Back by popular demand!

Who’s crazy enough to spend 12 hours carving, sanding and staining? We are! And we hope you are, too!

Join us for this fun event – for all or half the day – and, as always, we’ll party when it’s over!

2012 Carve-a-Thon
Saturday, August 4th
6am-6pm, Party from 6-8pm
At Pomegranate Center
1400 NW Maple St, Issaquah, WA 98027

Register today!

One of the last remaining green spaces in Factoria, south Bellevue, could use your help. Help us win $25,000 for the Dig Fund project! Vote today and every day between now and June 14 to help us win this gift from The Keg.

Visit today at www.thekegthanksamillion.com.

Thanks!

TULLY’S COFFEE AND POMEGRANATE CENTER TEAM UP TO REVITALIZE FOUR SEATTLE-AREA COMMUNITY SPACES

Four Grants Awarded as Part of Tully’s Partnership with Pomegranate Center and Commitment to Community Space Revitalization

Waterbury, VT and Issaquah, WA – May 9, 2011 – Tully’s Coffee®, a brand division of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., and Pomegranate Center are joining forces to help spark a movement to create gathering places in communities across the country, where people can meet, linger, chat, and celebrate.  This transformation movement is starting here in the greater Seattle area, where four Seattle-based communities will receive 2011 service grants: Hunter Farm Gathering Place (Wedgwood, Wash.), Mercer Island Library (Mercer Island, Wash.), Sumner (Sumner, Wash.), and Square Park (Kirkland, Wash.).

The four selected communities will each receive a grant from Pomegranate Center, funded by Tully’s Coffee, to plan, design, and build neighborhood gathering places.  Each place will be uniquely hand-crafted with local energy, materials, and art.  In addition, the four selected communities will receive training, community engagement expertise, designs, and building management throughout the rest of the year.

“Our Tully’s Coffee brand and the Pomegranate Center share a commitment to community building and engagement as a path toward improving the health and quality of life of the places we call home,” said Karen Yacos, Director of Domestic Community Outreach, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.  “We are pleased to support Pomegranate Center in awarding these four grants in the Seattle area and look forward to seeing these community spaces come to life this year.”

In March, Pomegranate Center and Tully’s Coffee began a search for communities in the Seattle area in greatest need of a public gathering space.  The gathering places could be outdoors in gardens, natural or urban parks, amphitheaters, shelters, or streets, or they could be indoor spaces such as community centers or libraries.  The four winning projects are as follows:

• Hunter Farm Gathering Place: Transformation of a mostly vacant area into an artistic community space, providing the community with a much needed recreation area.

• Mercer Island Library: Creation of an outdoor gathering, learning, and nature space that is adjacent to the library.

• Sumner: Conversion of a downtown alley into a vibrant, art-filled community gathering space, a first in the business district of Sumner.

• Square Park: Redevelopment of an existing and well-loved community park by adding additional social space.

“Pomegranate Center believes every neighborhood deserves a community space where people of all ages can get to know each other and, over time, build trust,” said Milenko Matanovic, Executive Director of Pomegranate Center.  “When a community is involved in design and construction of a space, the pride and ownership increases significantly.  Our partnership with Tully’s Coffee is an incredible opportunity to expand our reach and stimulate a gathering places movement.”

The four Seattle community space projects are being funded by Tully’s Coffee and will be developed by community members and the Pomegranate Center.  Volunteers in each community are encouraged to get involved in the planning and building process.  A training session and launch will be held on Saturday, May 21 for those interested in serving on steering committees for these projects.  For more information, visit TullysWorthDiscovering.com and PomegranateCenter.org.

Tully’s Coffee is part of the family of brands within the Specialty Coffee business unit of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.  Established in Seattle, Washington, Tully’s is known and valued for handcrafted quality and the distinctive, deep-roasted coffee flavor of the Pacific Northwest.  Tully’s^® coffees are available in bags and K-Cup^® portion packs for the Keurig^® Single-Cup Brewing System in supermarkets and specialty stores on the West Coast and nationwide.

About Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.
As a leader in specialty coffee and coffee makers, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (“GMCR”) (NASDAQ: GMCR), is recognized for its award-winning coffees, innovative brewing technology, and socially responsible business practices. GMCR’s operations are managed through three business units. The Keurig business unit is comprised of Keurig, Incorporated, a wholly owned subsidiary of GMCR. Keurig is a pioneer and leading manufacturer of gourmet single-cup brewing systems for both at-home and away-from home use, predominantly in North America. The Specialty Coffee business unit produces, markets and sells coffee, tea, hot cocoa and other beverages in a variety of packaging formats, including K-Cup^® portion packs for Keurig^® Single-Cup Brewers. The Canadian business unit produces, markets and sells coffees in K-Cup portion packs and other packaging formats and is responsible for managing the Van Houtte business as well as the grocery channel for all GMCR coffee brand sales in Canada. GMCR supports local and global communities by offsetting 100% of its direct greenhouse gas emissions, investing in sustainably-grown coffee, and allocating at least five percent of its pre-tax profits to socially and environmentally responsible initiatives.

GMCR routinely posts information that may be of importance to investors in the Investor Relations section of its website, including news releases and its complete financial statements, as filed with the SEC. GMCR encourages investors to consult this section of its website regularly for important information and news. Additionally, by subscribing to the GMCR’s automatic email news release delivery, individuals can receive news directly from GMCR as it is released. For more information, please visit www.gmcr.com.

About Pomegranate Center

Pomegranate Center—based in Issaquah, Wash.—is an internationally recognized leader in developing neighborhood gathering places and is a leading nonprofit devoted to community-generated design and development.  Pomegranate Center was founded in 1986 by artist and community organizer Milenko Matanovic.  Concerned with the direction of modern communities, he created Pomegranate Center to explore how artists can link art with social and environmental issues to help build better communities.  Pomegranate Center works with communities of all sizes throughout the Pacific Northwest and across the country to provide constructive and inclusive community-based planning, design and creation of meaningful, community-crafted civic spaces, and training programs in community engagement.

Every year, Pomegranate Center’s Board of Directors choose a DIG fund project where we partner with a community and together create a project that would not happen otherwise. This year we are helping Holy Cross church in Factoria, Bellevue to transform some of the last remaining green space in the neighborhood into a vibrant community space.

The three acres of land already include a small community garden that produces hundreds of pounds for the food bank. In an all-day planning session with community, Pomegranate Center and Public Space Rangers in late April, the community created a plan for the future of the space, including shelters, an intimate performing space, a labyrinth for spiritual centering and a placeholder for future affordable housing project. Pomegranate Center, with the help of our Public Space Rangers, is now leading the design for these features with the goal to build July 29-31.

Have you ever thought about creating a gathering place in your neighborhood? Now may be your chance!

Pomegranate Center and Tully’s Coffee are joining forces to ignite a movement to create handcrafted, community gathering places.

Starting in the greater Seattle area, we are embarking on an RFP (Request for Proposals) process to find communities in greatest need of public gathering spaces.

Three selected communities will receive a service and materials grant to plan, design and build a neighborhood gathering place in 2011.

Start thinking about your projects right away — proposals are due April 15, 2011!

Questions? Contact Katya: 425-557-6412 or katya@pomegranate.org

Learn more about the Gathering Places Project

Please join us on Wednesday, 2/23, 6pm, for a conversation about extreme rhetoric in community conversations and what we can do to make these conversations more collaborative and productive.

In recent weeks, we have seen more and more news stories focus on the political rancor and incivility that have become so prevalent in our society. Many national and local conversations exhibit unwillingness to collaborate and problem solve, resulting in the polarization of special interest groups.

At this evening, we aim to address the question, “How can we change our approach to community conversations so they incorporate multiple perspectives?”

We hope you will share your perspective with us at this civil and engaging conversation!

Pomegranate Center’s Executive Director Milenko Matanovic will moderate the discussion. Jim Lauinger, former mayor of Kirkland, and Dianne Brudnicki, Duvall City Council Member will bring their perspective to the conversation, and we hope you will bring yours, too.

Light refreshments will be served. Space is limited.

Wednesday, February 23
6-8pm
At McKinstry Innovation Center (210 S. Hudson Street, Seattle, WA 98134)
Free

RSVP to caitlin@pomegranate.org or 425.557.6412 today.

A Message from Milenko
Every time I pick up my luggage at the airport I need to fight the hoards of people crowding around the baggage carousel in the belief that it will expedite their departure. In fact, it slows everyone down.

The appropriate hokey pokey would be to “put your right foot back and then your left foot back,” creating open space and visibility. This would allow us all to pick up our luggage in a peaceful manner. The problem is that this kind of “community-minded” hokey pokey is counterintuitive for most people.

