Raze Development, a new nonprofit formed by Kerra Bower, is preparing to overhaul the former state Department of Licensing office, at 6519 N. Lidgerwood, in North Spokane, into an inclusive early childhood education center that focuses on culturally based education for Black students.

Redeveloping the 10,000-square-foot building will cost about $3.3 million, including the purchase of the property, demolition and construction work, and interior furnishings, Bower says.

Partial funding for the project was provided by a $1 million grant awarded to Bower for her early learning childhood development in 2022.

David Black and Mark McLees, both of NAI Black, helped Bower secure the purchase of the Lidgerwood building after 1 1/2 years of searching, she says.

Spokane-based developer Harlan Douglass and the Innovia Foundation previously co-owned the property and sold it to Bower for a discounted price of $850,000, she says.

Bower will continue to operate her for-profit company, Little Scholars Early Learning Center, at 2015 N. Monroe, while developing the new programming for Raze Development.

Bower says she was inspired by the Salish School of Spokane and by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, which both celebrate culture and understanding in addition to aligning with her goal to support the education of Black students in Spokane.

The nonprofit’s name, Raze Development, is derived from Bower’s mission to tear down negative stereotypes regarding the learning outcomes for students of color or those with a lower socioeconomic status, she says. Some of the stereotypes include uninvolved parents, she explains, adding that, “Our parents will be involved. Our students are capable of challenging work and capable of retaining and implementing information without having it watered down.”

She says a 2019 feasibility study by the state Department of Commerce prompted the idea for the new center. The study found a large need for extended hours of care for those parents with jobs outside of traditional office hours. Raze Development will provide those extended child care services from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

FV Contracting LLC, of Mead, is the contractor and Spokane Valley-based Mint Interiors Studio LLC will design the project.

Bower says she anticipates work on improvements will begin in September, and she plans for the new school to open in May.

A community carnival is planned for mid-August that will introduce community members to the school and local wraparound service providers.

Bower says, “I just thought, how amazing would it be to have programming that’s culturally based in Black excellence and joy for the entire community that will start doing the work of taking away those stereotypes and those biases that we have ingrained in us … and just start humanizing being Black.”

Raze Development’s new school will support children from birth to 12 years, she says.