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Founded 05-05-05

OASIS and W.A.M.Y To Establish Family Resource Center

Story by Kathleen McFadden

The executive directors of social service agencies in Watauga County have been talking for years about establishing a community resource center that would house a number of complementary services under one roof, much like Ashe Family Central in Jefferson. That concept is going from the talking stage to the reality stage within the next year.

The executive directors of OASIS and W.A.M.Y. Community Action, Inc. announced last Friday that they have purchased the Blue Ridge Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine building behind Boone Drug Deerfield and hope to move their offices and services into the building in April 2008.

Present for the announcement were State Senator Steve Goss, State Representative Cullie Tarleton and Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson.

W.A.M.Y will control two-thirds of the 9,400 square foot building, OASIS will have the remaining one-third and the two agencies will share spaces for meetings, support groups and training activities. In their current locations, neither agency has the room to offer much in the way of support groups and training, so the new location will allow them to significantly expand services. The co-location arrangement will also allow the agencies to share staff.

But W.A.M.Y and OASIS won’t be using all the space in the building. Approximately 5,000 square feet will be available for rent to other nonprofit agencies, and perhaps even to private therapists, and the plan is for the building to become a vibrant resource center that offers several services in one location to better serve the agencies’ clients. “It’s much more challenging for our clients to get on their feet today than it was 16 years ago,” explained said Jennifer Herman, OASIS executive director. Having a number of services available in one location, she said, will help address all of the client’s needs along the continuum of gaining self-sufficiency.

“This was a collaborative community effort,” said Herman, who credited BB&T Senior Vice President Jonathan Lubkemann for believing in the project and arranging favorable financing terms and Blue Ridge Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine for its flexibility. The sale of the 15-year-old building closed in January, and the purchase price was $1.25 million.

Blue Ridge Pediatric needs a larger space, and office manager Laura Hardee said the practice plans to build a 25,000 square foot building on Greenway Road to the left of Greenway Business Park. The practice has a guaranteed lease on the current space through February 2008 and an option for month-to-month rental after that.

The building will need little renovation once the doctors’ office moves. The most significant change is the plan to add an elevator for accessibility.

By working together, OASIS and W.A.M.Y., Herman said, will “focus on what we do well, and coming together will help us to be more thoughtful and effective in our fundraising. We have seen grant opportunities to create things that don’t exist.”

Goss, Tarleton and Clawson applauded the effort. Goss said, “We need to find ways to be more collaborative on every level. I learned a long time ago that it’s not the building but the excitement of the people that makes programs work.”