Q3 2019 – Spokane Trends Focus Newsletter – #37

Indicators In The News

Community Archetype View

Preparing a local workforce to meet future demands

If you ask 10 different people how they feel about Walmart as a company or community partner, chances are you’ll get 10 different answers. Walmart represents a dichotomy of a large retailer offering lower prices vs. a large retailer putting small businesses at risk...

Are You in the "Shrinking" Middle-Class?

Is there still room in the shrinking Middle-Class?

What exactly is the middle-class? Is there still room for me in a shrinking Middle-Class? According to Investopedia, the middle-class are “individuals and households who fall between the working class and the upper class within a societal a societal hierarchy"...

Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and Jobs

Job Destruction vs. Occupational Changes

Sometimes it might seem like most jobs are, or will eventually be, susceptible to replacement by automation. Experts can already predict the top-3 industries susceptible to automation over the next decade are “production”, “food service” and “transportation”...

Assessed Value of New Construction: Lagging the State but is This the Whole Picture?

A visual analysis of indicator 2.3.2, the trend for the assessed value of new construction would indicate that Spokane County is severely under-performing the state. However, from 2002 to 2018, the compound annual growth rate...

8th Graders with Two or More Mental Health / Substance Use Experiences on the Rise

Other than increasing, it’s hard to know for sure how much mental health in U.S. children has grown over the last 30, 40, or 50-years. Kids disrupting class in the 1950’s might have been “diagnosed” as a class clown or a...

Fuel Mix for Electricity Consumption in Spokane County is Hardly All Hydro

For decades, the most well-known Spokane corporation was Washington Water Power. Many people still refer to Avista as “Water Power.” So it might come as a surprise that the most recent (2017) breakdown of fuel sources...

Katy Sheehan

Executive Director of the Community Building Foundation

Q1: Can you tell us what the current priorities of the Community Building Foundation are?

A1: The priorities of the Community Building Foundation revolve around helping people in Spokane experience justice, vibrancy, and sustainability. We cast a broad net in our funding areas but are also currently focusing on supporting programs around women’s leadership and climate resilience in our region. Programs that focus on racial equity and build opportunities in communities of color are also a high priority. Finally, we aim to host spaces in our buildings where people feel welcome to join together to make Spokane a more vibrant place.

Q2: To what degree do applicants for funds from the Foundation need to make their case with data?

A2: The foundation takes a very relational approach to gathering information about proposals. That means we sit down with almost all applicants and learn about the issue they aim to address. We receive proposals in many areas including housing, addiction services, protecting the river, scholarships, youth development, and child care, to name a few. That means we are not experts in any one problem and depend on applicants to explain why an issue is. When we’re looking at a stack of proposals and when a clear case is made through data that there is an unaddressed need in Spokane where our funds will have an impact, it makes our job a whole lot easier.

Q3: Has Spokane Trends helped inform the Foundation’s work? If so, can you give us a couple examples?