City throws support behind new Boys and Girls Club

The City of Columbia Falls is getting behind a plan to build a new Boys and Girls Club facility in the here.

The city plans to sponsor an application for a Community Development Block Grant for the club’s HUB project, which, if everything comes to fruition, would be built on vacant land next to St. Richard Catholic Church.

Called the HUB, the club has had plans for a facility for a few years now, but because it has a site for the building, the city can proceed with the grant process, city manager Susan Nicosia told city council last week.

The first formal step is to hold a public hearing on the project. That will be 7 p.m. March 21 during the regular city council meeting.

Folks interested in supporting the project can either attend the hearing or send letters of support in writing to the city.

The city previously received a host of letters supporting the project when the idea of applying for the grant came up last month.

The deadline for the grant application is the end of the month. The maximum grant amount is $600,000. While that won’t get a building completed, it will provide a kick start to get the project going.

The club held a presentation on the new facility Monday at Backslope Brewing. The new facility will be about 24,000 square feet with a gym, a commercial kitchen, classrooms and other amenities. It’s designed to be more than just a place for kids, noted Melissa Dunning, the club’s director of development. It will also be a community facility and has space, for example, to host senior citizens and community events.

Currently the club serves about 60 kids in Columbia Falls and another 45 in Evergreen. It would like to serve at least 300.

But it’s out of room. The Columbia Falls Club is in the old and weary Episcopal Church on Fourth Avenue West, across the street from Glacier Gateway Elementary.

The church has seen better days and is inadequate for the city’s growing population, the club has noted previously.

There is s currently a waiting list for its Columbia Falls after school program, noted director Mandy Anderson.

“We can’t take anymore,” she said last month. “It’s a capacity issue.”

The club charges a nominal $50 per child per month fee for its after school program and more than half of the kids qualify for scholarships, as about 60% of families are in lower income brackets.

The club hasn’t begun the formal fundraising process, but donors have shown an interest in helping. The estimated cost is about $8 million, but $2 million of that is for an endowment fund.

Another key step in the process is to get the subdivision of the property approved by the city.

It’s expected to go before the planning board in April. The facility has an ideal location, as it’s in walking distance of three schools — Ruder Elementary, the high school and the junior high.