected as the construction manager at risk, and being able to partner with Opportunity Village, Martin-Harris and JMA to carry out the vision of this project and build progress together.”
WGU Nevada picks Ferraro
WGU Nevada, Nevada’s only nonprofit online university, has chosen The Ferraro Group as its agency of record.
Team members from The Ferraro Group and WGU Nevada will work together to increase awareness and enrollment for the competency-based online university, which is endorsed by Governor Brian Sandoval.
Messaging efforts will be centered on WGU Nevada’s ability to offer bachelor’s, post-baccalaureate, and master’s degrees in four high-demand career fields –business, K-12 teacher education, information technology, and health professions, including nursing.
“We’re thrilled to partner with WGU Nevada to help this university reach even more Nevadans looking to finish or obtain college degrees,” Holly Silvestri, principal of The Ferraro Group, said in a statement. “They’re a great resource for affordable, accessible education, and having them here is a huge benefit to residents across the entire state.”
The Ferraro Group is a public relations and public affairs firm with offices in Las Vegas, Reno, Carson City, and Phoenix.
