A nonprofit serving youth in crisis in Benton and Franklin counties is consolidating its two Kennewick offices into a new, larger space to better support its staff and the community. 

Lutheran Community Services Northwest serves more than 400 clients annually, helping connect youth with vital mental health services and providing counseling, as well as working with families.

For a while now, the nonprofit has been maxed out on space at its Kennewick locations, with some offices sharing two to three staff members. There are no break rooms and no conference rooms to meet with families, said Sharon Gentry, district director for the Tri-Cities arm of Lutheran Community Services Northwest.

As the leases for the nonprofit’s Kennewick offices expire next summer, the nonprofit hopes to be ready in August 2026 to move into a new home at 7011 W. Canal Drive, Kennewick, previously home to an Amazon call center.

The 38,000-square-foot building near Hobby Lobby and new Chick-fil-A will double the nonprofit’s current space, enabling Lutheran Community Services Northwest to better serve the community, enhance its current programs and eventually add new programs and more staff.

“This is more than a move – it’s an investment in the future of youth mental health in our community,” Gentry said in a news release announcing the expansion.   

Upcoming renovations

In its new space, Lutheran Community Services Northwest will be able to host all-staff meetings and family events, both of which must currently be held off site, and there will even be a cafeteria. There will be offices and other spaces for staff to collaborate and meet and to provide all the services they’ll need now and in the future.

“It’s been kind of an aspiration that when those (Kennewick) leases expire, that we would be able to bring both those spaces together under one roof so that we could also expand our programs because growth has been hindered by our space availability,” Gentry said. 

Lutheran Community Services Northwest must renovate the new space to get it ready for staff and clients. 

The nonprofit is working with MG2, a Seattle-based architectural firm, on the interior design. It was important the facility be designed through a “trauma-informed lens,” Gentry said, for clients who may have trauma in their history.

That kind of design means using lots of natural light, bringing in nature and outside elements, using soothing color palettes, and ensuring there’s lot of visibility and no hidden corners.

Lutheran Community Services Northwest’s new Kennewick office will be in the old Amazon call center at 7011 W. Canal Drive, a 38,000-square-foot space which will be remodeled over the coming year.

| Courtesy Lutheran Community Services Northwest

Pasco-based MH Construction will be the contractor and will first work on landlord improvements before turning attention to Lutheran Community Services Northwest’s renovations.

Renovations are set to begin in November, pending permit approval.

A $20,000 permit has been issued for landlord improvements, while a $1.9 million permit for the interior remodel is currently pending. 

Gentry said the nonprofit is applying for grants to help fund the renovations, but that they still need community support. 

“It is going to be a heavy lift,” she said, though clients won’t see any disruptions in services. 

Once the renovations are complete, Lutheran Community Services Northwest will be better able to meet demand for its services in the community. 

Mental health services

The nonprofit is a local arm of Lutheran Community Services Northwest, which serves Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Each district has a different focus depending on the needs of the community, Gentry said.

In the Tri-Cities, the focus is on serving children and youth, as well as their families, who are in crisis. The local district has 120 staff. 

Lutheran Community Services Northwest can help connect kids in crisis to resources on a short-term basis, or the nonprofit will help support clients and their families longer term as they navigate more complex and lasting challenges. 

It also provides more traditional outpatient services, like meeting with a counselor weekly or providing medication, case management services or helping to navigate food, job and housing insecurities. 

Lutheran Community Services Northwest contracts with the Richland School District as well as the Benton-Franklin Juvenile Justice Center to provide mental health support in schools and in detention. 

The nonprofit has operated in Benton and Franklin counties for 61 years, more than half of that time from its current main office at 3321 W. Kennewick Ave., Suite 150. It also has an office at 500 N. Morain St., Suite 1200, Kennewick, and one in Pasco at 5710 Bedford St.

The Pasco office is newer than the Kennewick offices, and it won’t be consolidated into the new space. That office opened in 2021 and has a 15-year lease, Gentry said. The nonprofit moved into that office to help reduce the pressure on the Kennewick offices, as well as to extend the reach of its programs to outlying cities, like Basin City. 

“Growth continues to happen,” Gentry said. “… Mental health continues to be a strong area of need.”