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Kids throughout the Portland area who are at high risk of dropping out of school will get some strategic help when Open School East arrives in the fall of 2016. And those kids will have even more resources when Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metropolitan Area redevelops an adjoining facility.

Gov. Kate Brown and Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis were among the dignitaries on hand last week at a ground-breaking event for the school facility. Operations started last year with about 60 students attending classes at Oliver Elementary on Southeast Taylor Street. Open School East is projected to serve 270 students from six school districts throughout the Portland-metro area by 2019. All of the students are in danger of becoming dropouts.

The school’s philosophy is rooted in the belief that every child can graduate if given the means, so wrap-around programs are provided to give high-risk students support in intensive remedial education and social services.

The new Open School East will get a neighbor when Boys and Girls Clubs of Portland Metropolitan Area starts work on its facility next spring. Holst Architecture is designing both projects, and P&C Construction will serve as the project manager for both. They’re being built on four acres at the corner of Southeast 165th Avenue and Stark Street.

Andrew Mason, executive director of Open School East, said joining forces with Boys & Girls Clubs by sharing a gym and kitchen saved a substantial amount of money.

鈥淚n terms of capital, not only will we build a single gym and a single kitchen and share some classrooms, but it also makes us eligible for New Market Tax Credits,鈥� he said.

The partnership also benefits from Boys & Girls Clubs operating its programs after school is out for the day, he said.

鈥淚t’s really smart in terms of capital and operating,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’re getting together in an intelligent way and using taxpayer money in a smart manner.鈥�

Mason said the school didn’t have all the dollars it needed to build what it wanted, but when he discovered that Boys and Girls Clubs had the same architect, combining forces made even more sense.

Josh Fuhrer, who left Gresham City Council two years ago to head the city’s redevelopment commission focusing on Rockwood, said seeing the development move forward is a dream come true.

鈥淭hose two organizations have such an impact on the community they serve, and all of our East (Multnomah) County youth will benefit from having them here,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hese are organizations that have been serving our community for a long time, but from afar. Having them here is a huge positive for Gresham.鈥�

Traci Rose, vice president of communications for Boys and Girls Clubs, said Holst has been an 鈥渁mazing partner鈥� in planning the new facility.

鈥淭hey sat down with staff and had the staff lead them through what we needed and were really thoughtful in what the club would look like,鈥� she said.

Nonprofits often collaborate and share resources, Rose said, and Boys & Girls Clubs had previously tried to share a facility with Friends of the Children, which two weeks ago opened its new facility at Northeast 172nd Avenue and Glisan Street.

Those plans fell through, but when the city of Gresham bought the land on 165th Avenue (the former site of Drake’s 7 Dees Landscaping), an opportunity was born.

鈥淲e had no idea what to do with it, but we knew it was a big enough site and we wanted to make sure something positive happened here,鈥� Fuhrer said. 鈥淪o Boys and Girls Clubs decided to move to the site on Stark and they actually brought us to the Open School.鈥�

The city sold two parcels of the land to Boys and Girls Clubs and Open School East, and it’s a good bargain for the city, Fuhrer said.

鈥淭he city basically sold them the land for what we paid for it, and the city was able to get two fantastic organizations and (approximately) 60,000 square feet of new development,鈥� he said.

The site contains two existing buildings on the southwest corner, one of which is 30,000 square feet and will be redeveloped for Boys and Girls Clubs. The other is being leased by Drake’s, at least for now, Fuhrer said.

A portion of the northeast corner will be used for outdoor recreation. Both groups and the public will use space there.

The new Open School building, on the lot’s southeast corner and abutting the Boys & Girls Club building, will be 21,000 square feet and serve students ages 11 to 18. Plans call for 11 classrooms, two science labs, an art studio and administrative office on two floors around a double-height central space. A cascading bleacher stair in the central space will connect both floors and accommodate 200 people.

Rose said a lot of credit for the developments should go to the city of Gresham for its support, especially since they are located in the Rockwood neighborhood, which has rising poverty and high dropout rates.

鈥淩ockwood has one of the highest percentages of child welfare cases in the state,鈥� Rose said. 鈥淭here are academic challenges and a myriad of issues that caused a lot of stress to children and families.鈥