Build Community :: Pomegranate Center

Build Community

Our collaborative, win-win approach to problem-solving inspires broad community participation.

The public debate has turned increasingly nasty: a contest among shrill voices demanding change that often addresses a single-pointed goal. It becomes a “my rights against yours, I win/you lose discussion.” Sadly, for our communities, states and nation — all to often the spoils of such debates go to those who shout loudest and longest — people who bolster their argument by shutting out other points of view. Those with softer voices, more flexible goals, or a willingness to listen and compromise increasingly remove themselves from the ear-splitting debate. They retreat from the public dialogue in anger and frustration. They are less and less likely to engage in their local civic process.

At Pomegranate Center, we believe there is another way. Our work facilitating community groups has taught us that under the right conditions people can be generous, compassionate and cooperative. During our 20 plus years in community development we have built proven strategies that allow people with diverging opinions to work together and find practical solutions with broad community support. We know that results can happen quickly, effectively and include many voices.

We often hear that community process doesn’t work because people don’t have the time, energy or interest to participate. At Pomegranate Center, it isn’t uncommon for our community engagement processes to include hundreds of people, contributing nearly 1000 hours of their time to planning for the future of their community.

People are hungry to participate – under the right conditions. Pomegranate Center is expert at creating those conditions.

Bring Pomegranate Center to your community

Change the way you think about, and do, community building.

Pomegranate Center Fellows Training

The Fellows Training will change the way you think about, and do, community building with proven tools, techniques, stories and strategies. This seven day training includes:

Extensive hands-on practice using Pomegranate’s unique method
Access to our extensive toolkit of resources, sample materials and articles
Techniques that ensure maximum participation
Ongoing mentorship and education from the Pomegranate Center team

Signs that you should be part of this:

You believe connected, strong communities are essential to the future of this country.
You think our communities (and our nation) could do a much better job collaborating.
You are a “doer” – you want to make your community more beautiful, more sustainable, more connected in an effective, hands-on way, and inspire others to participate.

Sign up to learn more about trainings in your area.

Gathering Grounds

Tully’s Coffee and Pomegranate Center:
Revitalizing Communities Together
The Gathering Grounds program is now working in two new cities and launching a national art competition.

Butterfly Park, National City, CA

In April 2013, Tully’s and Pomegranate Center turned Butterfly Park into an art-filled space for community gatherings, in partnership with San Diego Foundation, Rokenbok Education Fund, ARTs and Olivewood Gardens. Check out the timelapse of the four day build!

Waterbury Gathering Place, Waterbury, VT

In September 2013, Waterbury residents, together with employees of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (Tully’s parent company) will create a community gathering place in the coffee company’s hometown

National Art Contest: Winner to be announced

The Gathering Grounds™ Art Contest invited artists to submit an original work of art and brief explanation of what community means to them at Facebook.com/TullysCoffee. The winner will be announced Monday, June 3. Stay tuned!

Pomegranate Center Building Community Case Studies

Making Main Street the Main Attraction

Duvall Main Street Reconstruction

NEED: When the city of Duvall, Washington learned their main street – which was also a state route – was ready to be upgraded along the downtown area, citizens and council-members got nervous – their struggling downtown would be further hampered by construction, and the local character, the source of community pride, could disappear.

SOLUTION: Pomegranate Center helped community members see this as an opportunity to highlight local character and bring vitality to Duvall’s Main Street. Through strong partnerships with KPG Engineering and community advisory group, Pomegranate Center used the street redevelopment as an opportunity to strengthen the community’s identity, beginning with the question “What makes it Duvall?” The answer – the city’s relationship to the adjacent river, both in the past and looking into the future. With that beginning, Pomegranate Center developed a public art enhancement vision for the new Main Street. Eight artists were selected to create works that improvise around the common themes of river that flows through the valley and the city’s rich history.

