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HOW WE WORK
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RECEIVE PROJECT
REQUEST
Our process begins when you, your organization, or community completes our online request form. We receive requests for help from those in need from countries all over the world, including local requests from the Pacific Northwest.
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PROJECT REVIEWED
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ASSIGNED A VETTER
After we receive a request online, we bring it to the next Projects Committee meeting. This group of volunteers meets monthly on the 1st Wednesday of the month to review the progress of each active project. The request is given an initial review and then assigned a "vetter". A vetter is a volunteer who communicates with you and/or your organization to learn more about the need, scope of work, funding capacity, and fit with our mission.
The volunteer team works together with our client partners to solve multiple challenges during the course of the project. Projects are considered complete when our teams finish the work that was agreed to at the commencement of the project. If the deliverable is a design package, our clients often use these packages to raise funds for construction from donors and/or local governments.
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While AWB-Seattle does not provide funding for construction, if the project is local, we often recruit volunteers to support project implementation.
SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR COMMUNITY
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3
PROJECT ACTIVATED
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WORK BEGINS
After a project has been vetted, it can be recommended as an active AWB-Seattle project. At this point, we send out a Call for Volunteers, including volunteers from our active roster, to identify a Project Lead to get the project started. From here, we will build a design team of volunteers with specific skills to meet each project's unique needs.
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The volunteer team works together through in-person meetings, by phone, and through email to create solutions that address the need. Our services include project start-up/predesign tasks, matching-up consulting services to project requirements, conceptual and schematic drawings, master planning for buildings and green spaces, and for small scale projects, construction documents.
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Our approach strives to be as participatory as possible, engaging organizational leaders, community partners, and stakeholders to co-envision and design for diverse needs. At times, the Project Lead will visit the community and project site so that the best solutions can be put forward and tested.
The entire design process ranges for each project from a couple months to a couple years. At times, we build such strong relationships with a community that we may work on multiple projects.
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