Want to know your
neighbors better but don't know where to start?
Small Sparks projects
are eligible to receive up to $250 from the Neighborhood Matching Fund,
administered by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. A City of Seattle
program called Small Sparks is giving Seattle residents some very bright
ideas. The program challenges residents
to organize small, low-cost activities in order to know their neighbors better
and make their neighborhoods better places to live.
The consensus among the
Small Sparks project organizers is to just do it! They offer these tips for
organizing your own neighborhood events:
1. Food, food, food.
2. Have a party, not a meeting.
3. Have a hook (something clever).
4. Have fun and don't take yourself too seriously.
5. Ask and they will come - and they will help.
6. Create an activity that involves all ages.
7. Build on personal interests.
8. Don't procrastinate, start now!
For more tips and
ideas, call the Small Sparks Program, Department of Neighborhoods, at (206)
684-0464.
The following projects
used Small Sparks funding this summer:
Beacon Hill residents
participated in "Toss from the Tower," an opportunity to throw paper
airplanes from the top of the Beacon Towers, a tall concrete building owned by
the Seattle Housing Authority.
Sandel Park neighbors organized
concerts, with a little help from the Small Sparks program, as a way to get
more people involved in planning for the park's future.
Phinney neighbors had
an afternoon of fun at Wow Waves, a neighborhood art celebration.
Garden of the Homeless
Angels project involved more than 50 street kids and other community members on
Capitol Hill. They cleaned and planted
a garden that was dedicated to Meghan L. Smith, a homeless youth who died under
a freeway underpass in 1998. Located in
front of the Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets office at 1411 E.
Olive Way, the garden beautifies an unsightly spot in the neighborhood. However, the garden project built new
relationships and serves as a living reminder of the street kids who die each
day.
So whose bright idea
was this?
Now in its third year,
the Small Sparks program was the brainchild of a handful of Seattle
neighborhood leaders who spent two days discussing grassroots activism with Jeff
Bercuvitz, a community igniter from Vermont, back in 1998. Embracing Bercuvitz's motto of Think Big,
Start Small, the program encourages folks to build on what they enjoy, use
existing neighborhood resources, and spark creativity and fun.
Irene Stewart
Senior Public Relations Specialist
Seattle Department of Neighborhoods
Tel. 206-615-0950
E-mail irene.stewart@ci.seattle.wa.us