Casino Road Initiative March Update
Happy Spring from the Casino Road Initiative!
After a long winter of planning and behind-the-scenes work, we are so excited to hit the ground running this week on the Community Hub project.
Pomegranate Method
This week marks the beginning of the community design process of the Casino Road Community Hub led by the wonderful Pomegranate Center. Tonight, a diverse group of 15 community leaders, called the “convening group” will be having their first meeting to learn about the Community Hub project and to begin planning a large community meeting for the Casino Road area. This community meeting is the heart of the Pomegranate Method, in which community members will have the opportunity to voice their top 1-2 priorities they would like to see included in the Community Hub. The results of that meeting will directly influence both the physical design of the Hub and the resources offered there.
We encourage all of you to spread the word about this event! Folks who live and work in the community (including our wonderful youth) are invited to participate in the meeting, while others are welcome to observe the process. The meeting will take place Tuesday, April 17 at Horizon Elementary from 6:00 – 8:30 PM. Translation, limited childcare, and refreshments will all be provided.
Building Capacity: Sharing the Pomegranate Method with our Community
While we had a relatively quiet winter, we did have the opportunity to bring a Pomegranate Center training to Snohomish County. On February 26 and 27, over 35 partners across Snohomish County learned how to implement the Pomegranate Method in their own organizations and communities. Building capacity across our community is a key value of the Casino Road Initiative, so we were so happy we were able to make this happen. Four of our Convening Group members who live in the Casino Road community also attended this training, and will be able to apply what they learned directly to the Community Hub process.
Capital Fundraising
We’re continuing to look for capital funding for the Hub alongside the owner of the Children’s Village complex and one of our key partners, ChildStrive. We have set a $500,000 goal, and our construction timeline will depend largely on when that goal is met. Please feel free to pass on any capital funding opportunities you hear of to Sara Boyle at sara@cf-sc.org.
Sincerely,
The Casino Road Initiative
Sara@cf-sc.org
(425) 343-8984