The Pomegranate Center is a non-profit organization based in Issaquah who has done projects worldwide to build places, community, and leaders. Pomegranate Center has developed an effective model for helping communities prepare for the future using collective creativity, meaningful engagement and powerful collaboration.
The goal of this organization is to bring people together to build better communities throughout the US and around the globe. Their intention is to help us with new and fresh ideas for Mason County and helping us bring our community together by building a more beautiful place.
Four other local projects that the Pomegranate Center is facilitating this year are the Northeast Seattle Hunter Farm Gathering Place (converting a private Christmas tree lot into community space for the non-holiday season), Mercer Island Library Early Learning Garden (turning a generic green space surrounding the library into a unique place of discovery for children and parents), Sumner Mainstreet Alley Project (transforming an urban alleyway into a friendly space for personal enjoyment and small celebrations) and Kirkland 132nd Square Park Gathering Space (adding shelters and a gathering circle to a well-beloved park). building a more beautiful place.
During the Pomegranate Center’s 20 plus years in community development they have built proven strategies that allow people with diverging opinions to work together and find practical solutions with broad community support. They know that results can happen quickly, effectively and include many voices. As with anything, you must work hard to have success and the same applies to becoming a community builder; it doesn’t happen automatically. The good news is that almost everything we do gives us an opportunity to engage in community-minded behavior. With practice, you’ll find it becomes an increasingly large part of your everyday life.
With Pomegranate Center, it isn’t uncommon for community engagement processes to include hundreds of people, contributing nearly 1000 hours of their time to planning for the future of their community. Their belief is that people are hungry to participate – under the right conditions. Pomegranate Center is expert at creating those conditions.
We hope you’ll join the Shelton Mason County Chamber of Commerce and the Pomegranate Center as we brainstorm ideas, places and ways to strengthen our community.