The Maple Leaf play area dedication is Saturday, May 18, 2013 from 10 a.m. – noon. The park features a zip line, climbing rocks, and a children’s garden.

If you have problems or questions when submitting for P-Patch events, contact either Lisa Uemoto, lisa.uemoto@seattle.gov,  or 684-0303 or Sandy Pernitz, sandy.pernitz@seattle.gov,  or 684-0284. For all other activities, contact Wendy Watson, wendy.watson@seattle.gov or  684-0719.

*hint – when filling out the form, you can select more than one neighborhood and event type.

After more than three years of planning, the Magnolia Manor P-Patch celebrated its grand opening on April 14, joining more than 80 other P-Patches in Seattle.  The garden is located on Settle Public Utilities property and is an example of the city’s policy of co-use of public land. 

 This P-Patch community garden, the first on Magnolia, is funded from a variety of sources:  three Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Small and Simple Neighborhood Matching Fund awards and garden funds from the 2008 Parks Levy,* private donations including one from Umpqua Bank, and more than 1400 hours of volunteer time by neighbors actually building the garden during the cold and wet months of January thru March. These volunteers moved over 145 tons of material including huge cement blocks for the retaining walls. They also installed the irrigation system and built the tool shed. The almost 50 gardeners are now planting their plots. By next spring an additional 20 plots will be added.

Speakers at the Grand Opening included Bernie Matsuno, director of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods; Christopher Williams, acting director of Seattle Parks and Recreation; Sally Clark, City Council President; Sharon Knoll, volunteer garden coordinator; and Heather Ussery, Magnolia Umpqua Bank manager. The program was opened with a song by Alviin Hendricks, a neighbor who lives adjacent to the garden.

*Seattle Department of Neighborhoods supported the project with staff resources and with funding from Neighborhood Matching Fund and the P-Patch portion of the Parks and Green Spaces Levy totaling $120,000.

NewHolly Market Garden Pergola

Seattle Department of Neighborhoods recently awarded more than $600,000 in matching funds to support neighborhood projects across the city of Seattle. Thirty-three community organizations received awards from the city’s Neighborhood Matching Fund Program for projects as diverse as street murals to street fairs. Click here to see a list of awarded projects. 

The Small and Simple Projects Fund, one of three funds managed by Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, provides cash awards of up to $25,000 in matching funds to community organizations committed to fostering and building a better community. The 2013 spring awards ranged from $3,180 to $25,000, and the organizations have pledged to match the city’s $606,526 contribution with resources valued at nearly $734,838. 

“This program recognizes the dedication and volunteerism of community members working together to improve their neighborhood,” said Mayor Mike McGinn. “Whether the projects are for physical improvements or a community celebration, the community decides what it needs; and with the help f the Neighborhood Matching Fund, dedicates its time and energy to make it a reality.”

The Neighborhood Matching Fund has provided funding to the city’s neighborhoods for the past 25 years. Its contribution to neighborhoods can be seen across the city from the Fremont Troll to Georgetown’s Hat n’ Boots. Recipients of the fund match their awards through a combination of locally raised money, donated materials, and volunteer labor. In 2012, community volunteers pledged to invest $1.69 of donations and sweat equity for every $1 of taxpayer support.

“The Neighborhood Matching Fund has been emulated by cities all over the world,” said Bernie Matsuno, director of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. “What makes it so successful is the connection and engagement that happens when neighbors – who may not have known each other or been involved in a neighborhood project – come together to make improvements or create programs that benefit not only their community, but the city at large.”

The Small and Simple Projects Fund opens again to applications in the fall with a deadline of October 7. To learn more and to see the listing of 2013 Spring Small and Simple award recipients, visit www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nmf/smallandsimple.htm.

The community knows Roxhill Park as the “Castle” park and at this celebration they will celebrate that it will still be known as “Castle” park and the new streetscape skatepark north of the play area.

In 1994, the community built the original castle play structure at Roxhill Park. In 2011, during the extensive community planning process for the Parks and Green Spaces Levy funded play area renovation project, the community learned that the castle would be removed. They made a commitment to organize the volunteers required to complete the “build” of another Leather and Associates play area design. The community build was realized over five days in early November 2012, resulting in the new castle structure and play area. The volunteer and community support was great!

“I didn’t understand the importance of this park when I signed on. But I get it now: kids need a place that is special, just for them, something that says ‘I value you.’ Well, nothing says ‘I value you’ quite like ‘I built this for you with my hands,” said Mat McBride, Delridge Neighborhood District Council Chair and Roxhill Volunteer Coordinator. “This park is a testament to the work of everyone who believed that. I’m honored to have been a part of it.”

