The Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is partnering with the City and Borough of Juneau to turn much of the largely vacant Floyd Dryden building into a center for early childhood education and youth programs.
Under a lease agreement finalized this month, Tlingit & Haida will take over classrooms at the former middle school building, left mostly empty after the district’s school consolidation.
The tribe plans to relocate three Head Start classrooms, its LEARN childcare program, and several youth engagement programs to the site.
“It will provide this youth hub for all of our youth engagement programming,” said Tlingit & Haida Youth Engagement Manager Jasmine James. “It also gives us a place where we can invite partners like Goldbelt Heritage Foundation and say, ‘Bring your canoe project here, and that way you have a space and where we are reaching the same youth.”
The new programs set for Floyd Dryden come amid broader long-term plans for tribal education facilities. The tribe announced last year plans for a 12-acre tribal education campus for the forested hillside behind Fred Meyer, although fundraising efforts are expected to take several years before construction can begin.
The move also comes as Juneau, like much of the state, faces childcare shortages and a declining school enrollment. A lack of childcare in Juneau acts as a barrier to workforce participation. Juneau’s public school enrollment has fallen steadily for over two decades. The public student population peaked at 5,701 in 1999 and has dropped to about 4,000 this year.
The new Floyd Dryden site will bring together services across age groups.
Early education programs include Little Eagles and Raven’s Nest, the tribe’s licensed childcare center for ages 0–6; Head Start and Early Head Start for children 18 months to 5 years old; and Haa Yoo X̲’atángi Kúdi, a Lingít language immersion pre-K program for tribal citizen children.
Wayfinders, Tlingit & Haida’s mentoring and life-skills program for high school students, will also expand in the space. The forthcoming Native Boys & Girls Club will add additional programs for youth aged youth aged 6-18.
The Floyd Dryden gym is not part of the lease and will remain available for public use through CBJ Parks and Recreation.
Renovations and program moves are scheduled into the new year. Tlingit & Haida and CBJ plan to host a community open house in early 2026 to mark the space’s completion.
“We’re a growing program that is an option for the community, so we want people to look for those opportunities as we stand them up,” James said.
