LYNNWOOD—Elected officials and community partners got their first look inside Volunteers of America (VOA) and philanthropic travel writer Rick Steves’ upcoming new Lynnwood Neighborhood Center which, when it opens in January, will serve over 20,000 community members annually, from the most vulnerable needing support to at-risk children and youth.
“It’s called the Lynnwood Neighborhood Center but it’s really for all of south Snohomish County. It’s community driven; I love that we’re taking care of our youth, we’re taking care of our seniors, and everyone in between,” Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell told the Lynnwood Times. “This is just amazing.”
The Lynnwood Neighborhood Center (LNC) will be a 40,000 square-foot Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified facility on 2.13 acres of land in central Lynnwood – sharing a parking lot with nearby Trinity Lutheran Church, one of the project’s partners.
Just some ways the LNC will support sustainability efforts, under the LEED requirements, is utilizing solar energy for power (with solar panels installed on the roof – any surplus of which can be transferred back to the grid), an all-electric community kitchen, and even offering shore power in the parking lot to support an array of food trucks during community events.
Led by GLY Construction, Tyler Tonkin, Executive Vice President, told the Lynnwood Times the most exciting thing about working on the project thus far is knowing the tremendous benefit it will serve for the community.
“The systems are optimized to be highly efficient and clean within the building, the material choices within the building also helped in getting the LEED certification as well as the systems in place,” said Tonkin.
The building’s design, on the other hand, was handled by ARC Architects. Emily Wheeler, with the architecture firm, informed the Lynnwood Times the design was a collaborative process with the many nonprofits who will be setting up shop inside – from interviewing them on their various needs, to implementing it in form and practice.
“One of our primary goals was the make the space welcoming for everybody and I think we’re getting there,” said Wheeler.
Located at 6330 195th Street Southwest in Lynnwood, the Lynnwood Neighborhood Center will also serve as a vibrant hub where neighbors can meet, learn, and serve, building, and sustaining, safe, stable, and healthy communities for generations to come.
Phase I of the project, which encompassed site preparation, reached completion back in 2019 and construction broke ground in April of 2024.
The $26.6 million project is nearly fully funded with only $1 million left to go. Funding partners include federal partners, state partners, county partners, and local cities including Lynnwood, Edmonds, and Mountlake Terrace. Rick Steves announced back in July he plans to match the remaining $1 million.
Though the LNC is not scheduled to be fully operational until January 2026, with construction scheduled to complete this October, community leaders and stakeholders were able to catch a glimpse inside the facility for the first time ever on Friday, September 5, to bear witness to what this incredible facility has to offer.
Tour members included: Snohomish County Councilman and Washington State Representative Strom Peterson, Washington State Representative Julio Cortes, Snohomish County Councilwoman Megan Dunn, Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizzell, Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen, Arlington Mayor Don Vanney, Mountlake Terrace Mayor Kyoko Matsumoto Wright, Lynnwood City Council members David Parshall and Derica Escamilla, Edmonds City Council members Vivian Olson and Will Chen, Mountlake Terrace City Council members William Paige and Dr. Steve Woodard (who also serves as Vice President of Community Development for VOA, and acted as a tour guide Friday).
“This is a remarkable opportunity for the community to come together. I think the name Lynnwood Neighborhood Center really says a lot – it’s about the neighborhood, it’s about the community,” Rep. Strom Peterson, who represents the district the LNC falls within, told the Lynnwood Times. “Somehow we’ve overlooked ourselves for a number for years but now we’re taking steps to rectify that.”
The morning kicked off with a mingling opportunity among tourgoers over pastries and coffee before Dr. Steve Woodard and VOAWW COO Kristi Myers shared a few words.
“[The LNC] is meant to be the best of the community. This is what community is all about. It’s going to help children, we’re going to have senior programs, we’re going to be working with multicultural organizations, we’re going to have a community kitchen which we’d like to turn into workforce development,” said Myers. “It’s really all about services but it’s also a gathering place.”
