In the summer of 2013, teacher Sara Baquero-Garcia took the initiative to energize a movement to find a way to bring swimming to Duvall and residents around the Riverview School District area. She set up a booth at the Duvall Farmers Market and meet with people to gauge interest. Many people seem to support the idea, but many are discouraged by previous unsuccessful attempts to bring swimming to our area. After creating a facebook group and announcing the project to some Duvall facebook groups, she gathered a small group of volunteers interested in kicking off the project together. This will be a long term project and we hope to have a pool developed by 2020.
Where we are (early 2014)
As of early 2014, we are a small group of individuals working hard to develop a roadmap to a successful pool around Duvall. Some things we have accomplished:
- Created this blog to centralize public info.
- Created the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LetsBuildACommunityPoolInDuvall
- Identified a group of volunteers interested in working on the project
- Started researching business models of both local pools and pools nationwide in communities of about 10,000 people. We are including the Eastman Rush pool initiative in our research and have some links on our "Nearby Pools & Aquatic Associations" tab at http://duvallpool.blogspot.com/p/links_19.html.
- Reached out to some possible partners, including City of Duvall and the Riverview School District just to get on their radar and let them know we're here. At this point it's at an informational stage, trying to learn about what resources could be available and getting some initial feedback.
- Identified some other possible partners.
- Started investigating nonprofit requirements.
Next steps: (information gathering)
At this point, the priorities of the project are to acquire 501(c)3 nonprofit status and to continue information gathering on possible business models, possible partners, and possible resources. Some of our next steps include:
- Create a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization registered in Washington. This is our critical next step required to start fundraising. This will cost $500 to $1000 (still investigating) so we may need to do fundraising just to acquire nonprofit status. This process can also take up to a year.
- Start fundraising! We hope to secure nonprofit status before the corporate giving campaign season in the fall of 2014. As we start fundraising, we will hopefully learn how much breadth and how much depth of support there is for a pool around Duvall.
- Meet with some organizations with experience in managing aquatic facilities for information gathering. Several local pools and nonprofits with experience in managing aquatic facilities are on our radar.
Mid-range goals (planning)
Once we have obtained nonprofit status and done some more research on business models and resources and have a better feel for community support, we will move onto more of a planning phase. Some of these tasks could include:
- Identify a list of features for both the true vision as well as a list of minimum requirements. Once features are identified, develop a couple of possible business models.
- Have an aquatics feasibility study done by professionals that can evaluate the business viability, similar in scope to this one that Bellevue did in 2007: http://www.bellevuewa.gov/aquatics_feasibility_study.htm
- Investigate possible sites and come up with a plan for acquiring the land.
- Finalizing the business plan required for construction.
Longer term goals (building)
Once a business plan has been developed, we hope to move onto a final phase of securing funding and actual development. Some of these tasks could include
- Securing final funds
- Final architecture designs
- Construction
Do you want to get involved?
If you are interested in getting involved, send a message to Sara on the facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LetsBuildACommunityPoolInDuvall. As of early 2014, we need help in setting up a nonprofit, so if you want to share any experience with that or fundraising, we NEED you!
*Relative to a marathon, we've taken about one step towards 26.2 miles. However, the only people who ever complete a marathon all had to take that first step.*
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