HPIC updates – HPIC: Highland Park Improvement Club

Funding for the demo from Seattle Department of neighborhoods

We are gratified to report that HPIC has been awarded a $50,000 grant through the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Community Partnership Fund. It was a very competitive application process and we are honored to have been selected. The grant is toward funding the building demolition, and also site preparation to make the property safe for community events in the interim after the damaged building has been removed and before construction on the new building begins.

The Department of Neighborhoods has been supportive of HPIC through a series of challenges, starting with the pandemic, when we were granted about $27k to renovate the space while the building was closed. But then the fire happened – before we could reopen – and also before we had spent the bulk of the grant money (thanks to our amazing skilled volunteers). Department of Neighborhoods, with the help of our project manager Juan Martinez, allowed us to repurpose the grant for community engagement activities, to help us stay relevant in the community. That grant funded the 2022 Reset Fest, off-site Corner Bars and more. The Department of Neighborhoods is a vital resource in helping HPIC stay connected to our community.

Say goodbye to our wood panel gathering place – the demo is coming!

Demolition of our fire-damaged building is scheduled for July 29, 2024. We will be holding a farewell celebration the day before – July 28 at 5pm, corner of 12th and Holden. Date and other changes will be updated here and on our social media pages.

The New Generation of the HPIC Board

We are proud and honored to introduce these advocates of community in our neighborhood who have joined the team to rebuild HPIC. They bring vital new energy and vision to the rebuild, and to the future of HPIC.

From left to right: Ellen Powers, Amy Durgin, Nick Montrond, Adrien Demelier, Alex Wheeler, Silva Ianev and Rachel Chernin. Leading the ceremony is Martha Mallett, right foreground, long-time HPIC board member who kept HPIC alive by reaching out to the neighborhood at another challenging time in its history, in the early 2000’s.

Current board members who remain: Rhonda Smith, President; Shannon Harris, Julie Schickling, Kay Kirkpatrick, Billy Stauffer and Nickie Jostol.

Together, with so many of our neighbors and supporters through the years and into the future, we will bring back our community gathering place.

We are thankful for the many years of dedicated service given by departing board members Gretchen Heiden, Billy Markham and Shawn Mazza.