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The Skyway Resource Center launched in September 2020 after a year of planning and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. With backbone support from RIZP and help from other agencies and community partners, “pop-up” events have occurred at New Birth Ministries, Campbell Hill Elementary, and currently at the King County Fire District 20 in Skyway.

 

More than 25 community-based organizations and public entities have provided services and resources to more than 500 community members at these events. Help includes everything from food to diapers and baby essentials to rental and housing assistance, as well as educational programs.

 

The Skyway Resource Center concept builds off years of community planning, dating back to 2014 and later with the Skyway-West Hill Action Plan, which identified the need to, “establish a space open to the community where service providers can conduct programs geared toward activities to benefit youth, seniors and/or other targeted populations.”

 

Following the October 2020 announcement that the U.S. Bank location in Skyway would be closing, the bank and community members came together to discuss the next steps for the facility with a focus on providing meaningful impact for local residents.

 

In April of last year, organizers received a Local Community Projects grant from the Washington Department of Commerce, on behalf of the taxpayers of Washington State, for building renovation. The following October, U.S. Bank donated the land and 4,568 square-foot building to KCHA, which will support the redevelopment project to create a permanent location for the Skyway Resource Center and hold the property on behalf of the community until property ownership is ultimately transferred to a community development association.

 

In the last 12 months, U.S. Bank has expanded its support in the Skyway community, donating $50,000 to Communities In Schools – Renton for rent and utility support for Skyway residents and providing a $50,000 Market Impact Fund Grant to RIZP to fund a new immersion program for Title 1 elementary and middle school students in the Skyway/West-Hill neighborhoods.