Village Green Foundation Programs
Twenty‐two civic groups collaborated to ensure the Village Green will meet identified community needs. The most critical necessities are ADA-compliant services for senior and underinsured community members, library programming and services for lifelong learners, and support for young people. Key partners have been Kitsap Regional Library and Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County, with Kitsap Public Health District a proposed partner.
At-Risk Populations
The ADA-compliant Village Green Community Center will expand delivery of subsidized meals and targeted health services for seniors—many living below the poverty line—and provide the only local site for at-risk mothers and their children to access nutritional counseling and for the underinsured to receive immunizations. All of these services are now underused or unavailable because of access barriers.
Lifelong Learning
The Village Green Community Center will feature an expanded public library, quadrupling our local branch’s space and expanding technology and educational programming, including summer reading, early literacy and STEM programs.
Youth
The Village Green Community Center will be a safe place for kids after school and during the summer, with Boys & Girls Club activities expanded to 125 kids ages 6 to 16, including homework help and recreational and social activities. Current facilities accommodate only about 30 middle-school children.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
Our Successes
Community buy-in for this project is evident on all levels, including more than 4,000 hours donated so far by 150 community volunteers to establish and maintain the Village Green Park, and 2010 voter passage of a Metropolitan Park District measure to provide operating funds in perpetuity for the park and facility. Concerted fundraising has secured nearly 80 percent of the $6.2 million budget, with three grants of $1 million each from the C. Keith Birkenfeld Memorial Trust, the Kitsap Community Foundation and a 2011 state award. In a tribute to the strength of our partnerships, the Puget Sound Regional Council recently presented a Vision 2040 award to the Village Green Foundation along with Kitsap Regional Library, the Metropolitan Park District and Martha & Mary, the local nonprofit building low-income senior apartments next to our Community Center site.
Our Needs
We need to raise $1.5 million by July to break ground in 2013. We are in the midst of a capital campaign, asking every member of our community to support this vital gathering place at whatever level they can. Grant applications submitted and in development include significant requests to private foundations and public sources. In local efforts, an anonymous donor will match our first $20,000 raised through personalized paving stones for the outdoor walkways in the Community Center’s courtyard.