An architectural drawing shows the hypothetical layout of a community center proposed in Ilwaco. Features include a fieldhouse, two gyms, a swimming pool, classrooms, and outdoor playground.

ILWACO — A broad coalition of community members are coming together to support a project that would be a game-changer for children — and the community at-large — on the Long Beach Peninsula.

Earlier this year, a new organization was formed to support the construction and operation of the Dylan Jude Harrell Kids and Community Center at the Port of Ilwaco, which, once built, will host an after-school program for local students as well as provide recreational opportunities for youth and the community alike.

The community center is named after Dylan Harrell, who was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma — a rare, incurable brain cancer found in young children — in 2018 and passed away in 2020. Dylan captured the peninsula’s heart in her courageous battle against DIPG, and the Dylan Jude Harrell DIPG Foundation was started in her honor and has raised thousands of dollars to support DIPG research, as well as DIPG and local families.

Jeff and Casey Harrell, Dylan’s parents, are both board members of the new nonprofit organization. The new group also includes veterans from other youth-oriented organizations, as well as other community members who are offering time and services to support the project.

Along with the Harrells, board members include Adrift Hospitality co-owner and OBSD and Peninsula Youth Sports board member Tiffany Turner, Snap Fitness co-owner and Coastal Alliance for Youth (CAY) board member Katie Cunningham, retired Child Protective Services case worker and CAY board member Chris Jensen, Dylan’s Cottage Bakery co-owner Lindy Swain, retired county health director and CAY board member Mary Goelz, attorney Nathan Needham, and loan officer and CAY board member Patty Hensley.

Getting the ball rollingDiscussions for the facility initially centered around building a gymnasium, and then a fieldhouse, because of the sore lack of public access to indoor recreational activities on the peninsula.

Pull Quote

‘For me, the biggest thing is having a safe place that kids can go, a place where they really have a strong adult role model that’s not their parents and not their teacher, but that they can see there’s other things out in the community and out in the world that they could experience.’

Mary Goelz

But as the group of people involved in the project grew larger, Jeff Harrell said they realized that there was a huge need for not just facilities, but an after-school program for children and programming for the community in general, as well.

“We pretty quickly expanded that conversation to realizing that we want this to be more than an athletic facility, and really be a facility that the whole community can use, but is especially focused on youth and is a location that could house an after-school program,” board member Tiffany Turner said.

Now, as it’s presently designed, the community center consists of two gyms and a large fieldhouse, which can house a multitude of events and indoor sports. An indoor swimming pool, outdoor play area, classrooms and parking are also included in the current plans. Other possible features could include a rock climbing wall and an indoor track.

“Right now, we probably have the littlest childcare and littlest preschool opportunities we’ve ever had on the peninsula,” Harrell said. “With the Boys & Girls Club shutting down, you have these kids — instead of going to a place where they can do activities, be athletic and be fed a snack in the afternoon — going home to areas where either their parents are working or maybe it’s not so good to be home. This fixes all of that.”

The group has a letter of intent with the port, and a lease agreement is in the works as well. The community center also aligns with the Port of Ilwaco Marina Master Plan, which has had interest since the 1990s in constructing a community center that can hold special events and conferences.

“It’s like the perfect location; it’s a really good locale to the schools, and access to shared parking. There’s just a lot of synergies that seem to be all kind of lining up,” Harrell said.

After-school is essentialThe group has already made significant progress, successfully petitioning the Pacific County Board of Commissioners for $253,000 in federal funds that the county received this year from the American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law in March.

The funds approved by the commissioners will be used to operate the after-school program for the first year, which will be housed at Grays Harbor College’s Ilwaco campus — located a stone’s throw away from where the community center is set to be built.

“We realized that, if we can, let’s get an after-school program going even before we get the center built, because kids need this and families need this,” Turner said.

Mary Goelz, board member and director of the Pacific County Health and Human Services Department for 31 years until her retirement in January 2020, said she saw the need in her time as the county health director for children to have a place where they can access enrichment programs that they might not be able to get at home.

“[An after-school program] just gives them the chance to experience a wide range of activities — not just sports and not just school, but a whole gamut of things,” Goelz said. “For me, the biggest thing is having a safe place that kids can go, a place where they really have a strong adult role model that’s not their parents and not their teacher, but that they can see there’s other things out in the community and out in the world that they could experience.”

The pandemic, Goelz said, has had a big impact on kids and their mental and behavioral health. These problems existed before covid-19, she said, but the isolation and the not knowing about if, when and how they’re going to school and seeing their friends and classmates has really made the need for after-school programs even greater.

