sometimes our best ideas aren’t new
ideas at all but the wisdom of prior
generations cultures or nature put into
action I’m the founder of the Center for
justice and the community building
campus the community building campus is
a cluster of six buildings on the 100
block of West Main in Spokane Washington
I purchased renovated and repurposed
these buildings as a counterculture
testing ground for what would be
possible in civic life together with
local citizens and community leaders we
have spent the last 20 years leveraging
my unexpected inheritance from my aunt
rural as a community resource by
investing in people who are working to
make Spokane a more just and vibrant
city and by creating flexible affordable
and beautiful spaces that nurture
creativity and connection our mantra is
community building is a noun and a verb
as a noun it is a place designed with
connection in mind we aim to translate
transcendent values like justice beauty
and love into brick and mortar as a verb
it’s a call to action an invitation to
show up and participate to nurture and
be nurtured to love and receive love one
of the buildings on our block the old
Saranac Hotel was constructed as a
single room occupancy facility in 1910
it was lodging for the working-class
clientele and old census records show
that the Sarah next residence came to
Spokane from Japan Sweden Italy France
and
and many stage at the saranac while
getting a firm footing in a new frontier
by 2004 the building had deteriorated
and was vacated and I purchased it soon
after it was clear in my eyes that I did
not just purchase a building but
invested in a historical monument to the
working-class and a promise of a more
diverse America my team and I are
Stewart’s of the building as we are the
other buildings on the community campus
we don’t manage them as private property
but as dynamic spaces welcoming stories
from the past even as we’re writing new
ones now one of the reasons that I’m
able to focus on building community
rather than building personal wealth is
my own background which is not that
different than some of the residents of
the old Saranac Hotel my father
supported our family on his painters
salary and often used alcohol to soothe
his physical and emotional aches my mom
was sick on and off most of my life and
struggled to manage chronic pain still
because of their personal sacrifices and
encouragement I was able to pursue a
professional career as a lawyer choosing
to be a civil servant and public
defender rather than joining a more
prestigious law firm if I was a plumber
I would have started a non-profit
plumbing firm
but as a lawyer I started a nonprofit
law firm called the center for justice
in 1999 to amplify the voices of people
not often heard we had difficulty
finding adequate office space for the
organization so I bought a building and
invited other nonprofits to join us to
solidify the mission of the space we
called it the community building another
way to state the intention of the
community building campus is this
everything we do should be grounded in
our oneness 35 years of studying
meditation and Buddhism has revealed to
me that true community true oneness
cannot be rationally understood
community happens in the present it is
here and now and must be experienced the
meditation room on the second floor of
the Saranac building is a space that
perpetually reminds us of this if
separation is the lie that divides us
then connection is the truth that unites
us if separation is the lie that divides
us then connection is the truth that
unites us we invited a dozen nonprofits
to share the community building with us
but more organizations than we could
accommodate wanted to join us so we
decided to expand the project over the
next 10 years we purchased and restored
the Saranac Hotel founded the main
market food co-op and restored the
Saranac Commons which is a multi vendor
food drink and retail hub all of these
faces embrace and express my guiding
philosophy that the antidote for our
cultural ills is community now that
we’ve been invested in building
community and place for almost twenty
years people contact us and ask us for
our blueprint first I invite them to
visit and experience the unique energy
on our block there’s a beauty and a
vibrancy they can’t quite put their
finger on so it has something to do with
the fact that we know and love our
neighbors and work with them for
improvements on the block it also has to
do with our fact that our buildings are
not monuments to power or commerce but
ours our dynamic spaces designed for
community and connection so we’ve
learned some things over the years
here are our three guiding principles
for using real estate as a vehicle for
building community first take an
integral approach influenced by
philosopher Ken Wilber we have designed
our spaces with people’s physical
cognitive spiritual and relational
well-being in mind for example when
restoring the saranac building we made
environmental sustainability and human
health a priority we installed the
greenest energy upgrades available at
the time to reduce our carbon footprint
and be in greater harmony with the
natural world
we made sure that every office had a had
a window or skylight
because exposure to natural light has a
positive impact on people’s sleep and
quality of life outside of work and
we host more than 30 established and
emerging nonprofits who are pursuing
justice for people and the environment
on the ground floors of our buildings we
have a fair trade store a childcare
center a pub a brewery an independent
movie theater an arts cooperative of
food cooperative cafe bakery Native
American arts gallery and a flower shop
as a result people can experience
