LYNNWOOD — After more than 10 years of planning and construction, the Lynnwood Neighborhood Center is complete.
About 200 community leaders gathered Friday to cut the ribbon on the 40,000-square-foot, $26.5 million project. The Lynnwood Neighborhood Center will serve as a social services hub for south Snohomish County, housing several local nonprofits and community gathering space.
About 30 years ago, travel writer and local philanthropist Rick Steves bought the property at 19509 64th Ave. W in Lynnwood and donated it to Trinity Lutheran Church next door. About 15 years later, Trinity Lutheran Church partnered with Volunteers of America Western Washington to create a project that would help the community.
The project received funding from federal, state, county and city governments, including the cities of Lynnwood, Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace and Shoreline. In April 2024, construction began.
“You have built incredible collaboration and partnership, which is going to be a model for the rest of the nation,” said Mike King, CEO of Volunteers of America, at Friday’s event.
Six nonprofits have space in the building: Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County, Latino Educational Training Institute, Korean Community Service Center, Cocoon House, ChildStrive and Center for Human Services. It’ll also house some of Volunteers of America Western Washington’s own services, including day programs for adults with disabilities and a community resource center. The organization is working on bringing in Cornerstone Medical Services as a provider in the facility’s wellness center.
“We’ve been able to create something that will provide targeted and relevant services to people of all walks of life,” said Brian Smith, CEO of Volunteers of America Western Washington. “Everything from child care, senior programs, community meeting space, medical services, a cafe, job training and countless offerings from the seven incredible nonprofit partners that will live here with us. It’s all under one roof. How many communities can say that they have an asset like that?”
Volunteers of America Western Washington is 97% of the way to its fundraising goal, Chief Operating Officer Kristi Meyers said, with less than $1 million left.
“Although we are so close to that finish line and opening our building today, we still do have money left to raise, and our goal has always been to open this building debt-free,” she said. “That would allow us to focus on the services, programs and operations that are going to keep this facility thriving.”
The public is invited to celebrate the grand opening from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 24. Services will open Jan. 26.
Rosario Reyes, CEO of the Latino Educational Training Institute, said that having so many services under one roof will help connect the institute’s clients with the resources they need.
“It’s not going to be just sending them there, it’s going to be, ‘Let’s walk together to whomever can help you,’” she said.
Starting Jan. 26, the center will house the Edmonds Boys & Girls Club, allowing construction to begin on the program’s current building. Once construction is complete, the center will house a new Boys & Girls Club chapter. The wing includes a gym, playground and gathering space.
“We want the kids to want to come here, and I think they’re really going to enjoy it,” said DJ Lockwood, chief operating officer of Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County.
The center also houses a commercial kitchen, cafe, early learning classrooms and a community event space that holds 500 people. Community members can start requesting the rental space on the project’s website: voaww.org/lnc.
With services ranging from youth programs to adult day care, Steves said he hopes the center will inspire an “intergenerational twinkle” in Lynnwood.
“There’s been a coarsening of our culture in America lately,” Steves said. “The Lynnwood Neighborhood Center will soften that coarseness right here in our community. While politics and funding can be erratic, regardless of the turmoil, the Lynnwood Neighborhood Center is a stable resource.”
Friday was a special day for Steves in more ways than one. Snohomish County Deputy Executive Kent Patton — on behalf of Executive Dave Somers — declared Jan. 9, 2026 Rick Steves Day in Snohomish County. Steves donated $3 million in seed money for the center and later contributed another $1 million for a match campaign.
“(The center) is like an organism filled and fueled by us,” Steves said. “It’ll create an energizing metabolism. I love the thought of it breathing: people coming, people going, people meeting, sharing, learning, helping, laughing, playing. The result is the fabric of our community will be stronger, and the people who need these services will benefit in ways that we can hardly imagine.’
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
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