An Amazing Story #Skyway

What an amazing story we’re all writing for Skyway. An entire building was given to our community, for free. This was a direct result of community members emailing US Bank and asking for it to be donated. In less than a year’s time, we launched a pop-up resource center, and secured a permanent brick & mortar location!

The US Bank staff overseeing the email account told me, “There isn’t enough time in my day to respond to all the emails I’ve received, asking to donate the building.”

Why is this such a big deal?

Other than the Skyway library, there is no community accessible space to share resources, host multi-generational programming, or business space to the many organizations that operate in Skyway.

Along the way, we will have multiple opportunities for community input and decision making as to what the building will look like. More information to come as we figure out how to bring in more community members.

Did I mention this building will be community owned?

We’re using this project as a means to teach a core group of stakeholders how to develop a building. Having shared knowledge and learning together will only help us create more projects in our neighborhood.

For those who did not grow up in Skyway, this project represents a return to what once was and a desire to be even better.

The Skyway Resource Center will be dedicated to helping community members thrive. Everything from first time home buying, mental health services, youth programming, community meetings, a farmers market, and more.

For me, this has been a personal journey and has helped me show up to work every day. My senior year at the University of Miami (FL), I wrote a business plan for a youth center as my capstone project. Not knowing there was already organizing happening in Skyway, I wanted to do my part, to help make my neighborhood a better place. I later used this plan as my application for a local position and that is how I got started working in Skyway.

So many people have helped get us to this moment. Whether you were behind the scenes working on a plan of your own or part of a larger collective, organizing and advocating, this is our nexus. My hope is that this project will be the turning point for community-led development

There are so many people, over the years, who have given their time, energy, voice, emotion, money and more to make this a reality for Skyway, and I will do my best to ensure we honor that.

With gratitude,

Ryan Quigtar

Executive Director, Renton Innovation Zone Partnership (RIZP)