Aloha Project - WOW

For those of you who don't know I have a job other than being at Aim High! :-) I run a non profit called the Edwards Center and we operate work sites and group homes for adults with disabilities. Last year my board charged me with a HUGE task....developing housing for transition age youth where they could live with their families. For the last 18 months I have been working with a consultant and an architect on a concept called a Pocket Neighborhood. These are planned communities where people live, work, and recreate (kinda like Orenco Station). This past April we bought the land our building sits on and already own the adjacent land.

We had our first pre-development application meeting with the County planning commission last month and we have a site design and schedule. It's pretty cool...our network is down or I would post a picture of it. Anyway we are planning for 10 buildings and a community center in Aloha. If all goes well we will break ground in 2012. I am very excited about this project!

I was invited to present at a public meeting in April about this project to a group of citizens and the Beaverton city council, mayor and others interested. I am going to count this presentation as my WOW for Phase 2 of the test.

I'm writing about all of this because I won't be at class again Monday night. I have a special session with members of my board and our attorney to discuss our financing strategies for the project and it starts at 7PM. A couple of times I have mentioned to people that I can't train on Monday's because of work obligations but I thought it might be worthwhile to explain the "why" and put some context around it.

I'll be in class Wednesday and look forward to seeing everyone!

~ CGN Jessica