A new District One Community Center is on its way to finally becoming reality.
Ho-Chunk Nation officials broke ground for its construction on Friday, September 2, on its intended grounds in the new Wazee subdivision near the Mission area in Black River Falls.
Plans for a new center had been discussed for years, but now the final go ahead has been given. Now the funding for the construction has been approved.
The $15 million facility will be the primary base for Ho-Chunk Youth Services, which has been at the former bingo hall in Sandpillow since the 1990s. It also will have room for public activities, such a wakes and funerals, which now postpone or cancel youth activities at the present facility because of a lack of space.
“The community members got together. There was nothing in place for the youth back then. The members put together to change the old bingo hall into a youth center,” said Ho-Chunk Nation President Wilfrid Cleveland.
The bingo hall conversion was always a temporary measure, said Cleveland.
“Back then they were already talking about a larger community center,” he said. “Seeing this beginning to happen, I have so many feelings when I look forward to doing things for the next generation.”
District 1 Legislator Greg Blackdeer said that the groundbreaking is a “joyous event” which will serve both the youth and community members for many years.
 “It’s been a long, uphill battle,” Blackdeer said. “We have a debt of gratitude to the legislators to get this accomplished. Without their support, we wouldn’t be here today.”
One of the biggest advocates for the new community center is Susan Waukon, a former legislator who had the passion to see completion.
“Plans changed every other week, we had community meetings and there was much discussion about including a (swimming) pool,” Blackdeer said.
The new facility will have areas for community education, youth services and athletics and will provide separate spaces as needed for events and programming.
The youth center will have classrooms, office space, a kitchen area and a multi-purpose gymnasium, and there is a tournament size gym with locker rooms, a fitness center and running track for athletic programming.
There also are computer labs, sewing rooms, classrooms and offices and meeting areas for community education. A large lobby area can handle the influx of people coming into the facility. A kitchen will be constructed for the Youth Center portion and another larger commercial-type kitchen will be provided for large community events.

Alyssa Campbell of I & S Group, the architectural company, she was pleased to be part of the experience.
During their work, they identified three separate entities and their needs, Campbell said. The groups involved are the community, youth and athletics. They talked about how each of the groups could function without being disruptive to the other groups regardless of schedule.
“We’re really excited to bring your passion and take this dream and make it a reality,” said Jason Recob of Miron Construction, the company that has been selected for construction the project. A starting date has not been established yet, but the project should take approximately 14 months, Recob said.
Recob, who also was involved with Project Forward, said the new Community Center will be in a beautiful setting and it will be a beautiful building. He said it was a great project to combine both the needs and the culture into the building.