“I think the kids are going to like the idea of it not being at school. We’re certainly going to support school, but we’re not there to be an extension of school,” Goelz said. “It should be an outlet. They need to be able to run around and meet up with friends and learn social skills with both kids and adults.”

With the funds in hand, the board’s first move at a meeting earlier this month was to hire Claire Bruncke as the organization’s executive director.

Bruncke taught English, CTE and leadership at Ilwaco High School since 2017, and also served as the school’s ASB advisor. Previously, she worked as program director at the YMCA of Columbia-Willamette. She received a bachelor’s of science degree in liberal studies with an emphasis in community development from Oregon State University, and also received a master of education and master of business administration from Western Governors University.

What to expectSince her hiring, Bruncke has been focused on hiring a full-time youth program coordinator and a handful of part-time youth program mentors ahead of the anticipated launch of the after-school program in late September, as well as developing and creating programming for the upcoming year.

The afterschool program will run five days a week, beginning approximately at 3:15 p.m. and wrapping up by the time Ocean Beach School District’s activity buses roll up by 5:45 p.m., with the hope that parents who are picking up their children do so by 6 p.m.

“The district has been really awesome, and we’ve got a partnership for transportation to and from [the Grays Harbor College building]. Students will be able to ride the bus to the center from their school, and then the activity bus — which picks up our middle school and high school students and drops them off at Chinook, Long Beach and Ocean Park — will also pick up at the center,” Bruncke said.

The program this school year will serve K-8 students, and is focused less on classroom learning and more on social interaction in light of the pandemic, although STEAM — Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math — programming will be a daily staple, with a focus on how each of the STEAM disciplines relate to the community.

“[The programming will be] really hands-on, experimental and play-based. We’re hoping to supplement academics, but not be academic-focused, especially with the transition back to school [after] the last year-and-a-half,” Bruncke said. “There’s a lot of talk about learning loss, but we’ve had a lot of conversations as a group about the social loss for kids. So providing a space for them to play and kind of getting used to interacting with other people their age again is really important, especially for our [youngest].”

Bruncke said she’s been in touch with Ilwaco Timberland Libraries about teen leadership and volunteering opportunities for high school students. Eventually, through the new IHS Work Study program, there will be an opportunity for students to work at the center and earn high school credits.

“We’re really trying to figure out how to get as many of our young people experience in this area as possible, because outside of a small community like this, community centers and recreation centers are a huge industry. So for students who do leave here after high school, it’s great experience to have under their belt — but also even if they decide to stay, they could have a career here,” Bruncke said.

Registration for the after-school program is expected to open in the first week of September, and information will be available at www.djhcc.org/after-school-program.

Those interested in applying for or learning more about the full-time or part-time positions being offered this year can visit www.djhcc.org/employment for more information.

Next stepsOne of the hardest things about youth programming, Bruncke said, is that it’s driven by grants and fundraising, which is why getting the first-year funding from the county is so important and will give the group time to focus on long-term planning and fundraising.

Local fundraising is a big piece of the funding puzzle, which Bruncke envisions including an annual campaign and auction-style event in the spring, among many possible fundraising opportunities.

Bruncke said she plans to have the group apply for a grant through the U.S. Department of Education’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, once applications are being accepted again. It’s a grant that the school district and local youth organizations have had in the past, and cover most expenses for a 3 to 5 year period.

Funding already exists to build a stand-alone gym at the port location, with construction planned to start as soon as possible to provide a play area for children attending the after-school program this year. Funds for a feasibility study have previously been secured and is nearing completion, which will give the group a business and operating plan.

While the group plans on launching local fundraising campaigns, the hope is to get the community center constructed with federal funds, whether it be via existing pandemic relief dollars or prospective infrastructure packages that are currently making their way through Congress. Turner said they have reached out to Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, as well as Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, “to let them know and get this on their radar.”

“My hope is that we can get outside money to build it, and then locally we can [maintain] it long-term,” Turner said. “Definitely there’s going to be ongoing grants and community donations, but the facility’s also going to be able to be rented and it’s going to be a good economic driver down at the port.”

The current rough estimate for how much it will take to construct the community center is between $5-8 million, with a more precise figure hoping to be identified in the coming months. A group of lawyers, architects and engineers — who either live on the peninsula or graduated from Ilwaco High School — are working without charge on the project.

If all goes according to plan, construction on the community center could begin sometime in mid-2022.

“It just started with the idea of Casey and I doing a gym somewhere in Dylan’s name,” Harrell said, “and it’s now morphed into a beautiful project.”