GROUNDSWELL NW MAY 2017 NEWSLETTER

Gemenskap Park - credit Mithun, Inc.

Just like the mason bees getting busy this spring pollinating the flowers that grow in our gardens and parks, Groundswell NW has been busy spreading wealth and providing mentorship to our community partners. We are pleased to be awarding Seattle Clean Street Collective with a $500 Groundswell NW microgrant to support their stewardship of Seattle green spaces, like their upcoming May 20 event at Marvin's Garden and Salmon Bay Natural Area. Learn more...

In park news, we are very excited to announce that Gemenskap park, the soon to be newest park in Ballard, just went out for construction bid in April with plans to start construction this summer. Groundswell NW, in partnership with the East Ballard Community Association, has been advocating for over 10 years to successfully bring this unique park into reality. Learn more...

Like the bees, we are asking you to pollinate our grant and mentorship programs with a donation through the Seattle Foundation's May 10 GiveBIG 2017 campaign. Your donation will allow Groundswell NW to continue to support groups, like the Seattle Clean Street Collective and the East Ballard Community Association, who are making a meaningful difference in our community.

Beat the rush and schedule your donation to Groundswell NW today.

Lastly, we invite you to join the EBCA on May 20 for Adopt-A-Street clean up, rain garden restoration and Greenstreet anniversary celebration.  Get your hands dirty & join us for planting, coffee, treats & connection. 

GROUNDSWELL NW APRIL 2017 NEWSLETTER

The one thing I’ve learned about spring in Seattle is that the weather is uncertain. One day will be filled with sun, daffodils and cherry blossoms and the next will be cold, gray and rainy. This uncertainty doesn’t keep us from playing in our parks or working in our gardens. We just venture out in layers, prepared for what weather the day will bring. Similarly, the Groundswell NW board is experiencing its own spring of uncertainty. We are an 8 member all-volunteer board bringing together a mix of experience, expertise and enthusiasm to support our mission. It’s been my honor to serve the board as President these past two years, but my term will be ending soon and we do not have someone to take my place. We also have 2 long time board members, Dave Boyd and David Folweiler, who are transitioning to an advisory capacity. Due to these impending changes to our board, we are conserving our limited energy to focus on board development in lieu of delivering an annual report or hosting an annual meeting this spring.

If you or someone you know loves our mission, has nonprofit board leadership experience and the time to help us grow, please reach out to me at groundswellnw@gmail.com and we’ll don our layers, venture out together in this uncertain weather, and talk about the future as we stroll through your favorite NW Seattle park.

Speaking of favorite parks, one of my personal favorites is Ballard Corners Park. Groundswell NW has been a part of this park since its inception and continues to support the Friends of Ballard Corners Park through fiscal sponsorship and mentorship. Click here to learn more about this park and be sure to join their biannual work party this April 8. Check out the details of this event and more in our April events calendar below

GROUNDSWELL NW MARCH 2017 NEWSLETTER

Courtney, Jan, Dawn & Rachel at the end of "set up day", NW Flower & Garden Show. Set up volunteers not pictured: Kaitlin, Mark and Daniel. Thank-you!

February is a wrap and our display at the NW Flower and Garden Show was a big success. We spread the word on how you can take the tiniest of spaces, even the balcony of your apartment, and transform it into a sustainable garden that helps wildlife. A big thank-you to board member, Jan Satterthwaite, for designing and coordinating this huge effort. And thank-you to all of our volunteers who picked up donations for the display, helped spread the word and did some heavy lifting! If you weren't able to attend the show, but want to be inspired, be sure to download our display brochure, which includes a native plant list, design layout and resources. For more pics, check out our Facebook page and photo gallery.

