The Gateway Community College (GCC) Foundation tonight is kicking off the public phase of its $6 million “Your College. Your Future” building campaign, which will provide state-of-the-art equipment and program-related materials for GCC’s new downtown New Haven campus, slated to open next year.

The event, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., will include speakers and a reception at The Bank Building, 45 Church St., across from the campus construction site. The celebration also serves as a thank-you to donors who made commitments during the campaign’s silent phase. Those donors include Yale-New Haven Hospital, First Niagara Financial Group, Carlton Highsmith, Yale University, the NewAlliance Foundation, and the Atluru Family Foundation, as well and GCC Foundation board members and GCC employees.

The state of Connecticut is funding the construction of GCC’s $198 million downtown campus, but not all of its necessary equipment. During its silent phase, the “Your College. Your Future” campaign — which will fund equipment and programming, as well as underwrite long-term student support services like scholarships, and help students to overcome temporary financial barriers — raised more than $2 million. That includes $1 million announced last week when Yale-New Haven Hospital and First Niagara Financial Group each pledged $500,000 to the campaign.

“The key to a robust greater New Haven economy is creating jobs and filling them with qualified, well-educated workers,” said GCC President Dr. Dorsey L. Kendrick. “The funds raised by this campaign will help provide the state-of-the-art, industry-standard equipment our students will encounter when they enter our region’s workforce.”

GCC offers 95 associate degree and certificate programs and serves more than 11,000 full- and part-time students each year. One of the fastest growing community colleges in Connecticut, GCC is currently located on two campuses, at 60 Sargent Drive on Long Wharf in New Haven and at 88 Bassett Road in North Haven. GCC’s new downtown campus will increase its enrollment capacity by 50 percent.

The new downtown campus is one of the largest construction projects the State of Connecticut has ever undertaken and its first public building designed to be gold-certified in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

Work began on the site in December 2009, and it is anticipated to open in August 2012. The construction site is made up of two adjacent parcels on 3.7 acres at 2-20 Church Street, connected by a pedestrian bridge over George Street. When it’s completed, the campus will include two four-story buildings totaling 360,000 square feet. It will feature 90 general-purpose classrooms, 10 meeting spaces, 22 computer labs, 12 science laboratories and 1,300 parking spaces, as well as a library, cafeteria, bookstore, art gallery and centers for early learning, community health, literacy volunteers and small business. The project is being administered by the state Department of Construction Services. The project’s construction manager is Dimeo Construction Co.