Facing the community's critical needs…

The areas of critical need...

Lately, the Community Foundation has been gathering the info they need to help address what’s going on in this community (click here for a larger version of the chart above) – here’s more from the SJICF’s Pamela Gross:

SJI Community Foundation’s Critical Needs Task Force Tackles Community Hot Spots…..

Friday Harbor, May 15, 2009: What began with an idea from the San Juan Island Community Foundation to actively address the local impact of the global economic downturn on the island community has blossomed into the formation of community-wide conversations among dozens of people, each of whom pivot around a particular area of interest but may have never thought to connect with someone else doing similar work.  These conversations among a varied yet parallel group of people are generating new points of contact, stimulating novel ideas, and joining people together to define and address the most critical needs of our community and its citizens.

Eleven workgroups, based on general areas of need (illustrated in the organization chart) have been created with over 300 people from nonprofit and public sectors, local businesses, and individuals talking about topics ranging from how to best help feed a friend who has never before needed help putting food on the table to how to create jobs in a plummeting economy.  Short-term needs are being documented and ways we can create an extended safety-net for our friends and neighbors are being devised and explored.

All of these groups have chosen to expand the initial task and address long-term local infrastructure with a vision to create a community that is more sustainable and less dependent on future economic fluctuations.

“The premise of the Critical Needs Task Force is to reach out to those whose lives have been most displaced by our economic times while bringing control of our community’s future back to a simpler and more sustainable model,” said Charles Anderson, Chair of the Community Foundation.  “We hope that these area-of-need community conversations will continue on a permanent basis, providing a platform for informal forums that foster and ensure cooperation among our many service providers.”

“We are also working with the other islands in this process. Although each island has its unique needs and solutions, there is a great deal of overlap among us.  Shared solutions will benefit us all and make us a stronger overall community,” said Pamela Gross, SJI Community Foundation Board member.

The Community Foundation’s Healthy Community Fund will be used to specifically address immediate critical needs with the first grant awards planned for late June or early July.  Recommendations for grants will come to the San Juan Island Community Foundation Board from the Critical Needs Task Force Steering Committee, a group of 20 community leaders with a “30,000 foot” perspective.  Grant requests will be channeled from all eleven workgroups to the Steering Committee which will correlate and prioritize the project ideas.   Please contact the Foundation office or the Chair of a respective work group (see organization chart) to join the process.

The Foundation wishes to recognize and thank the organizations that have provided meetings space at no cost for the myriad meetings that have occurred over the last four months: Key Bank, Friday Harbor House, Whidbey Island Bank, Friday Harbor Library and Windermere Realty.

The Community Foundation serves as a non-profit philanthropic umbrella organization helping donors, non-profits and public organizations to achieve their goals through direct grants, organizational assistance and philanthropic resource management.  The Foundation office is located in the Technology Center, Mullis St., phone 378-1001.

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