Groundbreaking for MyHouse Carson-Cottle Center to be held Friday

MyHouse, a local non-profit organization that helps homeless and at-risk youth throughout the Mat-Su Valley, will break ground on the new Carson-Cottle Center this Friday.

The project has been made possible by a S23 million grant to the MyHouse Mat-Su Homeless Youth Center to fund the construction of a commercial building to support programs that offer services to homeless youth, expanding their successful job training programs statewide and offer additional space for the programs offered.

It was part of a larger $230 million, 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act that President Joe Biden signed last year.

“This will allow MyHouse to expand services for homeless youth to provide them with safe harbor, on-site housing of 64 transitional beds, and employment opportunities,” said Michael Carson, Vice Chairman of MyHouse.

The building will also include a 230-seat theatre/music space and a variety of conference and group spaces, retail space and a restaurant, said CEO and Founder of MyHouse, Michelle Overstreet.

The groundbreaking is set to kick-off Friday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. followed by a gathering at MyHouse Gathering Grounds Café, where people will be able to learn more about the project.

MyHouse has been serving homeless and at-risk youth from around the state for 12 years, and has maintained its vision to end homelessness and a philosophy of “a hand up, not a hand out.”

According to a press release, the building represents a massive increase in MY House’s service capabilities, in-part through the addition of 64 more transitional living beds. Additionally, the ground floor of Carson-Cottle has retail spaces that will be occupied by local businesses, all of whom have agreed to employ MYHouse clients as part of the organization’s job-training program in partnership with Nine Star Employment Services.

There will also be on-site physical, mental and behavioral health professionals available for MYHouse clients and the community.

“It’s turning out to be an amazing project!”

The project is designed by award winning architect Wil Carson, a Colony High School graduate and Harvard Architect, and later part of a team of architects who won a “Time Magazine Invention of the Year” in 2015, awarded for their building design for Skid Row in Los Angeles.

Overstreet says the building has a goal of integrating art into the building, and currently has on board artists Holly Gittlien and Judie Gumm, along with a jewelry artist from Esther, Alaska.

“It’s amazing!” she said.

The building will serve as a community hub for the City of Wasilla, due to both its location and the nature of the services provided.

For those unable to attend in-person, the ceremony will be live-streamed on the “MyHouse MatSu” YouTube channel and the “My House” Facebook page.

The groundbreaking for the Carson-Cottle Center at 4 pm as 800 N. Fishhook Road, Wasilla, followed by refreshments at MYHouse Gathering Grounds Café, located at 300 N. Willow St., Wasilla.