Flowing Wells Neighborhood Association & Community Coalition

Flowing Wells Neighborhood Association & Community Coalition

Officers and Board of Directors

Our officers are: President, Ellie Towne; Vice President, George Kuck; Secretary, Bonny Bass; Treasurer, Sue Grant

The Board of Directors include the officers and the following people:  Fred Bass, Daniele Loomis, Guy Owens and Debbie Wolfe.

The Board of Directors' meetings are held the first Thursday

of the month. These meetings are held at the Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center, 1660 W. Ruthrauff Road, 6:00 p.m. This is an open meeting and the public is welcome.

The Coalition meetings are held the third Thursday of the month

EXECPT MAY, JUNE AND JULY. These meetings are held at the Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center, 6:00 p.m. We have a potluck before the meeting.

About our association

The Coalition History ........

In 1995, community residents concerned about safety and quality of life, joined together to form the Flowing Wells Neighborhood Association and Community Coalition (FWNACC).

Initially, FWNACC activities included installing streetlights, reducing street flooding and closing drug-houses. Much of the initial phase centered around grafitti abatement. In 2000, the FWNACC partnered with several organizations to develop and implement a 5-year Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Plan that addresses many of the critical issues currently facing our community. In 2001, this plan was approved by the HUD and the Board of Supervisors.

This area is boarded on the north by the Rillito River to W. Roger Road and N. Fairview Avenue to I-10. Since 1999 the FWNACC along with partners has brought $19,205,150 in goods and services to our community. These projects include the development of two parks, a community center, a library, a health center, a new Women’s, Infants, and Children (WIC) Center, the Pima County I’m Home housing project, the develoment of the Flowing Wells Business Corridor, etc.

The FWNACC has been active in public art for our community. We have fostered artist’s work which depicts the history of the community. We want to reflect the cotton and orchard acreage as well as the cattle ranching. We have been instrumental in documenting the history of the area so that we can acturately determine the location of the Jaynes Station stage coach stop.

During 2002-2003, the FWNACC organized and completed a major clean-up of the revitalization area. The 3.1 square miles were broken down into a manageable 28 sections which encompassed 166 to 225 homes each. The project included 19 different partners, 291 volunteers with a total of 1,715 hours of service to remove a total of 216 tons of trash. This was the first step towards bringing pride back to the neighborhood. We had a wonderful outpouring of assistance. There were many elderly neighbors that received assistance so that they could also participate. This program was such a success, we have shown other neighborhoods how to organize an event such as this. (over)

The FWNACC was instrumental in the formation of the Flowing Wells Community Justice Board. Those who have been convicted of minor offenses can be adjudicated by the peers of their community. Mandated community service work can be completed within our own neighborhood. We have been successful in establishing infrastructure such as drainage, traffic signal, street lights, sidewalks, etc. We have also published two resouce guides with information specific for our neighborhood.

For years we held numberous yard sales to support our efforts. Recently we have received yearly Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) of $5,000 to cover our expenses (registration fees for education and training purposes, office supplies and insurance) as well as $10,000 for a revitalization coordinator who is utilized mostly for grant writing purposes. We are truly a grassroots organization with a small budget but big plans. Many of the large projects are in the implementation stage.

The FWNACC initiated the Laguna Elementary School Public Art and funded the project. We have attended the DES poverty workgroup. We have partnered with Pima Community College on the Education for Ecomonic Empowerment project. This program supports single parents who are head of the household. We have been a strong partner with the Northwest Fire District in obtaining funds to secure hydrants and smoke detectors.

FWNACC was an instrumental partner in establishing the organized events for Laguna and Homer Davis Elementary Schools for the Safe Routes to School Program. These schools have the highest number of walking students primarily because of family transportation issues. The FWNACC was instrumental in the formation of the Homeless Protocol used countywide. We were also a participant in the home auto repair ordinance, as well as a member of the task force dealing with abandoned properties.

We welcome two new businesses into our revitalization area – Hughes Federal Credit Union and Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market and Pharmacy.

The FWNACC is in strong partnership with the local school district, 18 local governmental departments, businesses and 7 social service and faith-based entities. These partnerships have primarily allowed the FWNACC to procure over $19 million to complete community-identified projects.

The Flowing Wells community has just hit the tipping point of synergy. We have worked hard for over 10 years to make a real difference in the quality of life of our residents. We are just now seeing the fruits of our labor.

9/12/08