I see similar behavior at community meetings. We promote our agendas and, when pushed back by others with their own agendas, we simply make our point louder, prompting a corresponding volume increase in others. Trained by the squeaky wheel theory, we’re convinced that turning up the volume increases our chances of triumph.

In fact, just like airport luggage wrestlers, we contribute to the problem. In order to build vibrant, sustainable, livable communities, we all need to understand that problems affecting the entire community cannot be solved from the perspective of a singular view or interest.

We must conceive of a community as an integrated totality containing numerous perspectives, interests and agendas. Every person should attempt a Hokey Pokey and “put their right foot in” the center where the competing agendas intersect. Only in the neutrality of that position can the common good be discovered.

In both examples, the problem is that this counterproductive conduct is widely accepted, even expected. We see others stepping forward at the baggage carousel and we follow suit. We hear others shout, exhibiting their anger and frustration at community meetings and we counter with more of the same. People think that this is the only possible approach because it is all they know. After all, many elected officials practice such conduct.

I hope to see a shift in the way we conduct our community processes. And it would be a nice perk if baggage areas become more navigable in the process.

Through our work, we’ve seen time and again that when people are willing to step into the center and away from their singular agenda, even for just a moment, they are capable of great discoveries and joyful insights. They begin to realize that others are not necessarily enemies and that their differences of opinion help to clarify and improve their own views. It is in those moments that solutions with multiple victories are discovered, where two or more agendas can coexist and support each other.

I still stand by this paragraph that I wrote 20 years ago:

No group can solve its problems without the expertise and perspective of others. Artists need business-minded people to complement their creativity with economic savvy. Developers benefit from artists who create neighborhoods that have character and aesthetically unique identities. Planners profit from mothers’ input in designing neighborhoods that nurture children. To solve the problems of today’s multifaceted communities, we must bring together everyone’s ideas to construct a collective vision of the future.

At Pomegranate Center, we are committed to practicing and performing the Community Hokey Pokey in order to create projects with multiple victories that are good for the economy, environment and communities everywhere. Without this cooperation, our futures will be arbitrated not by our greatest values but by blind power, economic caprice and pure chance.

One of the greatest parts of our work at Pomegranate Center is the process of finally building a gathering place with a community. After months of planning and meetings, we work side-by-side with neighbors to make their ideas a reality.

This September, you can join us for this amazing experience. From September 11-19 we’re building our 2010 Dig Fund project, the Washington Park Gathering Place in Walla Walla, Washington. This is a building intensive – we camp on location, work all day and spend evenings with the community.

Fill out my Wufoo form!

For the past five years Pomegranate Center has been partnering with the PTA and students to make the new Medina Elementary School and interactive, art-filled space. The latest project is the creation of two interlocking shelters – one for parents and one for kids. On May 21 and 24, 2010, we led workshops at the school where over 100 3rd graders and 20 parents carved and painted the cedar columns for their future shelter.

Check out more pictures of the day…

Shoreline’s Sunset Park and Boeing Creek Open Space
Over the last three years the community of Shoreline has grappled with loss and hope. In 2007, Sunset Elementary School was decommissioned. An important neighborhood gathering place for parents and children alike had suddenly closed it’s doors due to declining enrollment.

As contentious as this issue was, a group of hopeful neighbors organized a group called the Friends of Sunset Park to explore how the school site could be revived as an essential community gathering place. The Friends of Sunset Park partnered with the City and the School District and invited Pomegranate Center to facilitate this exploration.

After 6 steering group meetings, three community meetings and one design workshop the Shoreline community developed a compelling concept for a future Sunset School Park, which connects to nearby green spaces like Boeing Creek Open Space, offers spectacular views of the Sound and features p-patches and endless recreational opportunities. A survey shows that after attending community meetings hosted by Pomegranate Center in Shoreline:

• 65% feel more connected to their neighbors
• 83% have more confidence in their community’s ability to work together
• 94% have a better understanding of what it takes to make changes in their neighborhood

The momentum to realize their vision is great. Conceptual drawings have already been turned into technical ones and submitted to several grant funders. And community members are beginning to organize some early success projects… keep your eyes peeled for ways YOU can get involved in this project.

“This project brought the community closer as a whole and created a community park that we know we all contributed to and can enjoy.”
-Sadie Kent, Shoreline teen and Steering Group member

Check out photos of the process and the completed site plan…