OUTCOME: The finished Main Street is now the highlight of Duvall. It tells every person traveling through that this is a special place, different from all the other cities around it. The signs, benches, bus stops, crosswalks and light-posts all hint at the cities connection the river and nature. Business went up, and the community is proud of it.

Duvall’s Main Street Redevelopment project won four awards soon after completion – the 2010 Washington State Smart Communities Award, Municipal Excellence Award from the Association of Washington Cities, the 2009 Puget Sound Regional Council Destination 2030 Award and the American Public Works Project of the Year Award (WA Chapter) 2010.

A Community Agenda for Revitalization

Skyway Solutions

Skyway, Washington

NEED: For years, the only news reported about the Skyway neighborhood in unincorporated King County, was bad news – shootings, robberies, drugs. This diverse neighborhood south of Seattle is home to a mix of income levels and populations. It struggled with high business turnover, crime and racial polarization. There weren’t enough positive activities for kids and teenagers, parks were underused or misused, and there was no town center or gathering place for the community. As a result, Skyway residents weren’t proud of where they lived or connected to their community. With tight budgets, King County didn’t have the resources for a major improvements. To make any changes possible, the community would need to take charge of the revitalization process themselves.

SOLUTION: As with developing any community, Skyway residents needed to create an image of what the future of their community could be. Partnering with King County Community Enhancement Initiative, Pomegranate Center created a community engagement process that was inclusive and meaningful, bringing many voices together to answer “What will make Skyway a great neighborhood?” The goal – to develop a citizen created, citizen owned plan to make Skyway safer, more beautiful, youth-friendly and economically strong.

OUTCOME: After three community meetings, dozens of community “action circle” conversations, and a hundred ideas from hundreds of people were sorted and prioritized, Skyway Solutions was born. This plan was written not just to report on the planning results, but to inspire people into action. Each goal spoke of a vision for the future, plans to reach that future, and the names and phone numbers of people committed to leading that charge. It is a community plan alive with community character and enthusiasm.

Two years later, and Skyway Solutions became a nonprofit organization made up of volunteers with a commitment to their neighborhood. They continue to hold up and serve the vision put forth through the community planning process, turning the plan into action every day.

Learning Collaboration for a School-to-Park Transformation

Sunset Park Planning

Shoreline, Washington

NEED: When Sunset Elementary School closed, neighbors didn’t just loose a beloved school. They lost their main gathering spot, the place where they bumped into each other and lingered on the corner for half an hour catching up. This residential neighborhood was sad and frustrated and angry about the now-vacant school in their midst. The school district wanted to keep the property in their bank, but didn’t need the building, which was so old it just needed to be torn down. This city didn’t know what to do – the Parks department and the school district hadn’t even begun to find a solution. And the city staff was hesitant about getting involved with this contentious school closure. But residents were persistent about doing something to keep this once precious spot from turning into a misused, vacant lot.

SOLUTION: The first goal of the project was to turn the community’s sadness and frustration into hope and possibility for the future. Pomegranate Center created a community engagement plan that encouraged finding solutions with multiple “wins” attached to them – it would be good for the neighborhood kids and families, would keep the school district satisfied, and would enhance the Parks Department’s goals. At the first community meeting, 120 people attended – and everyone spoke! Over 85 ideas were generated at that meeting, and people left feeling optimistic and excited for what this precious place could become. After just two more community meetings, those ideas were prioritized and turned into a conceptual plan that the community and school district now use for fundraising and planning.

OUTCOME: The collaboration model Pomegranate Center incorporates into every project changed the way the city and community members think about future projects. In fact, 94% of project participants said they felt more capable of making changes in their community as a result of the Pomegranate Center community engagement model. And the Parks Department saw this as such an exciting process, they included a neighboring park property in the planning process so there could be a stronger connection between the spaces.

The conceptual plan has been turned into construction drawings, and the Friends of Sunset Park is working with the city and school district to find funds to tear down the school and make the Sunset Park a full reality. Meanwhile, the community is putting small pieces of the plan into place, taking confident steps towards the completion of a new neighborhood designed gathering place.