The National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta has received an $8.5 million grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, according to the Saporta Report. 

The grant will help fund a $50 million expansion project, which includes building east and west wings that will add 20,000 square feet to the 42,000-square-foot facility. To date, the center has raised $37.3 million, including $17 million from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. The goal is to complete the expansion by June 2024, the 10-year anniversary of when the center opened. 

“We are all much more optimistic that we will be able to close the gap in the next couple of months,” said A.J. Robinson, president and CEO of Central Atlanta Progress, told the Saporta Report. “This institution, because of its location and because of the work it does, captures the past, present, and future identity of Atlanta in a way that we should all celebrate.” 

“Atlanta is what it is because we were the epicenter of the Civil Rights movement,” said Woodruff Foundation president Russ Hardin. “We must remember that story and tell it well. The center does just that.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/National Center for Civil and Human Rights)