Making Progress!

The vision of turning the closed Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School into a true community space is taking shape! I was encouraged to see so many engaged community members at the forum in March to discuss the future of MLK. Since that meeting, we've continued to build a grass-roots movement to keep the former school a community space.

We've formed a working group of 12 dedicated community members, and we've met to organize our efforts and start the difficult and exciting work of keeping Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision alive, in a center that promotes lifelong learning, the arts, and bringing people together across divides.

We were thankful to have School Board Member Mary Bass, State Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-37) and Seattle City Councilman Richard Conlin at the forum. Councilman Conlin is closely following our efforts and is actively seeking funds for an feasibility study. The School District and Department of Neighborhoods are getting the ball rolling to start a public input process to learn what the community wants in the former elementary school. Our working group is actively seeking meetings with potential partners, and all members of the Seattle School Board.

If you'd like to help us or want to share what you'd like to see in a community center at MLK, please e-mail me.

What will an MLK community arts/idea center look like?

We don't know the specifics, and that's the exciting part: the Madison Valley Community and the greater neighborhood can actively shape what it would like to see in a community space. Our working group has crafted a one-page vision statement which can be found here.

What can you do to help? You can e-mail School Board Member Mary Bass and tell her you support the Madison Valley community's efforts to create a community arts/lifelong learning center at MLK. Or attend the next meeting of the Greater Madison Valley Community Council on April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the Bush School Community Room on E. Harrsion and 34th. We'll have a brief update on our efforts at the GMVCC meeting.

Let's keep King's vision alive with a true gathering place!