Submitted by: Grace Fletcher, Southwest Olympia Neighborhood Association and Council of Neighborhood Associations
In January, the Council of Neighborhood Associations (CNA) hosted a Community Priorities Forum, which brought together residents from across Olympia to discuss what issues people most want to see addressed in their community. The event had strong participation and was followed by a community-wide survey that received over 140 responses.
The results of that process were recently presented to the Olympia City Council during the March 3 City Council meeting. If you’re interested in learning more about the forum and what residents identified as priorities, the JOLT covered the presentation here:
The article highlights how the CNA gathered input from residents to better understand community priorities and share those insights with city leadership.
From that process, several clear priority areas emerged, including food access and basic needs, emergency preparedness and community safety, street safety and infrastructure issues, and strengthening community connections and shared resources.
As a next step, the CNA is preparing to launch several community committees that will operate at a citywide level across the greater Olympia area. These committees are not specific to any one neighborhood. Instead, they are intended to bring together residents from across the city who want to collaborate on practical initiatives that strengthen our community.
The CNA committees include:
Food Access & Basic Needs – supporting efforts that improve access to food and essential needs. This committee would help coordinate and support initiatives that expand access to food while building long-term community resilience. Efforts may include supporting existing programs, helping launch new neighborhood food access and basic need initiatives, and connecting residents with organizations already doing this work.
Emergency Preparedness & Community Safety – strengthening community readiness and coordination for emergencies while supporting the safety and protection of neighbors. This includes building strong neighbor-to-neighbor networks so communities can respond effectively during crises and ensure residents look out for one another when systems are strained or people may be vulnerable.
Street Safety, Access & Livability – addressing issues such as sidewalks, bike and pedestrian safety, traffic calming, accessibility, lighting and visibility improvements, transportation access and mobility options, and housing access and affordability.
Community Connection & Resources – strengthening neighborhood connections, increasing community engagement, and developing shared resources that support participation, collaboration, and mutual support.
We’re now gathering interest from community members who may want to:
• Co-lead a committee
• Lead a working group project within a committee
• Actively participate as a committee member
If any of these topics are of interest to you and you’d like to help move efforts forward, please take a few minutes to complete this interest form,
Because this is a new process for the CNA, it may take a little time for us to review responses and follow up with next steps as we work through how best to organize the committees and working groups. We appreciate your patience as we get things up and running.
We’re excited to see how the ideas and momentum coming out of the forum can translate into collaborative efforts that strengthen communities across Olympia.
Monthly CNA meetings open to the public
Also, a reminder that all CNA meetings are open to the public. The CNA meets on the 2nd Monday of each month at 6:30 PM (next meeting 4/13), and anyone is welcome to attend. You can join the monthly meeting via Zoom by clicking “Join the monthly CNA meeting” on the CNA Linktree.
In community,
Grace Fletcher
South Capitol Neighborhood Association 