With March coming into view, we are now asking you, our loyal advocates for parks, open space, and habitat, to take a step into becoming civically active and participate in the Dept of Neighborhoods new "Your Voice, Your Choice for Parks and Streets" process in which Seattle residents decide how to spend a portion of the City's budget on Park and Street Improvements. This is a new process that is replacing the traditional Neighborhood Park and Street Fund. Residents submitted ideas during February and then during March and May, citizen-driven Project Development Teams will be turning ideas into concrete project proposals. The City is seeking individuals to participate on a project development team for each City District. Time commitment could be as little as 2 hours. Learn more and sign up to join a team here. Stay tuned for June when the proposals will be up for general community vote.

Groundswell NW February 2017 Newsletter

David Mizejewski and Cass Turnbull - guest speakers at GNW's 2016 Annual Meeting

THANK-YOU CASS

I am very sorry to start this month's newsletter with some sad news. Cass Turnbull, the founder of PlantAmnesty and long time friend of Groundswell NW, has passed away. It seems just like yesterday when Cass was on stage at our Annual Meeting in February kidding around and teaching us about the delicate balance between making our yards beautiful and attracting nature. We are so grateful for Cass' dedication to the environment and the impact she has made on the Groundswell NW community and throughout Seattle. Thank-you Cass for hosting pruning workshops for our 'Friends of' groups, advocating for substations in Ballard to be preserved for open space, being an advocate for Crown Hill Park, working tirelessly to save our trees through your TreePac advocacy arm, and keeping us in the loop on opportunities to engage and speak out. We will miss you, Cass, and know that your legacy will live on as your community takes on the torch to carry on where you left off. We will share with you plans to honor Cass as we learn more.  

'WILD BY DESIGN:  SETTING THE TABLE FOR HABITAT'

You know spring is coming to the Northwest when you begin to see buds swelling and song birds looking for nesting places. But there is no better place and time for humans to be inspired for spring than at this year's NW Flower and Garden Show 'A Taste of Spring.'  The Northwest Seattle Community Habitat team, a Groundswell NW project, is collaborating with the National Wildlife Federation and Vireo Design Studio, to create a City Living display garden. The display is designed to inspire condominium patios and small backyard habitats, providing a condensed slice of nature to support and attract wildlife. We invite you to visit our wildlife refuge 'Wild by Design:  Setting the Table for Habitat' anytime during the show, February 22-26th.  For more show information visit:  www.gardenshow.com.

Groundswell NW January 2017 Newsletter

On Dec 9, Groundswell NW was honored to participate in a focus group hosted by Seattle Parks to discuss the 2017 Development Plan and Gap Analysis Update. Current board members, Renee Dagseth, myself and former board member, Davidya Kasperzyk, participated, along with other Seattle Park advocates. The meeting focused primarily on the new story map format that uses GIS mapping technology to identify parks and open space opportunity through the lens of access, walkability, opportunities, equity and density. As a whole, Groundswell NW is very pleased to see that Parks is now taking into consideration opportunities for open space based on access to the entrance of an existing park and taking into consideration major obstacles for access, e.g. major arterials. This approach is getting Seattle Parks closer to Groundswell NW's vision of a park within every arterial quadrant. We are currently drafting a comment letter, which we'll share with our community shortly. We encourage you to review the plan yourself, provide comment to 2017DevPlan@seattle.gov and please share with us a groundswellnw@gmail.com so we can better represent you. 

Rain gardens at the NE corner of 14th Ave NW and NW 58th in 2009 (left) and today (right)

Looking forward to January, there's some new activity in the East Ballard neighborhood. The EBCA will be hosting a rain garden restoration and planting event on January 21, guided by Cari Simson, for the street side rain garden located at the NE corner of 14th Ave NW and NW 58th. The plantings in the NW rain garden have been thriving since 2008, but the NE garden just never worked well as you can tell by the before and after pics above. We're encouraged that Cari will be applying her expertise to help the community bring this rain garden back to life. We invite you to join the EBCA for this event. It will be a great opportunity for you to get your hands dirty and learn how rain gardens contribute to environmental and habitat health. 

Wishing you a very happy New Year!
Dawn Hemminger
Groundswell NW President