TACOMA, Wash. — As a 17-year-old resident of Tacoma’s eastside, Billy Ray Shirley dreamed of starting his own community center, where kids his age could go and enjoy themselves in a safe environment.
Unfortunately, Shirley was killed in an act of gun violence in 2011. But that didn’t stop his mother, Shalisa Hayes, from working to make her son’s dream a reality.
“It blew me away in the sense that, it was interesting to see him thinking about it,” said Hayes. “But it didn’t shock me because I would have those moments and he would be thinking about things that a lot of us adults should’ve been.”
Now, 10 years later, the Eastside Community Center stands ready to welcome anyone that comes through its doors.
“If this building was here on Aug. 27, 2011, maybe Billy Ray would’ve been here, instead of where he was when he was shot and killed,” Hayes said.
Hayes said that getting funding for the $32.7 million center was a challenge, but community members rallied around Hayes’ call for the center.
“They know it’s a necessity,” Hayes said. “If you look at the eastside of Tacoma, it’s a food desert. We don’t have a local library, that closed down a number of years ago, we have schools closing. We did have a local facility at some point that did have youth programs, and once that closed down, we were just left empty.”
The center is also debuting a bronze statue of Shirley, courtesy of Jasmine Brown. Brown said the piece was years in the making, but the project spoke to her as an artist, a mother and an Eastside resident.
“My son is 18, he just graduated high school and he now works here part-time, doing customer service,” Brown said. “So he’ll walk past the statue every day, as will all the other young people that live in the community that come in and use the center on a daily basis.”
Hayes hopes that the center, and her son, will continue to inspire people to follow their dreams.
“They actually get to walk into this building and say I’m just like this kid, I can dream just like that kid, I can dream just as big as that kid, and if I work hard and get the support I need, my dreams, no matter how big they are, can be accomplished.”