When You See Me

Check out our amazing Teen Advisors reciting, "When You See Me". These brave, bold, beautiful young women wrote this poem as a way of sharing their experiences of being stereotyped. Their poignant messages offer us all a timely challenge to examine our biases and see the humanity in each other.

Bethel, Elroe, Kissehanet, Lavancia, Meklit, Natalina, Trenesia: I see you.

Black Lives Matter. You matter. To our project, to your schools, to our community, to the world.

Your voices are powerful, your actions are inspiring and your generosity is incredible.

You are change-makers and revolutionaries.

Thank you for sharing your time and talents with us all.

Thank you for teaching us how to work harder and love better.

Thank you for believing in yourselves and each other.

I love you.

Paige

Innovate for Change

One high school, 190 students and five days of innovation. Gibson Ek High School invited six community organizations, including our landscape architects from Site Workshop, to present students with some of the real challenges they were working on. Students selected a challenge, formed teams and worked to understand the need and design creative solutions. Five days later students pitched their designs to the challengers to see which team advanced to the school-wide competition for most innovative solution.

The short amount of time and genuine challenges gave students and participating organizations an intense week of learning and inspiration. Clayton Beaudoin, Principal at Site Workshop commented, “I was blown away by the quality of the thinking, creativity and presentations. We were so inspired by the team’s imagination and intuitive understanding of the key objectives and associated challenges. Our team was truly impressed.”

The team of three young ladies who advanced from the Eli’s Park Project group went on to present to a panel of professionals, mentors and community members. Their innovative ideas and professional presentation led them to first place overall.

Sabina, a Gibson Ek student on the winning team said, “Getting the opportunity to design on a project that means so much to so many people is incredible. Being a part of this has been such a rewarding experience and our team is very excited to see how our designs move forward in the process of this project.”

Check out the winning group’s presentation and ingenuity around developing unique, welcoming and inclusive entries to the park.

Thank you, Gibson Ek High School, for empowering students and for bringing us into your community. Thank you to all the students who participated in being advocates for social change. And a huge thank you to Avanthikaa, Caitlin and Sabina for sharing your enthusiasm and thoughtful ideas and for your dedication to inclusion. Your innovation is already creating change.

More Than Halfway There!

“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of it’s members.” Coretta Scott King

We are so grateful for the huge community of people inspiring, leading, supporting and powering our project. We are so honored today to highlight a family who has transformed the Eli’s Park Project with their generosity and commitment to equity.

Alyssa and Bill Sunderland reside in Seattle with their three children, one of whom happens to have autism. Their experiences and access to care for their son, Gareth, has inspired them to support organizations that make early intervention services and inclusive opportunities available for all. In addition, Bill also serves as a trustee for the Sunderland Foundation which funds capital projects aimed to strengthen communities.

We’re excited to share that the Sunderland Foundation, based in Kansas City, recently committed a $1 million grant to the Eli’s Park Project. In addition, this gift also helped secure a $1 million match in public funding — bringing our project more than halfway to our $4 million goal!

Thank you, Sunderland family, for living your lives with love and leading our community with compassion. You have lifted a community that is ready to rise.

You are AWE-SOME!