diverse aspects of common life together
second be inclusive inclusivity is the
foundation of community and we’ve
strived to inject that value in every
stage of decision-making and development
for example when putting together the
saranac architects engineers community
leaders and prospective tenants came
together to brainstorm an optimum design
with no restrictions the only
requirement was that the final space be
green that is sustainable using as few
new resources as possible and beautiful
inviting aesthetically pleasing
inclusive since 2009 more than 5,000
community events and meetings have been
hosted in our buildings being inclusive
also means offering respect to everyone
the lobby of the community building is a
public space where people can sit rest
or read a book because we know that not
everyone who walks our block can afford
to buy a cup of coffee or go to a movie
some just want to charge their cell
phones or play the piano or be sheltered
from the elements while having a moment
listening to nature means being in
harmony with the natural world by using
green building improvements but there’s
much more to it than that nature has
taught me not to try to change the local
context but to be one with it develop it
I believe that when working on a
building we must look at the community
around us and seek to enhance that
community that will enhance not only our
space but the spaces around us taking an
integral approach being inclusive and
listening to nature has taught me to
have faith in the organic on flowing of
community if I’d had a structured plan
for this endeavor there’s a good chance
that the project would have been all
about my vision or my needs or my legacy
but I go to my office almost every day
to experience what is continuously
unfolding I take my morning coffee at
the Saranac Commons because the people
who work in our buildings and eject them
with their energy and passion for
justice
they’re my legacy in my community the
pathways to connection that we have
created
they ripple through Spokane and change
it for the better all of us together
have created something better more
lively more inclusive and more
sustainable than I alone could ever
possibly have imagined reflecting on the
last 20 years I realized that my
blueprint for the community building
campus is not outcomes oriented nor even
very strategic my blueprint relies on
the Serendipity’s of people motivated by
common values that share hallways and
kitchens and stairwells it is fueled by
the ideas exchanged when standing in
line at the food co-op or picking up
kids at the childcare center all that we
do depends upon relationships the
person-to-person connections that build
true community we know about the
mystical power of inclusive spaces and
what can be accomplished if people just show up and love thank you
ideas at all but the wisdom of prior
generations cultures or nature put into
action I’m the founder of the Center for
justice and the community building
campus the community building campus is
a cluster of six buildings on the 100
block of West Main in Spokane Washington
I purchased renovated and repurposed
these buildings as a counterculture
testing ground for what would be
possible in civic life together with
local citizens and community leaders we
have spent the last 20 years leveraging
my unexpected inheritance from my aunt
rural as a community resource by
investing in people who are working to
make Spokane a more just and vibrant
city and by creating flexible affordable
and beautiful spaces that nurture
creativity and connection our mantra is
community building is a noun and a verb
as a noun it is a place designed with
connection in mind we aim to translate
transcendent values like justice beauty
and love into brick and mortar as a verb
it’s a call to action an invitation to
show up and participate to nurture and
be nurtured to love and receive love one
of the buildings on our block the old
Saranac Hotel was constructed as a
single room occupancy facility in 1910
it was lodging for the working-class
clientele and old census records show
that the Sarah next residence came to
Spokane from Japan Sweden Italy France
and
and many stage at the saranac while
getting a firm footing in a new frontier
by 2004 the building had deteriorated
and was vacated and I purchased it soon
after it was clear in my eyes that I did
not just purchase a building but
invested in a historical monument to the
working-class and a promise of a more
diverse America my team and I are
Stewart’s of the building as we are the
other buildings on the community campus
we don’t manage them as private property
but as dynamic spaces welcoming stories
from the past even as we’re writing new
ones now one of the reasons that I’m
able to focus on building community
rather than building personal wealth is
my own background which is not that
different than some of the residents of
the old Saranac Hotel my father
supported our family on his painters
salary and often used alcohol to soothe
his physical and emotional aches my mom
was sick on and off most of my life and
struggled to manage chronic pain still
because of their personal sacrifices and
encouragement I was able to pursue a
professional career as a lawyer choosing
to be a civil servant and public
defender rather than joining a more
prestigious law firm if I was a plumber
I would have started a non-profit
plumbing firm
but as a lawyer I started a nonprofit
law firm called the center for justice
in 1999 to amplify the voices of people
not often heard we had difficulty
finding adequate office space for the
organization so I bought a building and
invited other nonprofits to join us to
