Who Is Involved

Small Sparks: Small Beginnings that Ignite the Imagination and Create Community

Most people want to make a difference in their community, even if it's a small difference. So where are those individuals and what motivates them to get involved and to make contributions in their neighborhood? Jeff Bercuvitz from Community Innovations in Vermont came to Seattle in 1998 to help us come up with ways to get new people involved in their neighborhood.

How do you get people involved who have never before been involved in their neighborhood? You may have noticed that in a neighborhood (as in any group), it tends to be the same people who show up at meetings, volunteer for committees, participate in work parties. Not everyone wants to join a neighborhood organization or go to neighborhood meetings. Few people have the time and inclination to tackle a large-scale neighborhood project or event.

Jeff helped the Department of Neighborhoods launch Small Sparks, a program to get individuals unfamiliar with neighborhood involvement to take a first step. Small Sparks funds small projects, based on the organizer's personal interests, that involve new people and benefit the neighborhood. Individuals interested in creating a Small Sparks project can receive help from a neighborhood coach who has had experience creating his or her own Small Sparks projects. Small Sparks is grassroots, neighbors helping neighbors, to create fun and doable projects that get new people involved. These projects have included a Village Dance Fest that attracted 150 people; a Building Blocks fundraiser to support a local P-Patch community garden; and a Trees That Please event at which a senior citizen shared lessons of photosynthesis with school children who planted trees at their school.

Small Sparks projects have great potential to activate individuals who have not previously been involved in their neighborhood. So far, over 50 neighborhood projects have been organized by individuals who engage people reflecting Seattle's diversity of age, ability, culture, ethnicity, and income. To help get them started, Small Sparks participants can apply for up to $250 from the Neighborhood Matching Fund to pay for project expenses.

Small Sparks are - quite simply - about neighbors engaging other neighbors in small ways.

Visit the Outreach and Small Sparks Fund page.