The need and dream
Baldwin moved to Renton when he joined the Seahawks in 2011. He recalled the youth who gathered after school at a local teriyaki restaurant. The owner told him the students had nowhere to go. What was needed, Baldwin thought, was a community center like the kind in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida.
“And here we are, 10 years later,” Baldwin said recently to a group of locally elected officials, community members and Boeing representatives. “The dream of this center is now a reality, but we can’t sustain our efforts without support from organizations like Boeing.”
Baldwin spoke of his longtime interest in Boeing and its products, which began as a child wanting to “cruise the skies in an F/A-18.”
The partnerships
The Family First Community Center opened four months ago and operates in partnership with the Renton School District, which provided the land, and the City of Renton, which built the facility. HealthPoint provides medical, dental and behavioral health services.
Boeing’s contribution is vital in keeping many programs free and available, especially to the underserved, according to Jackie Montgomery, the foundation’s executive director.
“Our hope is one day we can model this in other Washington state communities, taking the recreational aspects of a traditional community center, combining it with educational and health services,” she said.
By: Mick Boroughs
