Clark County approves $1 million grant for mass shooting memorial
People gather in the rotunda at the Clark County Government Center to see the final renderings and design of a permanent memorial that will soon be constructed at the site of the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023.
Tuesday, July 16, 2024 | 2:20 p.m.
The Clark County Commission today unanimously approved the allocation of $1 million to the Vegas Strong Fund to assist with building the 1 October Memorial.
Commissioners voted 6-0 to award the $1 million grant to the Vegas Strong Fund. Commissioner Ross Miller was not present at today’s meeting.
Nearly $144,000 collected by the county has also been transferred to the fund, county officials said.
“Today’s $1 million grant reaffirms our commitment to building a memorial that honors the victims of the 1 October tragedy and pays tribute to the resiliency and compassion demonstrated by our community in the days and years since,” Commissioner Jim Gibson, said in a statement.
A gunman perched in a Las Vegas Strip hotel tower opened fire on an outdoor music festival below on Oct. 1, 2017, resulting in 60 deaths and more than 800 injures.
“We have a beautiful concept for a memorial, and now a critical phase of work is underway that will lay the foundation for a community-wide fundraising effort to build a project that will serve as a lasting tribute to those whose lives were lost and for all whose lives have been forever changed as a result of the events of that evening,” Gibson said.
The money approved today will go toward administrative and design services for the development of the Forever One Memorial.
Tennille Pereira, a member of the Vegas Strong Fund board of directors, said the money is “a valuable catalyst in our fundraising efforts.”
Today’s was another step toward erecting a permanent memorial at the northeast corner of Reno Avenue and Giles Street, where the shooting happened.
MGM Resorts International donated two acres of land at at the former festival site for the project.
“For close to seven years, the Vegas Strong Fund has been devoted to standing by those affected by the tragic events of 1 October,” Jan Jones-Blackhurst, chairwoman of the fund’s board of directors, said in statement.
“We are now honored to embark on the next chapter of this collective healing journey with the creation of a permanent memorial,” she said.