On March 1st, more than 350 attendees gathered to celebrate the brand-new Rock County Community Center in Bassett. The evening event featured dueling pianists, prime rib served by the Bassett Country Club, and a tour of the new community center. The facility has a large multipurpose room, stage, kitchen and dining area, bar, and a smaller community meeting room. The City of Bassett’s offices will soon be housed in the 13,200-square-foot building as well.
The community constructed the facility with support from a grant of $562,000 through the Civic and Community Center Financing Fund (CCCFF). Kristin Olson, North Central Development Center Executive Director, explained that the CCCFF grant was instrumental in helping complete the project. “We needed a steppingstone, and the CCCFF grant positioned us to go back to some of the private funders so they could see the progress. That’s what gave us the motivation to be able to finish the project.”
The Rock County Community Center reflects the power of partnership. Groups throughout the county united around the project—giving their time, money, and talent to support its construction. “The people, the government, all the organizations, the businesses, it was everyone coming together [that made it possible],” explained Sonny Corkle, a board member of the Rock County Community Fund (RCCF).
A focus on developing the community
The idea of building the community center dates back more than a decade. That’s when an informal group of civic-minded citizens started gathering to discuss local development. “My brother and I ran a ranching operation in southern Rock County,” said Larry Buell, a member of the RCCF board. “In 2014, my brother called and told me he was meeting two other people, and I needed to come. That was the start of the Rock County Community Fund.”
The group determined that their county would need to access capital to support development. “Rock County is a great place to live and there are great people here, but there was not a lot of infrastructure,” explained Buell.
Since forming, RCCF has raised over $1 million in funding. It has assisted numerous area projects and initiatives, including a fire hall for the Newport Rural Fire Department, the Bassett Arts Council, and Miles of Smiles—which offers no-fee dental services to children across north-central Nebraska. The foundation also supports local sporting events.
A place for the community to come together
Early on, Rock County Community Fund set its sights on building a community center. “The community has always recognized that there is a lack of public space for community members to use,” said Sonny Corkle. The only large gathering place in Bassett has been the public school, which is only available at times when school is not in session.
While the need for a community center was clear, the path to fund it was uncertain. That all changed in 2016, however, thanks to a generous gift from Francis Kramer. Mr. Kramer, who passed away in 2016, bequeathed money to build a community gathering place. Mobilized by the memorial gift, local leaders sought community input, conducted a feasibility study, and set about raising additional funds for the project.
The importance of grants
When Sonny Corkle began volunteering for RCCF in 2019, she saw an opportunity to access grants for the community center. She didn’t know a lot about grant writing at the time, but she knew how valuable of a resource they could be. Undeterred by her inexperience, she forged ahead with drafting proposals. Her initiative paid off. RCCF received its first grant from the Peter Kiewit Foundation and then another from the Robert B. Daugherty Foundation. These funds, along with contributions from local businesses, made it possible to break ground on the Rock County Community Center in June 2023.
Additionally, Sonny Corkle and Kristin Olson (NCDC) learned about the CCCFF grants from the State of Nebraska, which are available to municipalities. “Honestly, probably the best thing for us was to find out about the CCCFF grant. As a foundation, we had the idea we needed to build the facility, but there was no clear plan about who was going to own and operate it. We’re a bunch of volunteers,” explained Corkle.
RCCF reached out to the city about partnering on the project. Since most of the construction funds had already been raised, building the facility would not impose costs on taxpayers. RCCF even committed to set up a $250,000 endowment fund to help maintain the building. “The city agreed [to own and run the facility], and that was huge for us. It’d be one thing for us to build the building, but who was going to take care of it? It was a huge thing to have collaboration with the city,” said Corkle. With municipal leaders on board, Olson and Corkle then supported the City of Bassett’s successful application for a CCCFF construction grant.
Kristin Olson emphasized that gaining community support is essential for a large-scale project, and grants like CCCFF can help attract this backing. “If you don’t invest in your own community, nobody else is going to invest in your project either,” said Olson. “It was really up to the community to come up with those sources of support and, without the CCCFF grant funds, I’m not sure we would have.”
Sonny Corkle said the day she found out they were receiving the CCCFF grant was memorable. “It was probably the perfect time. I will never forget when I got the phone call that we received the grant. I was going to call some of our board members and tell them, ‘I just think we need to re-evaluate and not look at doing this right now.’ The importance of a grant like this is that it keeps the passion going. That way you can be successful in your project.”
