Summary of the Conway Community Meeting 7/22/13

On Monday, July 22, 60-75 neighbors gathered at Conway Rec Center to hear from the Sanneh Foundation about their vision for the center. D1 resident and chair of the Conway Community Advisory Group (CCAG), Kris Gjerde, welcomed folks and talked about the process that led the CCAG to unanimously recommend the Foundation as the partner for the center. She spoke about the commitment, skills and resources, and enthusiasm that the CCAG recognized in the Foundation staff when they were interviewed on July 8.

District 1 staff member, Betsy Leach, outlined the schedule of outreach activities and CCAG meetings since last October when the community first heard about plans to partner the center. She introduced the CCAG members and thanked them for their efforts in the process. Those community members are: Kris Gjerde, Erika Martin, Sandy Rosbacka, Stacey Van Patten, Chris Dollar-Simmons, Clara Ware, Kate Staples, Timothy Turner, Melvin Baker and Ebony Young. This group of community members represents diverse users of the center. The city staff who were members of the CCAG were Kathy Korum and Gwen Peterson from Parks, and City Council President, Kathy Lantry.

Sanneh Foundation Executive Director, Tony Sanneh, then talked about the various programs that his organization runs. These run the gamut from soccer camps, to college prep activities, to anti-racism programming. (Here is a link to the Foundation so you can check out the diversity of activities they do!)
He and his staff talked about their vision of building partnerships with the community to make the center a vibrant place. He spoke about the goal of keeping the center open from 9a-9p seven days a week - with the commitment that these hours will be available weekdays and as many weekend hours as possible - just how many hours will depend on funding, commitment from the community and so on.

He talked about the current Community Education Senior Programming continuing, and all of us working together to figure out how other activities will fit in at Conway and elsewhere in the area. The goal is to keep activities going throughout the center while the lights are on!

Questions from the audience included questions about how the Foundation is funded and whether the Foundation was open to joint funding requests with other community groups. The Foundation has a variety of funding sources including fees for its soccer camps (other than these camps, all other activities they do are FREE to participants), corporate support, foundation support, and other donations. They are a growing organization. Funders are always looking for partnerships among organizations, so pooling our resources and our requests should be a natural way of doing business.

Questions also centered on which current programs would continue at the center and which are likely to leave. The Foundation is trying to be as open and honest with the community as possible, stating that undoubtedly there will come a time when they have to say no about an activity that will take place at the center. But for now, they are taking cues from the community about what is wanted and what should and can be supported. They look to outcomes from activities, as well as to commitment from community members to actively participate, when assessing whether an activity should occupy time and space at the facility.

Other questions centered on the role that Parks will play in this partnership. There is a commitment from the City that a presence by Parks will be maintained at Conway for a year (2014 budget year), probably on the order of two staff members. This presence will help in the transition of management for the center, and it will also help all of us think about the possibilities of what this center can be. The CCAG will stay involved over that first year, as well, helping to assess the effectiveness of the partnership, based on the original request for proposals.

The City and the Foundation are still in negotiation about the details of their contract, and the Foundation Board still needs to vote on approval of this plan to locate the Foundation's programming at Conway. But we are all hopeful that all these details will be worked out and that the Sanneh Foundation will be present sometime in September. Communication about this ongoing process will continue through District 1's outreach efforts, online and through community meetings.