For Immediate Release

July 13, 2007

CLINIC, EDUCATION PROGRAM AT SALISHAN;
UPS AND PIERCE COLLEGE GRANTS FUNDED

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Appropriations Committee has approved a $500,000 federal contribution toward the expansion of the Eastside Community Health Care clinic in Tacoma’s Salishan neighborhood in addition to a $250,000 grant for a new WSU education center at Salishan, Rep. Norm Dicks said.

            In voting to approve the Labor-Health & Human Services-Education appropriations bill for the next fiscal year, the panel agreed to fund the two projects in the Salishan community, which is being rebuilt under the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOPE VI revitalization program.   The new funding will assist the Eastside Clinic expansion, slated to increase the number of exam rooms at the facility from 9 to 24 as the number of health care providers at the clinic is doubled. 

            At the same time the committee recommended a grant of $250,000 for an education center that is being developed at Salishan by Washington State University, Tacoma Community College and the Metropolitan Development Council.  It will be called the WSU Center for Community Education, Enrichment, and Urban Studies, offering a broad array of educational and training opportunities for the diverse Salishan community.  The money comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.

            Rep. Dicks said the appropriations panel also approved two additional grants to Tacoma colleges:

• $250,000 to assist the University of Puget Sound in relocating the Slater Museum of Natural History to a new, larger facility.

• $100,000 to Pierce College to help develop curriculum, faculty capability and outreach activities for the college’s Center of Excellence for Homeland Security.

            “These four Tacoma-area programs represent opportunities where federal funding can provide direct assistance as well as leverage additional resources from the public and private sectors,” said Rep. Dicks, who serves as a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee.

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