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Expanding Horizons

The Wheelhouse will provide more than 5,000 people/year with:

  • Heated year-round gathering spaces for classes, events, and community building.

  • Comfortable, safe, and inclusive ADA compliant restrooms, showers, and changing stalls

  • Adaptive watercraft and equipment to ensure water access for all

  • Improved sustainability for the health of Bellingham Bay and the Salish Sea

  • Snow to Sea (with Nooksack Valley Middle School)

    The CBC is serving as the lead agency for a three-year Snow to Sea program for underserved studentsl, coordinating community partnerships to allow students to follow water molecules from Mount Baker through the watershed to Bellingham Bay, nurturing greater ecological understanding, and sense of place.

  • Community Learning

    The CBC has hosted 3 educational paddles to help cultivate community scientists in conjunction with reSources, Surfrider Foundation, and North Sound Stewards.

  • Women

    We hosted 226 (and counting) Wild Women on the Water participants in collaboration with Shifting Gears for the purpose of empowering women and developing an inclusive community for all skill levels.

  • Vamos Outdoors

    VAMOS Outdoors provides outdoor recreational and educational activities for Latinx and English Language Learner families. The CBC was able to serve 81 Whatcom County young people, including one who joined our youth internship program the following year.

  • LGBTQIA+ Community

    This season we hosted our 2nd Annual Pride Paddle and launched our new LGBTQ+ Weekly Paddles!

  • Bellingham School District

    We hosted over 400 Shuksan Middle School students, many of whom were on Bellingham Bay for the first time! We paddle on the bay, explore tidepools, conduct marine experiments, and learn about invasive species, bioaccumulation, and water quality.

  • Adaptive Programs

    We’ve partnered with organizations such as Max Higbee, The Airow Project, and Cascade Connections to offer adaptive programs for individuals with ranges of physical and developmental disabilities. In 2022, we provided 616 programming hours to 226 individuals, and yet there was more demand than we could fulfill. Our new facilities will be ADA compliant - making the CBC truly welcoming to all.

  • WWU Internships

    The CBC’s partnership with WWU, recently featured on the cover of the Bellingham Herald, offers undergraduate internships in marine research to study our unique bioluminescence, share their findings with guests, and promote citizen science through our bioluminescence paddle. A recent intern is presenting her findings at an Algea Symposium in Rhode Island.

Phase 1

The Wheelhouse Building

Phase one will conclude with the completion of the Wheelhouse Building and the utility work. We are closing in on this target of $1.5M with $1.2M in pledged support. The Wheelhouse building is set to be ready when we open for the 2024 season!

See our progress below!

Phase 2

Accessible Boating Equipment

We will deliver new tools of impact, including adaptive equipment to better serve community members with physical disabilities and upgrade to electric safety boats to eliminate fossil fuels from our operations. The full activation of these resources will await the completion of the Port Of Bellingham’s Small Watercraft Dock in 2025. By that time we expect to fulfill our dream to have a fully accessible campus, dock, and fleet!

$1,300,000

WHEELHOUSE BUILDING

$60,000

FACILITIES UPKEEP

$60,000

ELECTRIC SAFETY BOATS

$80,000

ADAPTIVE EQUIPMENT

See Our Progress!