Suzanne Barbati runs essentially a one-person operation these days inside the old McCrory Building in Youngstown. She's executive director of the Roger & Gloria Jones Children's Center for Science and Technology, known to many simply as the Children's Museum.
But after taking over the space back in January, a planned opening this fall has been pushed back.
After raising nearly $1.5 million as part of a capital campaign, the center ran short of ready cash to continue renovating the first floor and lower level. Barbati said "it was our emotions getting the best of us," thinking the project would be finished by September.
Now, the plan is to raise another $385,000 in the coming weeks so construction can resume in early October, meaning the center could open next February. Administrators closed the old museum location last December, suffering through poor revenues and high operational costs.
In the meantime, Suzanne works at the museum nearly everyday, putting together partnerships with local foundations to help raise more funds for the center's future operational expenses with local school districts and others to increase attendance. Those are issues she admits the former museum never had much success with.
While Suzanne is confident she and her board will raise the money they need to start the remodeling again, she's also getting ready to unveil a new partnership between the center and the local YMCA that will help long into the future.
In the meantime, she said anyone holding one-year memberships for the museum will get to use them for those first twelve months after the center opens in February.
