SEATTLE PARKS FOUNDATION Connections SPRING 2018 Accessible and Inclusive Parks: Eli’s Park Project and Cayton Corner Park Show What’s Possible Parenting her young son Eli, who was born with Down syndrome, was both a joy and a revelation for Paige Reischl. “It just expanded my thinking about inclusion and what it means to be included,” says Reischl. “We met families who have kids with disabilities and parents of typically developing kids who have chosen that school because they believe in inclusion. It’s a compassionate group of people who are making sure their children have interactions with a diverse group of people.” A remarkably open and loving child, Eli was almost four years old when the family lost him in August 2017. Soon after, Eli’s family and the community that rallied around them launched Eli’s Park Project at Burke-Gilman Playground in Seattle’s Bryant neighborhood. The project aims to create an “inclusive, nature-based park space where people of all ages and abilities can find play and peace,” according to Reischl. “We thought, ‘Let’s keep this spirit of inclusion alive.’” The park is close to Seattle Children’s Hospital and connected by a footpath to the Burke-Gilman Trail and Ronald McDonald House. Nearby are the PROVAIL Apartments for adults with disabilities, two other affordable housing developments, and an inclusive preschool. But the park is not accessible to many of the people who live in or frequent the area, says Reischl. The play area is covered in wood chips, the grassy field is prone to swampiness, sightlines are obscured, and there is no barrier to busy Sand Point Way. Eli Reischl, the inspiration behind Eli’s Park Project. Reischl and the Friends of Eli’s Park at Burke-Gilman Playground are stepping up community Photo courtesy of Paige Reischl outreach and recruiting people to attend planning meetings and join their leadership team. “There are specific groups of people being excluded from the outdoors who are all situated right here, so those have to be the people who are actually planning the park,” says Reischl. “They know best, of course, what would make a park better for them.” The project leads are applying for a grant that would allow them to hire landscape architects and enter the design planning phase. Smooth, accessible surfaces are essential—and costly—so continued next page Accessible and Inclusive Parks (from previous page) Reischl and friends are brainstorming about fundraising. She is adamant that Eli’s Park not be just a tribute to one little boy’s generous spirit. “It’s for everyone,” she says. “If we can know and learn from and love people who are different from ourselves, that benefits everyone.” _______ After Seattle Parks and Recreation purchased a vacant triangular lot at 19th and East Madison in 2011, the space remained underdeveloped and underused. Then a group of parents from the nearby Hearing, Speech & Deaf Center (HSDC) and Seattle Amistad School decided to plant trees, mow grass, and install play equipment. “We got a call from Parks and Rec saying, ‘Hey, we notice there’s been some activity on that land. Who’s been working on that?’” says Lindsay Klarman, executive director of HSDC. “And I said, ‘Um, well, it’s us.’ I thought we were going Volunteers at Cayton Corner to get yelled at because we’d been out there being rogue. Instead, they said, ‘Hey, we’ve been Park. Photo courtesy of Friends of Cayton trying to figure out a great way to reengage the community. How do we do that?’” Corner Park Located on densely populated Capitol Hill, Cayton Corner Park is within a few blocks of more than a dozen nonprofit organizations, the Aegis Living senior assisted living facility, three grocery stores, 96 units of affordable or transitional housing, and Mount Zion Baptist Church. The park will be modest in size, but the plan is to create a powerful model of accessibility, with a sensory garden, ADA-accessible tables, and artistically designed safety fencing. “We want to create a space to have our community join together at various times of the day and for various activities,” says Klarman. “Children who are deaf or hard of hearing should be able to come out and play with their peers and sign to each other, with an open space that is visually accessible. A place where seniors from Aegis can have a sandwich with a friend or interact with some of the kiddos who are in the park.” All that for a target budget of $300,000—a third of which HSDC and the community aim to raise themselves. Eli Reischl was a client of HSDC, and Klarman has been working with Paige Reischl to build a network of people dedicated to making Seattle’s open spaces more accessible and inclusive. As the fiscal sponsor for both Cayton Corner Park and Eli’s Park Project, Seattle Parks Foundation is working with Klarman and Reischl to ensure that they have the administrative, financial, fundraising, communications, and advocacy support they need for their efforts to succeed. “Build it and they will come,” says Klarman. “You don’t necessarily know that people with a need for accessibility are in your community when there’s nowhere for them to go.” Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Unveils New Community Resource Hub Get informed. Get engaged. Get organized. That’s the mantra behind the new Community Resource Hub launched by Seattle Department of Neighborhoods in February. According to city officials, this online portal of local resources, tools, and information will make it easier for community members to connect with city government and with one another. Highlights of the online hub include: ➜➜ The Community Connector, a crowdsourced list of community and nonprofit organizations that residents can connect with easily. ➜➜ The Accessing City Government video series, which offers information on how Seattle government works and how to engage with it. ➜➜ The Get Informed Toolbox, which contains links to information, workshops, and resources that are free or discounted for community Graphic by Seattle Department of Neighborhoods members. ➜➜ The Get Organized Toolbox, which offers tip sheets and templates for organizing a neighborhood or community group—including strategies for meetings, recruitment ideas, and publicity tools. The Community Resource Hub is at www.seattle.gov/resourcehub. New Staff Profile: Jon Monteith Having worked in communications, politics, and to help them share their stories advocacy for a decade, Seattle Parks Foundation’s new through print, broadcast, and communications manager, Jon Monteith, knows the power digital media. of stories. “It was cause-based storytelling at “I got my start in Washington, D.C., working as a press its best: trusting that community aide in Congress and then as chief speechwriter for the members are the strongest and Democratic National Committee during the 2012 election most authentic messengers when it cycle,” Monteith says. “With institutions of that size and comes to the issues that impact their lives,” Monteith says. scope, storytelling was always about getting the right “It mirrors the community-centric work that Seattle Parks headlines or winning a major policy or political fight.” Foundation has been doing with neighborhood groups across the city, and you’ll be seeing more of that in the Monteith eventually moved to Colorado, where they months ahead.” oversaw communications—in back-to-back roles—for the state’s leading mental health and lesbian, gay, bisexual, Monteith, who moved to Seattle with their partner last year, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) advocacy organizations. is also a part-time student in the University of Washington’s While there, they worked with Coloradans across the state Master of Social Work program. Civic Leadership and Shared Vision: A Conversation with Doris Koo and Maggie Walker Doris Koo served as president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, a national nonprofit specializing in affordable housing finance and community development. She also served as deputy executive director of Seattle Housing Authority, where she led redevelopment efforts in the New Holly and Rainier Vista neighborhoods. In New York City, Koo led Asian Americans for Equality, the biggest owner and developer of low-income housing in the city’s Chinatown and Lower East Side neighborhoods. Maggie Walker currently serves as co-chair of Seattle’s Central Waterfront Committee and as chair of Friends of Waterfront Seattle, where she has played a critical role in integrating public interest and involvement into the planning process for development and design of the Central Waterfront. She is also the board chair of the National Audubon Society and a board member of the University of Washington Foundation, where she chairs the Advisory Board of the College of the Environment. Koo and Walker recently sat down with Seattle Parks Foundation’s Thatcher Bailey to discuss the dynamics of effective civic leadership. Here is an excerpt from their conversation. Thatcher Bailey: We’ve talked before about how change actually happens in cities, how resources actually get deployed, and how the most innovative solutions get figured out. There is a rich history of civic leaders driving change in Seattle—you two are perfect examples. Can you both talk a bit about how you came to play the roles you do? Maggie Walker: I started at a small scale and just kept working my way into bigger situations as opportunities emerged. The thing you have to remember is that Seattle has been in flux for the last 25 years, and we are in an environment with lots of moving parts—all constantly shifting, moving, and growing. But it’s clear that’s what I enjoy: being in those situations where there’s flux and unrealized potential and an opportunity to change things.