These are short slide shows about creating green and resilient neighborhoods. A good term to use here is "allies and assets." This means entities in the community and neighborhood that can be helpful to making homes and neighborhoods more green and resilient. They can include city programs, a residential property, faith communities, public property, schools, business, any organization or network. Of particular interest here is the neighborhood association [NA].
Many cities have neighborhood programs and that usually means there are identified neighborhoods with community organizations. They typically meet once a month, have a board, they might have interest, issue or action committees; NAs address issues of interest such as traffic, land use, crime, the environment,,,whatever the group decides. Cities with neighborhood programs usually provide various support services to the NAs, such as a modest budget, various kinds of skill trainings and commonly, matching grant programs.
Some cities have non profit neighborhood associations. NAs that are not part of a city program. Some neighborhoods have home owners associations. These entities can address many of the same issues and interests as a city NA.
Neighborhood associations have enormous potential for helping to create green and resilient homes and communities. They have standing, they have networks, they have outreach capacity. They are limited only by the level of participation from the neighborhood.
Below is a slide show taken from the 2018 Northwest Permaculture Convergence, Sept. 28 - 30 near Toledo, Washington. This slide show was the Friday night plenary session. The four story tellers were asked to describe projects they are involved with that involve working with neighborhood associations.
For the images below, place the cursor over the image, a caption will appear. Clik and the image becomes larger with the caption below.
The first short story comes from Olympia, Washington. Olympia has a vigorous neighborhood program.
Many cities have neighborhood programs and that usually means there are identified neighborhoods with community organizations. They typically meet once a month, have a board, they might have interest, issue or action committees; NAs address issues of interest such as traffic, land use, crime, the environment,,,whatever the group decides. Cities with neighborhood programs usually provide various support services to the NAs, such as a modest budget, various kinds of skill trainings and commonly, matching grant programs.
Some cities have non profit neighborhood associations. NAs that are not part of a city program. Some neighborhoods have home owners associations. These entities can address many of the same issues and interests as a city NA.
Neighborhood associations have enormous potential for helping to create green and resilient homes and communities. They have standing, they have networks, they have outreach capacity. They are limited only by the level of participation from the neighborhood.
Below is a slide show taken from the 2018 Northwest Permaculture Convergence, Sept. 28 - 30 near Toledo, Washington. This slide show was the Friday night plenary session. The four story tellers were asked to describe projects they are involved with that involve working with neighborhood associations.
For the images below, place the cursor over the image, a caption will appear. Clik and the image becomes larger with the caption below.
The first short story comes from Olympia, Washington. Olympia has a vigorous neighborhood program.
Pat dreamed of doing forest gardens since 1994.
The first public food forest in Olympia to involve city and a neighborhood was the Joy Avenue Pathway in 2011, a collaboration with Northeast Neighborhood, that converted an overgrown and rubble filled city right of way into a bike trail with benches, art and forest garden.
Since then, Edible Forest Gardens, a non-profit in Olympia, has installed more than 80 forest gardens of fruit and nut trees, berry bushes and perennial vegetables around town in yards, community gardens, neighborhood pathways, schools, churches, farms and businesses - all with volunteers and College interns.
Importantly, EFG cooperates with Neighborhood Associations to apply for Neighborhood Matching Grants from the City of Olympia to purchase plants and supplies for collaborative projects. Together, they have planted forest gardens at elementary schools, middle schools and high schools with students taking an active part in design, planting and taking care of the gardens.
Olympia High Schools now have “victory” gardens where students grow food for school lunch programs while permaculture class are taught in school.
EFG has worked with the City Parks Department so food forests are now included as permissible landscape options in city parks.
Pat works with Evergreen State college students and teachers. The group installed a demonstration site with five different natural water harvesting models and just created a half acre market garden.
Pat has helped bring many segments of the community together.
The first public food forest in Olympia to involve city and a neighborhood was the Joy Avenue Pathway in 2011, a collaboration with Northeast Neighborhood, that converted an overgrown and rubble filled city right of way into a bike trail with benches, art and forest garden.
Since then, Edible Forest Gardens, a non-profit in Olympia, has installed more than 80 forest gardens of fruit and nut trees, berry bushes and perennial vegetables around town in yards, community gardens, neighborhood pathways, schools, churches, farms and businesses - all with volunteers and College interns.
