These are wonderful questions Wendy, and many that I have been considering as well. This is also my first posting though I've been eavesdrospping from the sidelines until now, this is a strong group! I am a young architect and I direct the motiveSpace Coalition, a nonprofit group of progressive architects, developers, and citizens in Portland Oregon exploring grassroots property development. You can check us out at www.motivespace.org.
We are considering doing a space/facilities share project in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in Portland, and are curious to bring together groups specifically using their tools and mediums for social change - mostly creative, hands-on types who can shares resources and ideas, and the buzz of social activism. It is an interesting situation because although my group wants to be there to be close to the community, better able to show them the resources for self-help and needs-driven development, many of the other groups we are working with are external to the community and concerned with their role in the gentrification game as well. One of the groups we’re talking with is www.springboardinnovation.org – they address a lot of the questions you are asking. So, I can’t get your community center webiste to load but am very excited to learn more! What legal structure will you choose to manage the facilities and relationships between groups? Would you be interested in staying in contact as we both develop materials, and trading ideas and references? My work email is [EMAIL PROTECTED] All the best, Sara sara erin garrett ---- // director ---- // motiveSpace Coalition, ---- // a 501c(3) in progress ---- // www.motiveSpace.org ---- // p. 503 206 3344 ---- // c. 503 887 9598 On Nov 27, 9:24 am, Wendy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello! Happy Thanksgiving! > > I wanted to take a moment and introduce myself. My name is Wendy Clark > and I have lived in the inner city of Durham, NC since 2000. I am a > pre-catalyst. When I was 20, I started my own service based business > with less than $100 (www.carpediemcleaning.com). I decided the goal > of my life would be to help as many under-resourced people I could, > particularly children. The business grew, had some experiences along > the way, then 2 years ago continued to pursue the question of how you > bring change to a community from the inside-out. I decided the next > step would be find space for my current office and came across an old > warehouse that would be perfect for creating a center to create a > community atmosphere in addition to provide access for affordable > office space and an entrepreneurial culture with my business being an > anchor. It’s 14, 500 square feet and will be ready Spring 2009. > (www.belovedcommunitync.com) I just heard about co-working one week > ago and your google group yesterday (Thanks Brian!). > > I have two passions. First- Social entrepreneurship. I believe it’s > important to have the heart for justice and helping people but to > operate with business sense. It allows for both models of the for- > profit and non-profit but is based on the people and their goals to > help people. > > Second- To create a bridge between the gentrification culture and the > local community. There are a lot of creative and amazing people within > the local community who have not had access to relational and mind-set > opportunities to help cultivate their dreams. Could we bridge the two > demographics and see amazing things? > > Here are my questions- As I have been looking through the materials I > see that most of these centers are for the technological/consultant > savvy, 20-30-something demographics. Has anyone had experience with > creating a niche to a more social entrepreneurial focus? Two- has > anyone had experience with cultural crossovers to create a more > diverse space? Also a mentor that I am working with is very concerned > about people’s ability to pay especially those that are coming from a > more of a survival background and are growing in their entrepreneurial > mind-sets. Do you have a qualification process for people coming into > the community? > > Thank you for creating this forum and already being a great resource! > Wendy --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
