LONG BEACH PENINSULA — This summer was supposed to be one of triumph for the Dylan Jude Harrell Community Center and its partners, as construction on the initial phase of its long-awaited facility at the Port of Ilwaco nears completion.

But the loss of funds due to the state budget crunch, alongside the recent freeze and hazy future of critical federal dollars, has plunged the community center, local school districts and other youth-focused organizations into uncertain waters. Local services that have been affected or are at risk, according to DJHCC Executive Director Claire Bruncke, include no-cost summer and after-school programs, outdoor education initiatives, and free preschool for low-income families.

WellSpring funding nixed

In June, DJHCC and Pacific County learned that contracted funds totaling more than $100,000 annually from Washington’s Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery (DBHR) had been a victim of steep cuts that legislators passed earlier this year amid a multibillion-dollar budget hole facing the state.

Unlike the federal government, Washington state law mandates that the legislature adopt budgets that are projected to be balanced over four-year periods. Washington faced an estimated budget deficit ranging from $10 billion to $16 billion entering the 2025 legislative session due to lower-than-expected revenues, and the Democratic-controlled House and Senate passed a two-year, $78 billion budget this spring that was balanced out by a combination of spending cuts and new taxes.

For nearly 20 years, funds that the county received from DBHR were used to employ a coordinator who led the WellSpring Community Network, a grassroots coalition established in 2006 aimed at reducing youth substance use, supporting community wellness and strengthening collaborative relationships between the Ocean Beach School District, cities, county agencies, nonprofits and health providers on the peninsula. WellSpring is also designated as a tax-exempt nonprofit by the IRS.

Beginning in January, the decision was made for DJHCC to employ the coordinator position and manage the program through a subcontract with the county, a shift that Bruncke attributed to changes in the county’s structure over the past two decades.

WellSpring is one of dozens of local coalitions across the state that has received funding through DBHR’s Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative, which targets and leverages limited prevention resources to higher-need communities.

That WellSpring was one of the coalitions that saw its funding slashed was not a surprise to Bruncke, who also serves as vice president on WellSpring’s board of directors. “We were the oldest coalition in the state, so we weren’t shocked — and it’s still terrible.”

Over the past two decades, WellSpring has been credited in helping establish local organizations like Peninsula Poverty Response and Peace of Mind Pacific County. Local drug take back events have been coordinated through WellSpring, and they have also put on bottle tagging events, where tags are placed on alcoholic beverages in local stores reminding adults about preventing underage drinking.

Some of the local DBHR funds went toward supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Washington, which matches adult volunteer mentors (“Bigs”) with children (“Littles”) ages 5-18. Along with providing substance use programming, WellSpring has also funded the Youth Action Klub, or YAK, at Ilwaco High School, a student-run club open to all students wanting to participate in fun, sober activities.

“ In its height, it funded high schoolers going to national conferences on youth substance abuse,” said Bruncke. “ If you actually look at the data of our community, and people from the outside might not really realize this, but our youth use and abuse rate is actually lower. It’s worked. If you look at the data, this coalition-building has worked.”

While the state funding is gone, organizers insist that WellSpring’s work will still continue in some form. In an email to supporters, Bruncke and Michelle Zilli, the board’s president, said directors will spend the summer “on strategic planning for what the next phase of WellSpring will look like.”

More state budget fallout

The loss of funding for WellSpring isn’t the only casualty of the state budget cuts for local youth programs and services. A zeroing out of the Outdoor Learning Grants Program has left the ever-popular local program at risk.

The state grant program provides funds to school districts and program providers to pay for the overnight outdoor school experiences for fifth and sixth graders. On the peninsula, the outdoor school program has been put on by DJHCC and the Ocean Park Camp & Retreat Center for OBSD fifth graders.

DJHCC is also a recipient of a severe reduction in funding from the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission’s No Child Left Inside grant program, which provides opportunities for underserved children to experience nature with the goal of improving academic performance, self-esteem and health. Those funds have been used in the past to help hold field trips for classes and put on outdoor camps that Bruncke said “will just have to look different in the future.”

The state has also made cuts to its Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, or ECEAP, which is modeled after the federal Head Start program and provides free part-day and full-day preschool and other services for children in low-income families. In 2024, the program funded more than 16,000 preschool slots across the state.

Due to the state budget cuts, Educational Service District 112, which serves more than 30 school districts across six Southwest Washington counties, was forced to cut about 75 ECEAP slots in the region — which included all 19 slots at the Early Learning Center in Long Beach that is operated by DJHCC.

“There’s no [slots supported by] ECEAP at the Early Learning Center anymore,” said Bruncke.

Frozen federal funds

Recent developments at the federal level could also have severe impacts on DJHCC services, particularly for its free after-school and summer programs.

In a last-minute notice, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget froze more than an estimated $6 billion that had already been passed and signed into law and earmarked for after-school and summer programs, English language instruction, adult literacy and other initiatives. The freeze affects more than 10% of federal K-12 funding distributed to states, including more than 15% of Washington’s federal education funding.

Programs that have seen funds be withheld include the 21st Century Community Learning Center, of which DJHCC receives $945,000 per year. Those funds allow the community center to offer its no-cost after-school and summer programs, which serves about 340 local children, and is the

While the ongoing summer program is not affected, Bruncke said the freeze could impact DJHCC’s ability to offer free after-school programs beginning in September for the 2025-26 school year.

“ We can run a free after-school program because we get almost a million dollars a year to do that, and that obviously is not gonna be the case moving forward,” said Bruncke, noting that DJHCC has not yet opened any kind of registration for the upcoming school year. “ Maybe the 2025-26 funds get released and we can move forward with this next school year as planned. And if not, the goal is we’ll have some sort of plan and registration for families by the beginning of August.”

The budget bill passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump earlier this month also does away with federal grant programs that specifically support after-school and summer programs, which could have a long-term impact locally on being able to offer no-cost programming.

“ It will consolidate education funding before it hits the state level. What the state does with those appropriations for education — like if they still fund some sort of after-school program — would be up to them,” said Bruncke.

“ My hunch is that that’s not gonna happen, because [the state’s] not gonna get even enough to fund basic education from the federal government once it’s consolidated. There’s essentially no dedicated after-school fund.”