CREATE Foundation announces building initiative

The state's largest community foundation will get new headquarters in downtown Tupelo

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – The state’s largest community foundation has unveiled plans for its new headquarters.

The CREATE Foundation will build new headquarters in downtown Tupelo.  Plans were announced today for the building, which will sit on a one-acre lot at the corner of Jefferson and Commerce Streets.

The project will allow CREATE to expand its office and meeting space, along with storage, and more parking.

Mike Clayborne is president of CREATE and says the nonprofit has been in its current offices for nearly thirty years as CREATE has seen tremendous growth..  The staff has doubled,  and CREATE now manages 166 million dollars in assets, compared to thirteen million twenty-seven years ago.

“Of course, a lot of activities associated with Toyota Wellspring Fund, Commission on the Future of Northeast Mississippi, so we just really need more space for our staff, more space for activities we have and to make it a little more accessible for our donors and especially when we have larger meetings for people to have easier access,” said Mike Clayborne, President of CREATE.

Construction on the new headquarters for CREATE could start later this summer.  It should take a year to a year and a half to complete.