Freedom Center gets financial help

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is getting help with longstanding financial problems through a merger into the Cincinnati Museum Center’s corporate structure and from a $1.8 million grant.

The Museum Center’s board of trustees recently approved a resolution allowing it to become the Freedom Center’s parent organization with financial oversight of the national center. The merging of the organizations’ operations allows cost savings intended to provide financial stability for the Freedom Center and eliminate a $1.5 million annual budget shortfall, Museum Center spokeswoman Elizabeth Pierce said Friday.

Freedom Center officials said last year that the annual shortfall could force the center to close by the end of 2012 if the money wasn’t found. The Freedom Center, which opened in 2004, also said that while attendance was up slightly in 2011 over the previous year, it has declined since a 2005 peak.

Museum Center officials have said the partnership offers financial strength and new opportunities for both organizations.

The Museum Center houses a history museum, a children’s museum and a natural history and science museum. The Freedom Center, which is now its fourth wholly owned subsidiary, focuses on the 19th century Underground Railroad for escaping slaves and on freedom throughout the world.

The Freedom Center’s board changed its bylaws earlier this year to allow for the merged operations.