Community Support

Northwest Center

Since December of 2000, Nitze-Stagen & Co. Inc. has contracted with the Northwest Center to perform janitorial and grounds maintenance at several of our properties. Northwest Center, is a Seattle nonprofit, and has been providing services for people with developmental disabilities since 1965. The Facility Support Services division provides Janitorial, Maintenance and Grounds services and supports the Northwest Center mission of promoting the growth, development, and independence through programs of education, rehabilitation, and work opportunity by hiring qualified and well-trained persons with disabilities. For further information, please visit their website at www.nwcenter.org.

Sea-Dru-Nar Recycling Services

Beginning in mid-2001, Nitze-Stagen & Co. Inc. has contracted with Sea-Dru-Nar Recycling for the ecological removal of our recyclables. Sea-Dru-Nar is a private, non-profit company specializing in office paper recycling and offers many recycling programs designed to meet the needs of various businesses. Proceeds from the used paper products help fund the Seattle Drug and Narcotics Center, also known as Sea-Dru-Nar, Seattle's first long-term drug and alcohol treatment center. Sea-Dru-Nar Recycling was established in 1979 to provide rehabilitating clients with a work therapy environment in which to learn supervisory and general job skills and responsibilities. For more information please visit this website http://dnr.metrokc.gov/swd/wastewise/partners.htm

Pioneer Human Services

Nitze-Stagen & Co., Inc. leases a former cafeteria in the Starbucks Center to Pioneer Human Services to use as part of their program to assist in the rehabilitation of drug addicts and formerly incarcerated individuals. Pioneer Human Services is dedicated to improving the lives of its clients through employment, training, counseling, and housing services. Since 1962, PHS has offered a "Chance for Change" to high-risk populations, particularly ex-offenders and former substance abusers. PHS is recognized as a World Class example of social enterprise, successfully integrating self-supporting businesses with an array of client services. A recent National Journal article noted: "If there is a model entrepreneurial nonprofit, it's Pioneer." Today, Pioneer Human Services...

· serves approximately 6,000 clients a year in its employment, training, counseling, community corrections, and housing programs and facilities; and

· employs over 1,000 staff and operates with an annual operating budget of over $55 million.

Nitze-Stagen is proud to be a sponsor of this organization and its nationally recognized model of excellence. For more information on this company please visit their web site at http://pioneerhumanserv.com

SODO Business Association

Over ten years ago, Nitze-Stagen & Co., Inc. joined with Mike Peringer and other community leaders to form the SODO Business Association. SODO is a non-profit neighborhood business organization connecting business
with government and empowering them to work together. The association has been actively involved in creating a stronger sense of community between disparate industrial, retail and business concerns. In the past year they have held The Big Event, created a neighbor information website, created sodotraffic.com to alert the public of immediate traffic issues in the neighborhood, and sponsored many other community events. For further information on this community association, please visit their website at www.sodobusinessassociation.org.

SODO Urban Art Corridor

Nitze-Stagen was the original financial sponsor for the SODO Urban Art Corridor in 1996 and allowed the project to use some of its property as the initial public demonstration project. The concept behind the urban art corridor is to take the underutilized rear side of industrial buildings along a bus transit path (soon to be light rail corridor too) and create an opportunity for talented youth to express themselves through their art for everyone to see. The genesis of the project was to determine a way to channel the energy behind the graffiti in the area into a positive result for the community and for the youth involved. For more information about this project please visit www.ci.seattle.wa.us/commnty/sodo/sodo.htm

Urban Artworks Project

In 1996 Nitze-Stagen & Co., Inc. joined with others in our community to fund the SODO Urban Art Corridor. From that humble beginning, the Urban Artworks Project was born in 1998. ArtWorks developed from the desire of the SODO Business Association to clean up trash and graffiti along the busway in Seattle's industrial zone. A plan was developed to enrich the surroundings and discourage graffiti by creating murals throughout this area now known as the SODO Urban Art Corridor. The collaboration of private and public partners facilitated the creation of an arts program for at-risk youth centered on the development these murals. ArtWorks incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1998, and the scope of their work has expanded far beyond the corridor. ArtWorks employs, trains, and mentors a "Base Crew" of at-risk youth ages 14-18 (most of whom are on probation). These are good kids in bad situations and the positive environment they provide can make all the difference in the world. Experienced artist mentors work in supportive relationships with youth in the hands-on process of designing, painting and installing murals throughout Seattle. The youths also participate in numerous other activities designed to develop job and life skills. In addition, they lead groups from area youth organizations and schools in mural creation projects and provide community service opportunities. As a result of the program, youth are nurtured while brightening communities throughout the city. For more information on this unique program, please visit their web site at www.urbanartworks.org/OurProgram.htm

Pike Place Market CSA

Nitze-Stagen supports the independent farmers by offering employees in our projects (Union Station & Starbucks Center) the opportunity to participate in the Pike Place Market CSA Program.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is an innovative system that connects the people who grow food with the people who eat it. This direct relationship, in which consumers pay in advance for a share of the farmer's harvest, benefits everyone involved. It gives small farmers working capital in the spring when they need it most (literally "seed money") while guaranteeing them a good market for their product. At the same time, it gives consumers some of the best food around, plus the benefits of knowing where their food comes from and how it's produced. It's a successful model that came to the United States from Japan and Europe but it's an idea that's not at all foreign to the Pike Place Market. Giving consumers the opportunity to "Meet the Producer" and offering farmers the ability to sell directly to their consumers is at the heart of Pike Place Market's history. It continues to be a prime mission of the Pike Place Market today to promote the interests of family farms in Washington State and to provide consumers with the best locally grown farm fresh products. For more information on this innovative program please visit http://pikeplacemarket.com/shop/market_basket.

Nitze-Stagen & Co, Inc. also contributes financial resources and time to many other organizations (Frye Art Museum, Historic Seattle, Pioneer Square Community Association, International District Public Development Agency, Seattle Junior League, King County Cultural Development Authority, Seattle Goodwill, SODO Business Association and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce among others) as part of its efforts to meet our mission statement and assist in creating a stronger community where our projects are located.