How many community groups do you belong to? You know, like the PTSA for your children’s school, your church or synagogue, or Wallyhood, for example. I’m guessing a few since we’re quite an active bunch here in Wallingford. Now, add up how many different community groups your family members actively participate in, and then add up the groups your friends and neighbors belong to. I’ll betcha dollars to donuts you’ll come up with a number higher than 10.
I ask because Cathy Tuttle (Spokespeople, Sustainable Wallingford) clued us in on a massive community group database project–one of which the developers hope to create a single, cohesive database of local community groups, and she’s asking all of us to add to the list. Here’s what she wrote:
Last Monday, I met with Chacha Sikes with Code for America. She’d flown in from the Bay Area to lead Random Hacks of Kindness for social change in Seattle. Hundreds of hackers and the City of Seattle are collaborating to create an interactive database of community groups for people who long to get involved locally. Great idea, but the list that the City is using has only six Wallingford groups, including the Wallingford Chamber, Wallyhood, and MyWallingford. While these are all three wonderful community groups, I know, as we all do, there are many more groups. Many, many, more.
Chacha said she’d like to see what I could find, so I made her a list of about 100 groups Sustainable Wallingford has partnered with in the past few years. Now it is time for our collective wisdom. What is missing from this list? Code for America will use our collective list as an example to show to other neighborhoods around Seattle.
I put Wallingford Community Groups into three categories
1) Non-profit groups headquartered in Wallingford that serve the city or larger region, such as Solid Ground or Seattle Tilth
2) Non-profit groups based in Wallingford that serve local needs such as churches, PTSAs, Friends Of park groups, and the Wallingford Community Kitchen. (just thought of another I missed, Grace Feast).
3) For-profit groups that actively promote the community in their places and cyber-spaces by having a bulletin board, posting on-line info, donating to community projects, and the like. Our blogs are a great example of this community spirit!So Wallingford community, please go at it! What groups do you know about and participate in? I’m guessing, with a population of 15,000, Wallingford has literally hundreds of community groups I’ve never heard of that we’d all like to know more about! Thank you!
Take a look at Sustainable Wallingford’s list here (here’s the URL: http://tinyurl.com/WallingfordOrgs1) and if you think of any other groups you belong to that aren’t on the list, be sure and let us know in the comments section.
I have a couple more non-profits to add to the Wallingford Community Group list that serves the neighborhood. The Burke-Gilman Orchard Stewards are sponsored by City Fruit. Interlake Childcare and Learning Center and Latona School Associates are non-profits serving local child care needs.
Here are some other For Profit Businesses that routinely financially support neighborhood events in Wallingford: Key Bank (already a sponsor!); Dunn Lumber; Seattle Orthopedic Center; Tweedy & Popp Hardware; Patty Allen; Julia’s; and Kids on 45th. Thanks to Mike and Tom at Tweedy & Popp for also selling Garden Tour and Home Tour tickets for us!
Wallingford House is a non-profit that operates and serves Wallingford area residents and beyond! We are a Clubhouse providing social and employment support for adults with a mental illness. We help many adults go back to work or school, and provide a safe community for people to be a part of. Let us know if you need any more information about us! We’re happy to be a part of the Wallingford community.