Importantly, EFG cooperates with Neighborhood Associations to apply for Neighborhood Matching Grants from the City of Olympia to purchase plants and supplies for collaborative projects. Together, they have planted forest gardens at elementary schools, middle schools and high schools with students taking an active part in design, planting and taking care of the gardens.
Olympia High Schools now have “victory” gardens where students grow food for school lunch programs while permaculture class are taught in school.
EFG has worked with the City Parks Department so food forests are now included as permissible landscape options in city parks.
Pat works with Evergreen State college students and teachers. The group installed a demonstration site with five different natural water harvesting models and just created a half acre market garden.
Pat has helped bring many segments of the community together.
Emily Scali, Seattle, Washington
Emily Scali is a Seattle architect, educator, and entrepreneur focused on ecological architecture, permaculture, and urban renewal. She holds a Master of Architecture degree from Virginia Tech and has over 12 years of experience in a range of architecture, urban planning, historic preservation, and landscape design projects nationwide.
Emily's short story will be a practical example of her permaculture based design ideals. She is engaged in making her neighborhood more green and resilient, from the scale of her own property to the dynamic area surrounding the Othello Light Rail line in SE Seattle. Highlighting and growing the neighborhood’s community gardens, transportation options, and pedestrian safety, Emily is working with community organizations, non-profits, and city groups to collaborate cross-culturally in this diverse community.
An important new entity in this neighborhood community building matrix. Its is the Beet Box. A local non-profit received grant money to support food and nutrition pop-up programming in an undeveloped lot near a public transit hub. The pop-up space houses the Beet Box, a purple painted repurposed shipping container. The Box is a hub for food and nutrition education in the Othello neighborhood. It is becoming a well-known place with a community herb garden, raised beds, art installations, tool and seed library. Educational programming is provided by local food, health, and wellness organizations.
The Beet Box is an important place making project. It creates affirmative social identity and brings the community together which creates new relationships and friendships that can lead to still more positive initiative and benefits in the neighborhood.
Emily's short story will provide us with an insider's view of her path to creating strong relationships necessary for greening SE Seattle's Othello Neighborhood.
Another story was from South Seattle. A local non-profit received grant money to support food and nutrition pop-up programming in an undeveloped lot near a public transit hub. The pop-up space houses The Beet Box, a purple painted shipping container that serves as a community space focused on supporting healthy lifestyles. Several raised beds, container gardens, art installations, a garden tool library, and a seed library are available for public use on the site. Educational programming is provided by local food, health, and wellness organizations in the community.
Emily Scali is a Seattle architect, educator, and entrepreneur focused on ecological architecture, permaculture, and urban renewal. She holds a Master of Architecture degree from Virginia Tech and has over 12 years of experience in a range of architecture, urban planning, historic preservation, and landscape design projects nationwide.
Emily's short story will be a practical example of her permaculture based design ideals. She is engaged in making her neighborhood more green and resilient, from the scale of her own property to the dynamic area surrounding the Othello Light Rail line in SE Seattle. Highlighting and growing the neighborhood’s community gardens, transportation options, and pedestrian safety, Emily is working with community organizations, non-profits, and city groups to collaborate cross-culturally in this diverse community.
An important new entity in this neighborhood community building matrix. Its is the Beet Box. A local non-profit received grant money to support food and nutrition pop-up programming in an undeveloped lot near a public transit hub. The pop-up space houses the Beet Box, a purple painted repurposed shipping container. The Box is a hub for food and nutrition education in the Othello neighborhood. It is becoming a well-known place with a community herb garden, raised beds, art installations, tool and seed library. Educational programming is provided by local food, health, and wellness organizations.
The Beet Box is an important place making project. It creates affirmative social identity and brings the community together which creates new relationships and friendships that can lead to still more positive initiative and benefits in the neighborhood.
Emily's short story will provide us with an insider's view of her path to creating strong relationships necessary for greening SE Seattle's Othello Neighborhood.
