The Greater Woodburn Opportunity Center is planned as a large-scale, multicultural and intergenerational community hub on an 8-acre site at the corner of Evergreen Road and Linfield Avenue. (Submitted by Greater Woodburn Opportunity Center)

A community-wide celebration will be held Saturday, May 31, to spotlight the future of the Greater Woodburn Opportunity Center.

The Greater Woodburn Opportunity Center is planned as a large-scale, multicultural and intergenerational community hub on an 8-acre site at the corner of Evergreen Road and Linfield Avenue.

The space will include a multiuse facility offering early childhood education, workforce training, nonprofit offices, community meals and senior services. Plans also include a 2-acre public park, affordable housing and annexes for small businesses.

The event will run from 3-5 p.m. at Metropolis Marketplace, located at 347 N. Front St. and is free to the public. Guests can expect live mariachi music, food and refreshments, kids’ activities, and raffle prizes. The celebration will also include guest speakers and presentations about the project’s vision and progress.

Organizers hope the event will build excitement and deepen community engagement around the project, which is currently in the predevelopment phase and awaiting funding from the state government.

“This is a space where communities come together,” said Terri Berkey Gonzalez, chair of the building team from Immanuel Lutheran Church, the founding partner of the project.

Immanuel Lutheran Church purchased the land in 2005 with plans to relocate, but after a decade, the vision evolved. By 2015, leaders reimagined the site as a broader, community-focused campus. The church will eventually move to the new location, becoming an anchor institution at the opportunity center.

The project is a collaboration between co-developers Community Resource Trust and CASA of Oregon, with over a dozen local partner organizations, including Family Building Blocks, Farmworker Housing Development Corporation and United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley.

As planned, the opportunity center would include a large gathering hall with capacity for 500 people, a commercial kitchen, prayer and meditation spaces, outdoor play and recreation areas and a cafe. Two acres of the property will also be used solely for affordable housing units.

Funding for the project will combine state and federal grants with private donations and philanthropic investment.

Free tickets to the May 31 celebration are available at parakataconsultants.com/GWOC. For more information, visit woodburnopportunity.org.