Dear Community Partners,
With the adoption of the 2011-2012 City Budget in November, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods (DON) is in the process of making changes to our programs and services, namely, the Neighborhood District Coordinators Program and the Neighborhood Service Centers (NSCs). Effective January 4, 2011, three Neighborhood District Coordinator positions will be cut and as of December 30, six Neighborhood Service Centers will close. These resources, staff, and facilities have been heavily utilized by community members such as yourself over the years, enhancing your connection to City government.
As part of the budget process, Seattle City Council developed a Statement of Legislative Intent (SLI) requesting the Mayor to respond to questions about DON's outreach and engagement work, specifically identifying a reconfiguration plan of the Neighborhood District Coordinator Program. The Mayor will involve DON, the community, and other stakeholders in providing a response to the SLI which is due to City Council by July 1, 2011.
The changes in budget require a change in DON's short-term and long-term approach to serving the greater Seattle community; therefore, while the SLI response is being developed, an interim service model has been designed and will be implemented beginning January 5, 2011. The model is described below:
Neighborhood District Coordinators (NDC) Interim Service Model:
The 10 NDCs will serve the city through a team approach over three large geographic areas:
· The South area consists of 4 districts (Southeast, Greater Duwamish, Delridge and Southwest) and will be served by the South Team (NDCs - Ron Angeles, Steve Louie, Yun Pitre, and Ed Pottharst).
· The Central area consists of 5 districts (Central, East, Downtown, Lake Union and Magnolia/Queen Anne) and will be served by the Central Team (NDCs - Christa Dumpys, Tim Durkan, and Stan Lock).
· The North area consists of 4 districts (Northeast, North, Northwest, and Ballard) and will be served by the North Team (NDCs - Karen Ko, Rob Mattson, and Beth Pflug).
The remaining Neighborhood Service Centers are being reorganized for drop-in work space for the NDCs. They will also have drop-in work space in DON's offices at the Seattle Municipal Tower.
The new team approach to serving neighborhoods and community partners is intended to continue providing the connection between you and the City. However, due to the fact that there are three fewer NDCs, there will be a decrease in the amount of time or depth of efforts any particular NDC will be able to spend with you and your group.
As we stated in the beginning of this letter, the six non-payment Neighborhood Service Centers (Greater Duwamish, Downtown, East, Lake Union, Queen Anne/Magnolia and Northwest) are closing as of December 30, 2010. One of the impacts of this loss is free meeting space. Neighborhood District Coordinators have been and will continue to be a resource for assisting community groups in finding alternate community meeting space.
A "Frequently Asked Questions" document is attached with information on how community members will be served by the interim service model.
Change can be difficult, and although the City overall and DON specifically, must make changes based on the reduction in budget, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods remains committed to the community and to supporting and empowering community members to engage with City government for the benefit of their neighborhoods.
Sincerely,
Pamela Banks
Neighborhood District Coordinator Program Manager
