Tim Botkin
Board Chair, Kitsap
County Commissioner

Norman McLoughlin
Executive Director

To build a house to last, you need a solid foundation.

Strong communities need solid foundations, too. And they come in a variety of forms, framed and poured to meet the needs of each individual community.

One of the foundations we built in 2001 was for six-year old Shawntae (see page 10), who joined our Homework Club in Bremerton, where she found a safe, supportive place to learn the skills she will need to be successful in life.

Another is a group of apartments we built for 16 Kitsap County residents, who are affected by mental illness, so they can get a fresh start and build independent lives (story on page 9).

We were able to preserve affordable housing that over 130 Port Orchard families, seniors and disabled community members had counted on as a foundation for their lives, thanks to a dedicated team of bankers, investors, and federal and state agencies (see page 8).
 

Building some foundations can take as little as four hours, the time it took for Irene (story on page 5) to take our First Time Homebuyers Class in Port Orchard.

Some take a whole year, like the Self-Help development in Kingston, where 10 families built their own homes in sun, rain, and snow (see page 4).

Others take even longer, and involve dozens of people and organizations, like the effort to save the historic Parade Ground on Bainbridge Island (see pages 6 and 7).

We're proud of these and all the other foundations we built in 2001. Please take a look at the following pages to learn more about them, and how they helped us build stronger communities.

On the Cover
Scenes from the Kingston Self-Help Housing Development
Photos by Ryan Schierling
Back cover (bottom) Homework Club participants at work
Photos by Jesse Beals, The Sun