Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction - Northwest Indian College’s Health and Wellness Center serves as an active cultural gathering space that heals the Indigenous spirit of learning through wellness and life balance. The Center is located at the NWIC main campus at the Lummi Nation near Bellingham, Washington. Construction of this multipurpose center supports a diverse student body, faculty, and staff represented by 120 Tribes, a multigenerational Tribal community ranging from young children to elders, participants of large Tribal cultural and educational events, and community members who may be facing future needs for staging of large vaccination clinics or gathering during an emergency. The Center’s two key spaces are simple, versatile, and critical to the practice of place-based and co-curricular programming in a setting of intentional wellness. These three spaces are an informal multipurpose gathering space and regulation size open court, a wellness resource classroom with supporting spaces that include ADA restrooms, a hospitality and welcome area, four offices and a storage space, and a covered, outdoor entry that serves as bonus gathering space, especially important during the pandemic. The Center is grounded in Indigenous healing informed programming designed to help students and community members access the resources necessary for Indigenous wellness restoration and Tribal community prosperity. The Center’s supporting parking area includes security cameras, lighting, access to electric charging stations, as well as a flexible pad space for staging of extra container storage, as needed for the Center as well as bringing in shipments of extra supplies during an emergency.
