While construction of the United Learning Center in Centralia is still ongoing, the goal for a completion date has now been delayed to September 2026, according to Centralia City Manager Michael Thomas, who gave the Centralia City Council an update on the situation during his report at the council’s Tuesday, Feb. 25, meeting.
After a previous set of delays at the outset of the project, the hope was to have it open by this September.
The United Learning Center is a collaborative early learning center project involving the City of Centralia, the United Way of Lewis County, the Boys & Girls Club of Lewis County, Cascade Community Health, Discover! Children’s Museum and the Bezos Academy, which committed to 20 years of involvement with the project.
Once open, the goal is to have the United Learning Center provide supplemental schooling for Centralia area families, particularly those living in or near poverty.
“These can be people that are single mothers working multiple jobs, families under the poverty line where both parents are working but they may not have enough to cover things,” Thomas said. “The intent was to help these folks find additional schooling options.”
Thomas explained the reason for the delay to the expected completion date is due to inflation driving up construction costs across the board.
“The partners are committed to completing this project. We do face a cash-flow hurdle at this time that resulted in basically a funding gap, and we’re working through that funding gap right now to ensure that we open the project,” Thomas said.
Those involved are now looking for at least $500,000 from other funding sources or donations in order to bridge the current funding gap.
“This is an initial, for lack of a better word, a target. This (figure) could vary. It may move up or down based off of how the funding gap is closed and where we get additional sources of capital for this project,” Thomas said. “... So, take $500,000 with a grain of salt, just an initial (figure) to put something out there to get going.”
He added both city staff and the other partners in Lewis County are actively looking for funding to prevent having to halt construction entirely.
If construction stops, equipment will be moved from the site and will have to be brought back to resume work, further adding to mounting construction costs.
On top of outside organization donations in the past including one from TransAlta, 20th District state Rep. Peter Abbarno also helped secure $1.95 million in state funding last year for the project along with $4 million in federal funding secured through efforts from U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and U.S. Rep Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
The federal funding came from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Even though the U.S. Congress approved the funding last year, Thomas told the council that money may now be in limbo with the recent flurry of funding cuts being made by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency.
“This is now a wild card in this whole process … I’m not saying this is good or bad, not trying to be political about it, but we are looking at this and trying to read the tea leaves and thinking, ‘What happens if the HUD money goes away, or gets pulled or gets delayed even further?’” Thomas told the council. “So we’re now looking at the worst case where we’ll be $4 million short. And if that’s the case, we’ll have to really scramble with some other options and maybe get back to council.”
For now, though, HUD funding is still secure, according to HUD officials currently in contact with city staff.
“We’re just not 100% certain anymore because of recent activity in the current administration,” he added.
While the City of Centralia has helped with funding already, Councilor Norm Chapman told Thomas that with the city’s own current budget constraints, it won’t be able to provide more funding.
“When we passed our 2025-2026 budget, we came in on fumes. There’s no deep well when it comes to funds, and nobody wants to see this endeavor fail at all. I don’t think anybody does,” Chapman said. “But when you look at reality there, where if certain money dries up or comes up in the mud, whatever it is, (I hope) that we don’t end up 10 years from now with an albatross sitting over there that’s unfinished … It’s not a really wealthy community here, and raising taxes for the sake of finishing the project is probably not in the cards.”
United Way of Lewis County Executive Director Annie Oien also commented during the meeting, stating that she was working with Cascade Community Healthcare to pursue other possible funding partners and grant funding opportunities.
To learn more about the United Learning Center, visit the United Way of Lewis County’s website at https://www.lewiscountyuw.com/united-learning-center.
