Capital Campaign Update, April 2005

A Message from the Campaign Co-Chairs
We believe in West Seattle. We believe in the people who live here and the ones yet to come. That’s why we believe in this campaign.

The three projects | one community campaign is committed to solidifying and improving West Seattle through three comprehensive projects that address hunger, homelessness and the creative spirit. Our $7.3 million goal will support the Historic Cooper Cultural Arts Center, a new West Seattle Food Bank & Community Resource Center and Croft Place Townhomes. So far, we are 90 percent of the way to reaching our goal, but we still need your help to complete these important projects.

We invite you to read on and learn more about the impact of these projects on our community and how you can help build an even stronger West Seattle.

Watch the campaign video

Spotlight on George Pegram

Ask 16 year-old George Pegram what he wants to be when he grows up and he will tell you with a shy smile, “I want to be an architect.” Why? “Because I am good at math, I like to draw, and they make good money.”

George is a student at the Southwest Inner-Agency Academy (SWIA). The SWIA helps George, and others like him who have struggled with the mainstream school system, reach their goals by exposing them to the arts. Once the renovation of the historic Cooper School is complete, the SWIA will be a permanent tenant at the Cooper Cultural Arts Center.

George can’t wait to move to his new classroom at Cooper when it’s completed in December. “It’s so big! I want to see what it’s going to look like when it’s done.”

Breaking Ground at the Historic Cooper Cultural Arts Center
Work is officially under way at the Historic Cooper Cultural Arts Center. On February 12, more than 500 community members helped commemorate the groundbreaking. When completed in December 2005, the renovated historic landmark will be a place for the whole community to come together. It will provide hard-to-reach youth with opportunities to channel their creativity through arts education, as well as visual art galleries, a state of the art performing arts center and housing and work space for up to 50 local artists.

Read the story from the February 12 Seattle Post Intelligencer

Take a photographic tour of the Historic Cooper School

West Seattle Food Bank Achieves Permanent Solutions

We’re excited to begin construction on the new West Seattle Food Bank & Community Resource Center later this year. Once completed, the food bank will offer a full range of job training, health screening and personal support services to the 11,000 people it serves each year.

Construction Continues at Croft Place
It’s been eight months since construction began at Croft Place Townhomes and the site is already beginning to take shape. Croft Place is designed to offer affordable housing for large families and families transitioning from homelessness, as well as to encourage community building among residents. Its design boasts a 1,600 square foot common building for support services and social events, more than four acres of preserved open space and wetlands, and a central courtyard with play space for children. Croft Place is expected to open in July 2005.

Get Involved
Join the three projects | one community campaign