Another story was from South Seattle. A local non-profit received grant money to support food and nutrition pop-up programming in an undeveloped lot near a public transit hub. The pop-up space houses The Beet Box, a purple painted shipping container that serves as a community space focused on supporting healthy lifestyles. Several raised beds, container gardens, art installations, a garden tool library, and a seed library are available for public use on the site. Educational programming is provided by local food, health, and wellness organizations in the community.
Christina Phillips Clark, Eugene, Oregon
Christina's story will describe a project that will enhance the well being of her neighborhood in many ways. Every town and city has communities of faith - Christian, Jewish, Islamic, non aligned and more. Communities of faith with their positive social values and ideas, have enormous potentials for being allies to create far more healthy and peaceful homes, neighborhoods and world.
Christina is working with others at her church in Eugene to create a market garden on church property. This part of the plan is already complete. Its a beautiful garden and there is an impressive farm stand in the church parking lot along a busy suburban street.
Thats just the beginning. The garden will become an educational platform for reaching out to the nearby neighborhood to encourage those nearby to grow food and live healthy lifestyles. And thats not all. The next part of the plan is to network and share the garden/outreach model with other communities of faith so they can reach out to their neighborhoods. Important,
Christina was a commercial farmer on 100 acres in Arkansas servicing accounts with 66 grocery stores She transformed a suburban property, front and back into a micro farm. She also has maintained a passion for education and improving the health and well being of others and the natural world.
Christina's story gets even better - it converges with Jan's neighborhood plan story.
Christina's story will describe a project that will enhance the well being of her neighborhood in many ways. Every town and city has communities of faith - Christian, Jewish, Islamic, non aligned and more. Communities of faith with their positive social values and ideas, have enormous potentials for being allies to create far more healthy and peaceful homes, neighborhoods and world.
Christina is working with others at her church in Eugene to create a market garden on church property. This part of the plan is already complete. Its a beautiful garden and there is an impressive farm stand in the church parking lot along a busy suburban street.
Thats just the beginning. The garden will become an educational platform for reaching out to the nearby neighborhood to encourage those nearby to grow food and live healthy lifestyles. And thats not all. The next part of the plan is to network and share the garden/outreach model with other communities of faith so they can reach out to their neighborhoods. Important,
Christina was a commercial farmer on 100 acres in Arkansas servicing accounts with 66 grocery stores She transformed a suburban property, front and back into a micro farm. She also has maintained a passion for education and improving the health and well being of others and the natural world.
Christina's story gets even better - it converges with Jan's neighborhood plan story.
Jan Spencer, Eugene, Oregon
Jan's short story will briefly describe suburban permaculture in River Road. First, his own home and 1/4 acre property which he has been transforming for 18 years. Next several other locations in the neighborhood. Then a description of allies, assets and actions in River Road for creating a more green and resilient neighborhood.
Finally, a description of a unique and unprecedented opportunity to take permaculture ideas and actions much deeper into the community. The City of Eugene has invited his neighborhood association to help create a new planning document that will guide decision making for transportation, land use, economic development, open spaces and resilience in his neighborhood over the next twenty years. Jan and friends are working to load the plan with as much permaculture, green and resilient content as possible. This pioneering neighborhood plan can become a model for other neighborhood plans in Eugene and elsewhere. There are many benefits to be gained.
Important to understand, permaculture approaches to urban planning, the environment, economic development, resilience and building community strongly support City of Eugene and State of Oregon planning goals.
Jan's short story will briefly describe suburban permaculture in River Road. First, his own home and 1/4 acre property which he has been transforming for 18 years. Next several other locations in the neighborhood. Then a description of allies, assets and actions in River Road for creating a more green and resilient neighborhood.
Finally, a description of a unique and unprecedented opportunity to take permaculture ideas and actions much deeper into the community. The City of Eugene has invited his neighborhood association to help create a new planning document that will guide decision making for transportation, land use, economic development, open spaces and resilience in his neighborhood over the next twenty years. Jan and friends are working to load the plan with as much permaculture, green and resilient content as possible. This pioneering neighborhood plan can become a model for other neighborhood plans in Eugene and elsewhere. There are many benefits to be gained.
Important to understand, permaculture approaches to urban planning, the environment, economic development, resilience and building community strongly support City of Eugene and State of Oregon planning goals.
