The Mercer Island branch of the King County Library System is one of four community institutions in the Seattle area awarded a grant by Tully’s coffee to develop outdoor community spaces.

Tully’s Coffee 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 (Wedgewood, Wash.), Mercer Island Library (Mercer Island, Wash.), Sumner (Sumner, Wash.), and Square Park (Kirkland, Wash.).

The four selected communities will each receive funding 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.

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.”