Expansion of social services facilities coming together

Several organizations that provide services to people in need are opening new facilities: from a new pantry to a family resource center to an adult day center.

These service providers are trying to expand their reach and do more in the community, but why is this all coming together now?

For one, it has to do with planning, said Ron Frederiksen, chairman of RSV Building Solutions. He was on the capital campaign committees for McKibbin Center and Bridgeview Education and Employment Resource Center.

He said that it typically takes at least five years to complete a project from its conception. During the recession, nobody was building these projects, but agencies were starting to plan for what they wanted to do when the recession ended, Frederiksen said. With construction costs down, many seized the opportunity and now those projects are coming to fruition.

Nowadays, construction costs — everything from materials to labor to land — are much higher. However, everything is cyclical and costs will eventually come back down, Frederiksen said.

Renee Stevens, executive director of Open House Ministries, which will soon open its family resource center, said she locked in costs early on to wrangle in the budget. She believes need is driving all the construction in the social service sector. She’s pleased that a variety of services will help people in different ways.

“I think this community has a great response to the needs here,” Stevens said.

Tod and Maxine McClaskey Family Resource Center

Contractors are putting the finishing touches on the three-story, $3.35 million Tod and Maxine McClaskey Family Resource Center at Open House Ministries in downtown Vancouver.

“I’m most excited about being proactive in our community,” Stevens said.

Programs currently offered to Open House’s shelter residents will become available to the community, such as GED and financial classes. Lighthouse Community Credit Union will have a branch in the building. Community Services Northwest, which helps people struggling with addiction, mental health issues and homelessness, has two offices at the new facility.

With a large gymnasium and the third floor dedicated to children, there’s a big emphasis on programming tailored to children, such as play therapy and organized sports. A faith-based nonprofit, Open House focuses on helping homeless families and women become independent.

When the resource center opens, it will free up a handful of spaces in the residential building that are currently offices. Reverting them back to their original purpose as apartments for homeless families means about 25 more people can stay in the shelter.

The resource center has been in the works for about a decade. However, Stevens remembers being a resident in 2004. Back then, Open House was joking about how it could take over the entire block. With the resource center close to opening, “the God block” as they’ve called it, is nearly complete.

Bridgeview Education and Employment Resource Center

Bridgeview, the one-stop hub where low-income households can get support and services, is more than halfway complete and should be opening in September or October. The $4 million facility will have a computer lab, offices, classrooms, private interview rooms, a credit union and demonstration kitchen.

“I would’ve loved to have a place with everything in one spot,” Brandi Williams said during a preview event last week at Bridgeview.

Years ago, when she needed to access services, she was attending school, working and taking her children to school, all while using public transit. It made it difficult to get everywhere she needed to go to get support.

Bridgeview sits in the middle of Vancouver Housing Authority’s Skyline Crest neighborhood, and it is adjacent to a Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington clubhouse, making it a central location for many people. More than 25 agencies will be sharing the space. Jan Wichert, executive director of Bridgeview, said when it opens there will be a full-time navigator on site pointing people toward services.

McKibbin Center

CDM Caregiving Services’ McKibbin Center recently opened, providing a bigger, brighter space for its clients. The $3.3 million, two-story building at 2300 N.E. Andresen Road opened last month. Previously, the agency leased a smaller building in the Uptown area.

“It’s an entirely different experience being here,” said Executive Director Eric Erickson.

On the first floor of the new building is the adult day center that’s open from about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays providing music, art and restorative exercise therapy. Caregivers can drop off their loved ones to get respite. Although the center primarily serves seniors, it’s open to anyone 18 and older. When Innovative Services NW closed its adult day center, CDM absorbed many of its clients who are younger and have disabilities.

“It’s just such a blessing to have this new place,” Erickson said.

CDM has about 750 clients and aims to grow that to about 1,000. In the future, the organization would like to develop memory care programming to better serve clients with dementia. Also, in the past they’ve tried to provide services that state and federal programs can’t, such as paying for moving costs for indigent clients or covering repairs that would keep clients in their homes. Erickson aims to focus fundraising on those services now that the capital campaign for the new building is over.

Clark County Adventist Community Services

Monday was the first day that Clark County Adventist Community Services, one of the busiest local food pantries, was open to clients at its new facility in central Vancouver. The pantry moved from 3200 St. Johns Blvd. to 3114 E. Fourth Plain Blvd. and serves about 800 people every month.

Executive Director Eleanor Hetke said they still need to finish moving in and setting up the place, but that the new digs are “a dream come true.” The new pantry has more space for volunteers to sort donations and refill shelves without bumping into clients. There’s a covered area where people can wait outside out of the elements, parking lots for clients and volunteers, a classroom, offices and a community garden wrapping around the building.

The nonprofit is sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Community Church of Vancouver, which is part of the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The Vancouver church provided the bulk of the donations needed to build the $1.5 million space.

“Our church has just been tremendously supportive,” said Treasurer David Cannard.

The pantry is open 9 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 to 3 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Expanded Salvation Army facilities and services

The Salvation Army is trying to raise the final $300,000 needed to break ground on an expanded facility in east Vancouver. The faith-based nonprofit sent letters to active donors last month to try and round up those last dollars toward the overall $5.7 million cost.

“We are officially in the public phase of the campaign,” said Steve Rusk, community relations and development director of the local Salvation Army.

So far, the nonprofit’s major gifts are $1.2 million from the state of Washington, a $332,000 Community Development Block Grant, $350,000 from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, $250,000 from The Firstenburg Foundation and other gifts from philanthropists Steve and Jan Oliva and the Hargreaves family.

There will be a new structure built at The Salvation Army’s Northeast 112th Avenue campus and the existing building will be remodeled. The new building will include offices, a food pantry, nutrition education kitchen, classrooms, a clothing closet and a community and worship center. When it’s complete, programs currently operating out of a leased building on Northeast 47th Avenue will move to the new facility, consolidating the two campuses.

Although the nonprofit and its design team, including Wilson Architects and Robertson & Olson, aim to start in the fall, it depends on when they satisfy the city’s permitting requirements. There is a land-use hearing for the project on July 17.

Potential donors can contact Rusk at 360-448-2875 or steve.rusk@usw.salvationarmy.org