In times past, Andrea Mirante reflects, kids growing up in Westport had a pretty clear path forward into a career in the fishing community and the town that grew up around it, their courses intertwined.

That path has been muddied, Mirante says in an interview, leaving kids no way to connect and become part of the maritime community. She aims to remedy that, beginning by standing up The Helm under the eaves of South Beach Youth, a youth community center for school-age kids that the town has been lacking.

“It’s the beginning of a community center,” Mirante said in the building donated for the purpose on Montesano Street near the library. “It’s the beginning of what’s been needed for decades.”

Mirante, whose background with the school, the town, and in her professional education informed the decision, said she saw a need.

“The Helm steers you in the direction,” Mirante said. “Our slogan is ‘charting courses, changing lives.’”

The center held an open house last weekend that was well-attended, Mirante said. With luck, this program can help give kids space and direction, to bind them to the unique Westport community, unlike any other in the county or the larger region with its deep ties to the sea, Mirante said.

“The initial push came from being in the school and seeing all the students who have lost ambition. There’s nothing here for them to do. There’s no seeds being planted,” Mirante said. “There’s no direct lines to the industry like there used to be.”

Mirante said that by standing up The Helm and the programs it will offer, she hopes kids will be able to connect more closely with the community, giving them a link, a reason to return, instead of simply drifting away.

“Our youth in Westport have been completely overlooked. They feel forgotten,” Mirante said. “There’s no third spaces for our youth. There’s nowhere they can go safely between the hours of three and six.”

Two broad programs will fall under the auspices of The Helm: Maiden Voyage, an after-school community program, as well as a youth cheer program, for kids in kindergarten through 6th grade, and the South Coast News Network, a drone club funded by the University of Washington alongside a local news program for kids in 7th-12th grades, which includes a path for students to get their drone pilot’s license funded by the university.

“The students spoke to it. They wanted to produce something like that,” Mirante said of the radio program. “They will be working a lot together.”

Mirante said they’re looking to find other residents of the area who can help teach kids useful things: things like changing oil or a car tire, things that previous generations neglected to pass on and then whine that those skills are lost in younger generations.

“If they have a skill or something they’d like to share with the youth that utilize the space, they’re welcome to it,” Mirante said. “Providing services that are actually going to be utilized. We want to make sure we’re providing something people actually need, that is going to benefit youth or young adults.”

Funding for the center comes from donations, grants from colleges and agencies, and from limited program admission fees, Mirante said.

Celebrating fishing families

The center is also working on a workforce development grant to build out programs that would help guide students and young adults into career’s around Westport’s maritime industry, both aboard and ashore, including women, who have not traditionally been as large a part of the industry as men.

“We’re really trying to produce an aquatic community center that provides spaces for youth to go to that’s safe, that engages them with multiple different opportunities to learn new skills,” Mirante said. “We want to inspire other women to participate in the fishing industry, to get positions in the fishing industry. Even just speaking that they do have the opportunity really would make a huge difference.”

Coming from a fishing family, Mirante said that connection of the community to the fleet is an important one — it informed the programming she’s seeking to stand up, and even the name of the center, The Helm.

“They’re not being celebrated. Our fisherman should be celebrated,” Mirante said. “We really want to make sure our fisherman families, our fisherman, and the community beyond know how important they really truly are.”

Rebuilding those links between the growing youths and the decks of the Westport’s fleets would help give them something to stick around for, as well as pumping fresh blood into the crews, Mirante said.

“No one really knows there’s this availability. You have this youth, ‘saying I can’t find a job’ and the captains of the charter boats saying ‘I can’t find anyone to work,’” Mirante said. “There’s a disconnect. That’s where we find that void.”

The youth are the future, Mirante said: if this youth community center can start to offer programs that parents previously had to drive to Aberdeen for, is that not to the good?

“We hope to have more. We hope more people come to us after knowing we’re here,” Mirante said. “Maybe someone can teach tap or ballet. We’re providing services for youth that otherwise people are going into town for.”

Youth are the future, Mirante says. By giving them light and water, their roots can run deep in the Westport’s sandy soil.

“We need to be providing things for our kids. If space is the problem, we have that now,” Mirante said. “Why not hone in our community?”

Mirante praised the city and Councilman Troy Meyer for their cooperation and support as the center gets stood up.

“The city of Westport has been extremely supportive,” Mirante said. “They’re putting in a crosswalk across the street so our kids can cross the street safely.”

The Helm is officially operational on Monday, Oct. 21, Mirante said. More information on programs and how to register is online at https://sbyouth.square.site/

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or michael.lockett@thedailyworld.com.