solidify the mission of the space we
called it the community building another
way to state the intention of the
community building campus is this
everything we do should be grounded in
our oneness 35 years of studying
meditation and Buddhism has revealed to
me that true community true oneness
cannot be rationally understood
community happens in the present it is
here and now and must be experienced the
meditation room on the second floor of
the Saranac building is a space that
perpetually reminds us of this if
separation is the lie that divides us
then connection is the truth that unites
us if separation is the lie that divides
us then connection is the truth that
unites us we invited a dozen nonprofits
to share the community building with us
but more organizations than we could
accommodate wanted to join us so we
decided to expand the project over the
next 10 years we purchased and restored
the Saranac Hotel founded the main
market food co-op and restored the
Saranac Commons which is a multi vendor
food drink and retail hub all of these
faces embrace and express my guiding
philosophy that the antidote for our
cultural ills is community now that
we’ve been invested in building
community and place for almost twenty
years people contact us and ask us for
our blueprint first I invite them to
visit and experience the unique energy
on our block there’s a beauty and a
vibrancy they can’t quite put their
finger on so it has something to do with
the fact that we know and love our
neighbors and work with them for
improvements on the block it also has to
do with our fact that our buildings are
not monuments to power or commerce but
ours our dynamic spaces designed for
community and connection so we’ve
learned some things over the years
here are our three guiding principles
for using real estate as a vehicle for
building community first take an
integral approach influenced by
philosopher Ken Wilber we have designed
our spaces with people’s physical
cognitive spiritual and relational
well-being in mind for example when
restoring the saranac building we made
environmental sustainability and human
health a priority we installed the
greenest energy upgrades available at
the time to reduce our carbon footprint
and be in greater harmony with the
natural world
we made sure that every office had a had
a window or skylight
because exposure to natural light has a
positive impact on people’s sleep and
quality of life outside of work and
we host more than 30 established and
emerging nonprofits who are pursuing
justice for people and the environment
on the ground floors of our buildings we
have a fair trade store a childcare
center a pub a brewery an independent
movie theater an arts cooperative of
food cooperative cafe bakery Native
American arts gallery and a flower shop
as a result people can experience
diverse aspects of common life together
second be inclusive inclusivity is the
foundation of community and we’ve
strived to inject that value in every
stage of decision-making and development
for example when putting together the
saranac architects engineers community
leaders and prospective tenants came
together to brainstorm an optimum design
with no restrictions the only
requirement was that the final space be
green that is sustainable using as few
new resources as possible and beautiful
inviting aesthetically pleasing
inclusive since 2009 more than 5,000
community events and meetings have been
hosted in our buildings being inclusive
also means offering respect to everyone
the lobby of the community building is a
public space where people can sit rest
or read a book because we know that not
everyone who walks our block can afford
to buy a cup of coffee or go to a movie
some just want to charge their cell
phones or play the piano or be sheltered
from the elements while having a moment
listening to nature means being in
harmony with the natural world by using
green building improvements but there’s
much more to it than that nature has
taught me not to try to change the local
context but to be one with it develop it
I believe that when working on a
building we must look at the community
around us and seek to enhance that
community that will enhance not only our
space but the spaces around us taking an
integral approach being inclusive and
listening to nature has taught me to
have faith in the organic on flowing of
community if I’d had a structured plan
for this endeavor there’s a good chance
that the project would have been all
about my vision or my needs or my legacy
but I go to my office almost every day
to experience what is continuously
unfolding I take my morning coffee at
the Saranac Commons because the people
who work in our buildings and eject them
with their energy and passion for
justice
they’re my legacy in my community the
pathways to connection that we have
created
they ripple through Spokane and change
it for the better all of us together
have created something better more
lively more inclusive and more
sustainable than I alone could ever
possibly have imagined reflecting on the
last 20 years I realized that my
blueprint for the community building
campus is not outcomes oriented nor even
very strategic my blueprint relies on
the Serendipity’s of people motivated by
common values that share hallways and
kitchens and stairwells it is fueled by
the ideas exchanged when standing in
line at the food co-op or picking up
kids at the childcare center all that we
do depends upon relationships the
person-to-person connections that build
true community we know about the
mystical power of inclusive spaces and
what can be accomplished if people just show up and love thank you
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