ShoWare Center hosts concerts, family shows, community gatherings and more. 

Situation

• The City of Kent needed to secure community, business and political support to build an events center that would add to the city’s vital, urban downtown core. 
• The preferred development site was on one of the few remaining public parks in the downtown area, and the city was experiencing community opposition to its development. 

Solution

• Developed a community relations program focused on open and straightforward dialogue that helped build widespread support.
• Helped the city launch a letter writing campaign, which generated more than 2,000 emails from supporters and civic leaders to members of the state legislature.
• Coordinated media support that resulted in frequent and positive media coverage.

Results

• Commitment to consistent and open dialog built trust and pride in the project
• This visibility of the letter-writing campaign helped secure overwhelming fiscal support for the project in the state legislature.
• The city broke ground on the project in 2007 and the ShoWare Center opened in 2009.