Attendees were then separated into two groups, lent hardhats and safety vests (the facility is still an active construction site), and led – by way of Dr. Steve Woodard and Joel Feldman, Philanthropy Builder for VOA – through the building’s various rooms.
The tour first took the group through the early learning center, where up to 80 children (ages 3-5) can receive much-needed care in a region struggling to keep up with affordable, accessible, childcare services.
The tour then explored the nearby gymnasium, which holds a half-court basketball court, and storage space for various sporting equipment. Outside, a full-sized playground offers children the physical outlet to burn off excess energy. This playground was largely supported by the Rotary Club of Lynnwood and its generous donation of $24,000.
The tour then visited the nearby senior services rooms which can serve up to 250 seniors and their needs, as well as host workshops and cooking classes.
Nearby, a full-sized industrial community kitchen is fully equipped with everything needed to supply hearty and healthy meals, three times a day, to children enrolled in the early education programs.
These spaces are all conjoined by what Rick Steves calls the “piazza” (an Italian word for public square or meeting place). It’s here where a café will also be selling coffee and breakfasts for service providers, or parents dropping their children off at childcare, needing a pick-me-up.
Up the stairs from the piazza is where the offices of multiple community-driven nonprofits will set up shop, offering 600 individuals healthcare through Medical Teams International, 3,500 parents, infants, and young children with basic needs through Child Strive, 2,500 Korean Americans with wraparound support, 1,500 Hispanic residents with workforce training and education via the Latino Educational Training Institute, 2,160 people with mental healthcare and therapy through Center for Human Services, 3,000 families with young people facing homelessness through Cocoon House, 225 children with afterschool programs through the Boys and Girls Club, and more.
Volunteers of America will also have offices on-site offering 10,000 low-income families wraparound support and 50 adults with intellectual disabilities. VOA will also be running the early learning center and senior services center.
Lastly, the tour concluded at the LNC’s massive community room which has the capacity to fit 500 people at a time, not including outdoor patio seating in warmer weather – separated by a large glass door. This space can be rented out for weddings, conferences, parties, or whatever the community desires.
The 15-year-in-the-making project began when Trinity Lutheran Church wanted to develop its land into something community-driven. The church roped in Volunteers of America and the rest is history.
When the LNC opens next year, it will house a VOA Community Resource Center, medical, dental and behavioral health clinics, an early childcare education and assistance program (ECEAP) preschool, a Boys & Girls club, technology lab, adult day programs, community events and gatherings, culturally specific programs, refugee and immigrant assistance, a commercial kitchen and café, and classes, trainings and workshops serving the areas of Lynnwood, Edmonds, Shoreline, and communities across the area.
“It’s heart warming and overwhelming because in order to put these services in we had to understand what the need was and the need is extensive,” VOAWW CEO Brian Smith told the Lynnwood Times. “We’re grateful to be able to offer these services but we would love to do more though.”
The Center’s outcome-driven programs, services and partnerships will focus on five key priority areas to fill gaps in social determinants of health in the community: economic stability, access to quality education for children and youth, access to quality health care, neighborhood and built environment, and social and community context.
“I’ve been tracking this for over a decade waiting, and hoping, for the Boys and Girls Club to have a presence in South Lynnwood. Once this became a reality, and in a strange turn of synchronicities I got to be a part of it, it came full circle for me,” Lynnwood City Councilwoman Derica Escamilla, who sits on the LNC Steering Committee, told the Lynnwood Times.
The LNC will help people achieve economic stability by providing wrap-around preventative services that empower families towards self-efficacy and generational wealth development. This includes support for food, childcare, accessing affordable housing, tenant-landlord dispute resolution, and job training.
The center will provide access to quality education for children and youth by providing free and affordable educational opportunities and supportive youth development for early learners through adolescents, with a focus on communities that have faced historically disproportionate barriers to education. It will also provide access to quality health care by helping people access timely, high-quality health, dental and behavioral health care services at convenient onsite clinics.
The Volunteers of America Western Washington is currently seeking volunteers, for each of its 8 different service areas that house their programs. To apply for volunteer opportunities, visit: volunteer.voaww.org
Author: Kienan Briscoe
