South Park Area Redevelopment Committee Programs
South Park Senior Program
The South Park Senior Program serves those 55 and older who live in King County. The Senior Program includes evening meals on Mondays and Fridays, Enhance-Fitness exercises twice a week, card games, and a crafts program. 85% of the participants have very low incomes.
South Park Neighborhood Association (SPNA)
The SPNA has worked with the Southwest Police Precinct and Mayor’s office to successfully transform the community into one of the safest and most crime-free neighborhoods in Seattle. SPNA members developed the South Park Action Agenda which has been the blueprint for improvements for the last six years with millions of dollars invested in the neighborhood. The SPNA worked with King County to find the funding to replace the South Park Bridge.
SP Neighborhood Center
SPARC operates the SP Neighborhood Center building. We are responsible for insurance, utilities, janitorial services, commercial kitchen health and safety, book-keeping for a dozen or more grants per year, repairs and maintenance, payroll for our employees and those for which we are the umbrella organization, life safety requirements, and more. We raise the funds to cover these operating expenses. The South Park Neighborhood Center building provides space for the following:
- South Park Neighborhood Association- meets monthly to make South Park a safer & better place to live/work
- South Park Senior Program- serves 150 different elders per year
- South Park Information & Resource Center - social services to 100 clients per month
- Providence Regina House Food and Clothing Bank- serves 500 hungry families per week
- Environmental Coalition of South Seattle- a non-profit helping businesses and homes go green
- Gone Sane- local Alcoholics Anonymous group
- 2 Book clubs sponsored by the South Park Branch of the Seattle Public Library
- Latino Senior Lunch Program- lunch for 50 seniors per week
- Numerous civic meetings
- Puget Sound Clean Air Agency air monitoring site
- Greenhouse vegetable starts for low-income families
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
"I, Hao, am a 75-years-old, Vietnamese man, in the USA 17 months after 7 years in a communist jail. I lived alone, felt isolated and wanted to go home. Then, I learned about the South Park Senior Program. Now, I come to the Center twice a week for exercise and dinners plus breakfasts five days a week. I practice English, teach Vietnamese, eat nutritious food, share my feelings and learn about others. Now, I want to stay and bring my wife to join me so we can build a new life in the South Park area."
The testimony above demonstrates the invaluable resource that SPARC plays in peoples’ lives in our neighborhood.
SPARC needs the resources to keep the Neighborhood Center doors open. We need funds to operate the facility and the means to provide up-keep for the building. We rely almost completely on volunteers to administer, book-keeping, answer the phone and do clerical work, write proposals, and raise funds.