Crowdfunding campaign launched for the “The Fledge” project in Lansing

$50,000 goal to win matching grant through MEDC’s Public Spaces Community Places initiative

LANSING, Mich. – The Fledge will soon complete its transformation and increase its capacity to help the community throughout Lansing through the anticipated success of a crowdfunding campaign, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and local nonprofit The Fledge Foundation announced today. The campaign is being offered through the Michigan-based crowdfunding platform Patronicity.

If the campaign reaches its crowdfunding goal of $50,000 by March 15, the project will win a matching grant with funds made possible by MEDC’s Public Spaces Community Places program. For project details and to donate, please visit: patronicity.com/thefledge.

“The Fledge is a great example of the community coming together to serve residents who seek support or services,” said MEDC Executive Vice President of Economic Development Incentives Michele Wildman. “We are pleased to support and provide resources for this project to complete the space through our Public Spaces Community Places program.”

The Fledge is a nonprofit community space that will provide services including STEAM programming, digital literacy, food entrepreneurial support, and a clean energy demonstration site to the Eastside neighborhood of Lansing and beyond. This campaign will allow the Fledge’s home, a former church building, to be completely transformed to its grandest vision of helping the Lansing community build equity and reduce the burden of basic needs.

The funds raised will be used to finalize the community kitchen and provide even more food, build out two more rooms for STEAM opportunities, increase private consultation space, and provide more tools to intervene at the local level on issues like gun violence, human trafficking, and mental illness.

“This partnership with the MEDC and our community will help us complete our final build-out. This funding will allow us to expand our capacity by 33 percent,” said Jerry Norris, CEO of the Fledge. “Allowing us to provide more free services for entrepreneurs, provide basic needs for more our community, and make STEM tools accessible to more people.”

Public Spaces Community Places is a collaborative effort of the MEDC, the Michigan Municipal League, and Patronicity, in which local residents can use crowdfunding to be part of the development of strategic projects in their communities and be backed with a matching grant from MEDC. Communities, nonprofits and other business entities can apply at https://patronicity.com/puremichigan.

“The Michigan Municipal League is a firm believer in the importance of improving the human experience by building community wealth,” said Dan Gilmartin, CEO and Executive Director of the League. “These transformative improvements of the community center will create a positive impact on the Lansing community for generations to come, which is really what community wealth building is all about.”

The Public Spaces Community Places initiative started in 2014 with MEDC providing matched funding of up to $50,000 for community improvement projects throughout Michigan. As of Jan. 31, 2023, MEDC has provided more than $11.2 million in matching grants. Since the launch of the program, 337 projects have been successful in reaching their goal, with $12.8 million raised from 62,072 individual donors. Communities have a 97 percent success rate in achieving their goals and earning matching funds.

About Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation is the state’s marketing arm and lead advocate for business development, job awareness and community development with the focus on growing Michigan’s economy. For more information on the MEDC and our initiatives, visit www.MichiganBusiness.org. For Pure Michigan® tourism information, your trip begins at www.michigan.org. Join the conversation on: Facebook Instagram LinkedIn, and Twitter.