Collaborative Placemaking: Building a Community Hub on Casino Road
Happy spring from the Casino Road Initiative!
We’ve had a very exciting last couple of weeks. After months of planning, in late March we started Pomegranate Center’s Community Design process for the Casino Road Community Hub.
The Pomegranate Method
The first step of this process was forming a convening group. The convening group is made up of 10-15 diverse community stakeholders whose purpose is both to serve as a link between the project and the community.
After two meetings with the Convening Group, the Pomegranate Center facilitated a community meeting that was hosted by the Initiative the evening of April 17. The community meeting is the heart of the Pomegranate Method. During this meeting, over 125 diverse community members generated a list of 50 ideas and priorities to be included in a future community hub.
Three days later, designers from the Pomegranate Center alongside architects and convening group members met for two all-day design workshops in which those 50 ideas collected at the community meeting were boiled down to prevalent themes and values and then interpreted into a conceptual design for Building A and the courtyard.
Just a week after the first community meeting, we invited the Casino Road community to gather once more in an open house in order to present the conceptual design back to them and receive their input.
(Keep scrolling for more information)
For more detailed information, visit our website: www.casinoroadinitiative.org/community-hub
Next Steps
The coming 2-3 months will be used to develop detailed construction drawings for the remodel and apply for permitting. Once we have construction drawings in hand, we will be able to start applying for capital improvement grants. After this design process, we have increased our capital fundraising goal to $750,000 in order to ensure a quality space for the Casino Road community. ChildStrive – the owner of the Children’s Village complex and a key partner to the Casino Road Initiative – will be moving their administrative offices out by August 1 to make the building available for construction.
How to Help
If you are interested in helping this project succeed, consider the following options!
Donate a skill you have to construction. We need people that know how to paint, frame, work with concrete, hang drywall, and do landscaping.
Do you have connections to a local contractor you trust? We’re in the market, if so!
Know of any capital grant opportunities? Please share if you do!
Thank you everyone for your support, and please feel free to connect with us for any questions or comments!
Until next time,
The Casino Road Initiative
Email: sara@cf-sc.org
Phone: (425) 343-8984
Website: www.casinoroadinitiative.org
Facebook: @CasinoRoadInitiative