Grow Community

Location: Bainbridge Island, WA

Website: www.growbainbridge.com

As we looked around ourselves, and began to think, really think, about the way we live and the way we want to live, we found that there are many things still to be done.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have solar panels on the roof? Wouldn’t it be great if the kids could safely walk to school? And the library? And the ice cream store? What if we had more time to garden, and wouldn’t it be nice to know the neighbors?

So we began to ask our friends, if you could describe the perfect neighborhood, what would it look like? And we found so many answers. So we set out to create a new kind of place to live. For ourselves and for others.

Over the last year, we have created a vision of a connected urban community, where people of all generations and a diversity of economic means can live mindful of their impact on the planet, in a neighborhood where environmental, economic and social sustainability are equally valued and where all people can focus on creating abundance, in their relationships to others, to nature and to the community.

But our vision is not complete. There is still so much to do, so much to learn and so much possibility. Each day we create more ideas and challenge ourselves to do better.

We’ve figured out how to provide net-zero energy homes. But what about transportation? We think we’ve figured that out too, but we’ll learn more as we test out our plans. How can we most effectively reduce water use? Increase local food consumption? What kind of playgrounds will our children like best?

How shall we design the community center so it really does become that welcoming ‘third place’ where neighbors gather and connect?

Please join us in helping to shape this community, with your ideas, your vision, your enthusiasm. It takes a village. Let’s grow one.