The Parks and Green Spaces Levy included $450,000 for planning, design and renovation of the play area and $600,000 for the planning, design and construction of a skatespot. The community received a Department of Neighborhoods Small and Simple Award of $20,000 that allowed for the community build out of the play area.

Seattle Parks hosted five public meetings for these combined projects and presented the skatepark designs for review by the Seattle Design Commission. The Citywide Skatepark Plan, developed through Seattle Parks and Recreation with extensive community input, recommended Roxhill Park as a good site for a skatespot. In Seattle, a skatespot is defined as a skatepark ranging in size from 1,500 to 10,000 square feet.

The Rob Dyrdek Foundation (now the Street League Skateboard Foundation) donated design services and skate features for the park from Street League DC Pro Tour.

Parks’ in-house landscape architects worked with California Skate Parks, who designed the skatespot. Parks awarded the construction contract for the skatepark to Grindline Construction of West Seattle.

The Roxhill Park skatespot is the Street League Skateboard Foundation’s eighth “Safe Spot Skate Spot,” a program conceptualized by Rob Dyrdek, which seeks to create safe and legal havens for skaters across the country. The main goals of the program are to provide communities with safe and legal skate plazas, increase and encourage the active engagement of people in the sport of skateboarding, and design and develop skate plazas in cities and towns throughout the world. The program also provides an alternative option for communities with limited budgets or space restrictions to develop real street-skating locations.

Roxhill Park improvements are the result of many public/private partnerships working together. This event celebrates both the completion of the project and the amazing work done by the neighborhood, the extended West Seattle community and the entire skate community. 

For more information on the project please visit http://www.seattle.gov/parks/projects/roxhill/  for more information about this event please contact Karen O’Connor at 206-233-7929 or Karen.o’connor@seattle.gov.

For more information on the Street League Skateboard Foundation, please go to http://robdyrdekfoundation.org/.

A Hub and Spoke High Challenge Course called “The Enchantments” (park elements at Camp Long are traditionally named after topographical phenomena in Washington state) has been added to the Low Challenge course. Construction was completed in October 2012; since then staff have undergone training for facilitation, tested systems and purchased equipment to start offering programs this spring.

“The challenge course at camp long has already impacted youth through its youth leadership program,” said Camp Long Advisory Council member David Kipano. “This program funded through the Department of Neighborhoods provides internships to train over 30 youth to be facilitators on the course and in their community.”

The installation and programming of the challenge course is a collaboration by Camp Long Advisory Council, an affiliate of the Associated Recreation Council, WSU Extension-4H, and Seattle Parks and Recreation with the support of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Large Project funding award and a King County Parks Youth Sports Facility Grant.

The ribbon cutting takes place at 3 p.m. at the East Shelter and there will be refreshments at 3:30.

Open House Activities:

• “The Enchantments”: Opportunities to try out the Hub and Spoke Course will be $20 per person, limited to 24 people. Register at the front desk the day of the opening.

• Low Course Elements: “Orca Breach,” “Pacific Crest,” “Salmon Crossing” and other elements will be available to try as groups gather. Check in at the East Shelter.

About High Challenge: The “Hub and Spoke” challenge consists of high platforms, interconnected activities, routes on slim beams, wobbly steps and swings and ropes to clutch onto or walk upon. High course elements have traditionally been used as a tool to challenge individuals physically and mentally and to strengthen relationships and build team cohesion. The High Challenge Course is designed to develop self-esteem, confidence, positive risk-taking and self awareness, and to help people confront fears and exceed self-imposed limitations.

Scott VanderWey, WSU 4-H Adventure Education Director, said the activities will help increase teens’ self-confidence and positive risk taking. “Having a high ropes course provides the opportunity for students to have a peak experience which can manifest itself into more positive behavior,” he said. The research-based approach known as Social Emotional Learning has proven to increase student motivation, student attendance, mastery of subject material, and a more positive school climate.

4H Challenge Benefits:

4H Challenge Courses provide a structured, consistent, and ongoing curriculum which allows cohorts of youth or community members to progress through a series of tiered learning activities that enhances other programs such as youth leadership, family wellness, community organization and development, health education, peer and adult mentoring, drug prevention, adjudicated rehabilitation and job development skills.  

4-H Challenge programs change the way participants interact with their group, build healthy relationships and develop the critical life skills necessary for a successful life.  The underlying psychological and educational assumption behind challenge courses is that if a person is supported to move out of his/her comfort zone, and has a successful experience, then powerful conditions exist for positive change. Groups who engage in a long-term relationship with 4-H Challenge can expect to see a measurable increase in participant commitment to the group and a decrease in negative and non-participatory behavior. The positive benefits are of special importance for youth to become successful and productive adults. 

Camp Long is located at 5200 35^th Ave. SW. For more information, please call 206-684-7434.