Latest news with #RiversEdgeWest
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Johanna Van Waveren steps down as executive director
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) – Johanna Van Waveren, who is the executive director for the Colorado National Monument Association (CNMA), states, 'The community has been really supportive of this decision. It's always hard to have somebody leave, especially someone who's worked in an organization for a while.' Recently, Van Waveren announced her time is coming to a close. And she tells WesternSlopeNow, she is stepping away due to personal reasons. Van Waveren states, 'I've been in this role for four and a half years and I've worked up here since 2015 with a small break. So after that amount of time, I'm just ready for the next step for my personal career.' From starting her journey as a seasonal park tour guide for the monument to making her way to the top as an executive director has been a journey in itself. Even though she will be stepping away from the leadership role, Van Waveren says she will still be a member of the community and continue to fight and protect the place she loves. And that includes the upcoming Confluence Center. Van Waveren states, 'It's a project I'm really passionate about, so I'll continue with those fundraising efforts until that building is standing.' Rusty Lloyd, executive director for RiversEdge West, states, 'I knew she was a very capable executive director. She's really put the Colorado National Monument Association on the map and really developed that organization and worked hard at her job. Once we knew that organization was interested in being a part of the Confluence Center, we were instantly overjoyed because of her capabilities, her leadership.' To put a local nonprofit on the map is not an easy task, but it can be seen from afar how much it has grown to where it is to the present day. Jennifer Moore, who is the executive director for Eureka! McConnell Science Museum, states, 'It's been really wonderful to watch the growth of CNMA under Johanna's tenure as the executive director up there. The organization has just really blossomed and really reached more members of the community, and I think they're on the trajectory to be very successful in the future.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The Confluence Center of Colorado breaks ground
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) – A few years ago, the Dos Rios Park opened its sidewalks to the community and on Wednesday there was a groundbreaking ceremony of the future sight of the Confluence Center. Community members and officials from the city and state legislators were in attendance on Wednesday for a groundbreaking celebration. Rusty Lloyd, executive director of Rivers Edge West and the president of the Board of the Confluence Center of Colorado, states, 'We started moving dirt this month, and so we're celebrating this, this momentous kind of first phase of this exciting building, a nonprofit building.' The new building will house six local nonprofits that have similar goals of teaching kids about our water and land. For example, one nonprofit, EUREKA! McConnell Science Museum looks over the STREAM preschool. This program offers more than just STREAM education. Jenn Moore, executive director for EUREKA! McConnell Science Museum, states, 'We're actually naming it the stream science, technology, rivers engineering, art and math in the STREAM preschool will be growing the next era of hydrologists and geologists and economists that are here to help us protect this valuable resource that we have in our backyard.' The site will soon be a place for knowledge for the next generation. Johanna van Waveren, executive director for the Colorado National Monument Association, states, 'I really think this is something special, because we're working so hard towards similar missions. so we're already collaborating. so to be able to be in one building and to be able to work together to make the next generation of leaders.' And the best part about the center is naming it for what Junction is based off of. Grand Junction City Council member Cody Kennedy states, 'I think it's an opportunity for us to come together as a community, to celebrate who we are being part of a community was built around a river and we should be looking for ways to care for it and incorporate it into our future.' Joe Higgins, a member of the committee, states, 'I wish I had more money…' WesternSlopeNow spoke with Higgins who was one of the major donors in this new building. Higgins says giving back to the future generation is something he wants to do Higgins states, 'But the bottom line is, I do try to support things in the community that I think make a difference and make us a stronger and a better community. (…) It's really easy for me to be supportive of that and to invest in it with my own dollars.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
