EVERETT, Wash. — Two Snohomish County mothers are leading an effort to establish Washington state’s first GiGi’s Playhouse achievement center in Everett.
The planned facility would offer free therapeutic, educational and career training programs for individuals living with Down syndrome.
GiGi’s Playhouse operates a national network of Down Syndrome achievement centers, but no locations currently exist in Washington state.
Courtney Criss, one of the mothers spearheading the effort to establish the center in Everett, estimates that approximately 700 people with Down Syndrome live in Snohomish County, though the center’s free services would be open to families across Western Washington.
Criss, a mother from Lake Stevens, began pursuing a local achievement center after traveling to Portland to attend a class with her son and daughter, who are both living with Down Syndrome.
“Yeah, we registered for a class and attended, and we’re from Lake Stevens,” Criss said. She believes a similar facility closer to home would be a huge benefit.
“We wanted to have an achievement center in our area, whether it was one we built from scratch or that we used the Gigi’s playhouse model,” Criss said.
She noted that while the specialized programming focuses on specific developmental needs, the resources can serve a wider group.
“Priority is given to those with Down Syndrome, and the programs are designed for people with DS, but that also means it could work for lots of other people,” Criss said.
Julie Angelos-Plotnick, a mother from Everett, struggled for years to find consistent childcare and routine activities for her adult daughter, Alena.
She explained that finding reliable support services has proved challenging.
“She always had trouble with abandonment and, like, leaving --- my best bet was always to find private childcare,” Angelos-Plotnick said.
She also emphasized that an achievement center would provide essential adult programming and social engagement.
“It would still be extremely useful for Alena as an adult –because of all the adult classes,” Angelos-Plotnick said. “Having activities for her to go to and hang out with friends and learn things, get some fitness in, and stuff that’s going to be amazing.”
The proposed center is intended to provide daily consistency for families, filling a gap left by intermittent activities such as the Special Olympics.
As a volunteer-run and donation-funded organization, the project requires launch capital, with organizers citing startup costs between $75,000 and $100,000 to open the doors.
Criss told KIRO 7 that they are starting to look for spaces as they enter a new phase of financing and fundraising.
She admits that when it opens, they would like to have anywhere from $250,000 to $300,000 in an account for operations. She also said they have been fundraising for about a year. Their fundraising goal is $75,000.
The fundraising gala to help launch the project is scheduled for Oct. 24 at the Hansen Conference Center in Everett.
Organizers hope to complete setup and open the center within one year. They say information about supporting and donating to the effort can be found on the website for the project.