Facility Hours
Monday-Friday
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Northside Health Center Inc. – History and Mission
The Northside Health Center, Inc. began as a joint venture between the City of El Campo and the El Campo Independent School District. Northside Health Center, Inc. began in 1988 with the gift of an 86,000 square foot school facility that was tagged for sale or demolition. A number of concerned businessmen in El Campo were concerned with the demise of a facility that had benefits to offer the community as a multi-use facility. Originally incorporated as the Northside Health Center, Inc., it became obvious to the businessmen that the scope of use of the facility needed to be expanded to utilize the full facility.
A program of needs analysis soon displayed a number of community needs that could be served by the facility. The first was the development of the El Campo Boys & Girls Club which occupied a number of the classrooms and the gymnasium. This Club was organized and was offered the Summer Youth Program of the City of El Campo with the corresponding budget for that program.
Next to be developed was the Wharton County Library into 14,400 square feet of the facility, tripling the size of the old library facility. Wharton County offered $400,000 if matching funds could be raised in the community to demonstrate community support.
A total of $950,000 was raised (including the County contribution) for this renovation.
A senior citizens program sprung into use in the 10,000 square foot cafeteria facility currently under renovation. This came from an agreement with the City of El Campo to relocate a wooden frame community center building that had been used for the seniors program.
Education and distance learning became the next project. This use meant a partnership with the El Campo Independent School System, Wharton County Junior College and University of Houston – Victoria. The building in which these classes are offered is considered Phase I or the Northside Education Center. Currently dual credit classes, Masters college credit classes, GED courses, license certification courses, and courses for skill enhancement are currently being offered in the facility. This is the facility that is continuing to grow and has the Board of Directors of Northside Center looking to develop Phases II and III of the building to meet the demand for even more and larger classes
.
Not only will classroom space capable of handling larger classes be available, but vocational training classes are also being planned to accommodate the non-traditional student that did not finish their primary education and would like to gain skills while remaining employed.
Recently, the El Campo City Development Corporation has moved into the Northside Education Center. The CDC is committed to developing the education of the community’s workforce.
